Vatican issues guidelines for good driving
Web Posted: 06/20/2007 01:03 AM CDT
When granny gets behind the wheel of a 1-ton pickup, she's not just 120 pounds of frail flesh and bones anymore. She's a king of the road with hundreds of horsepower humming at her fingertips.
Some people can handle that kind of raw power and still guard their souls, but many often can't, the Vatican warned Tuesday in a document called "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road."
Now speeding, reckless driving and driving while drunk aren't just illegal — they're sins.
So are rude gestures, cursing and showing off in fancy cars.
"One of the roots of many problems relating to traffic is spiritual," the 36-page statement says. "Cars tend to bring out the 'primitive' side of human beings, thereby producing rather unpleasant results."
"Especially if you have a good car," said Rene Dehoyos, 49, called by some an ambassador of San Antonio but known by most as a road-weary cabbie who hauls a lot of tourists.
"If the car's a beat-up car and it doesn't have the power, they're going to drive like a Sunday driver," he said. "If you have the power, then it's going to change you."
To help those drunk with ego exercise virtue, the Vatican document includes the "Ten Commandments" for drivers, starting with "You shall not kill" and ending with "Feel responsible toward others."
It also suggests praying — just don't close your eyes.
Passengers taking turns reciting the rosary is particularly helpful since its "rhythm and gentle repetition does not distract the driver's attention."
Drive-through confessions might be next, predicted Judy McDonald, a Catholic comedian based in San Diego. Lord knows, that would help.
"Driving here today, a guy cut me off right in the middle of a Hail Mary," she said by cell phone from Orlando. "I said a not-so-nice word, but Mary saw the guy cut me off."
The Vatican document isn't meant to be frivolous and extols the benefits of driving — getting to work, getting the sick to hospitals and connecting families and cultures.
But it laments a host of ills associated with automobiles — road rage, aggressive driving, drinking alcohol, using drugs and not maintaining safe vehicles.
Mobility and wandering are part of human nature, but with the dizzying growth of traffic and idolization of cars, roads need to be more humane.
"How many times have you found that something changes when you get behind the wheel — your behavior and even sometimes your language changes and you say, "That's not like me?'" said Deacon Pat Rodgers, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. "It just seems appropriate that we see some guidelines that we can follow when we get into high-pressure situations on the road."
The Sacred Heart Auto League hailed the announcement as reinforcing a cause it has championed since 1955.
The Catholic group's claim to fame is making Jesus figurines for cars as reminders for "prayerful and careful driving."
"This is no Moses coming down from the mountain," said Steve Koepke, director of the parent organization, Sacred Heart League in Walls, Miss. "But it does try to take Christ's commandment of love our neighbor and put it into action on the road."
The other commandments for motorists urge communion among people, courtesy, uprightness, prudence, charity, not using cars to show power, convincing unfit drivers not to drive, supporting families of accident victims and bringing together guilty drivers and victims to facilitate forgiveness.
Joe Cerda, 59, a longtime veteran of San Antonio roads, didn't need to see the Vatican's list.
"It's just common sense," he said. "To me that's normal, to my philosophy."
