What bothered me were the verbal attacks uttered by commentators. Things like "they should be excommunicated" and "they are not Catholics" were flying around the board. Now, I have no problem with members of my religion disagreeing with others. However, I do have great issues with lay-members of the faith making decisions as to who is and who is not a Catholic, or a good-enough one.
First off, a person is a Catholic, or they're not. There are unCatholic actions and practices, but there are not unCatholic Catholics. That doesn't make any sense. It's like saying someone who disagrees with executive or legislative action is unAmerican. No, being American is just that, it describes an origin, what country you associate as your "place."
Second, what actually makes one Catholic better than the other? I may not be the most devout Catholic, going to Church, praying daily, supporting Catholic movements. However, I still am a Catholic. I mean I was baptized, had my first communion, confirmed into the Catholic church. Is someone a better Catholic if they have more education in the religion? If that's the case, me and most of my high school friends are the best Catholics in the world. My personal view is a Catholic is a person with acceptance into the Church via the rites of passage who implements a significant amount of the religious beliefs and their education (wherever it comes from) into most of their daily life. Of course I think the stupid people writing comments on these articles and the bozos that write them are Catholics too, although I do sometimes question their implementation of the Catholic faith into their daily lives. Being a jerk is not a Catholic virtue last I checked.
This doesn't necessarily have to mean anything, it's just something I have been thinking about the past couple weeks and it was on my mind this morning. I just think it so terribly wrong and tacky to go around demanding ouster from the Church and calling people unCatholic. It's not anybody's decision to make. So please, if you ever hear someone say something along those lines, give them a piece of your mind.
The second issue I wanted to discuss was an article I read regarding President Obama's "National Family Day." The pres issued a proclamation claiming some day (don't remember what, I probably missed it) where he wanted all families to come together and be together. In the executive order was very broad, encompassing all families, whether it's a mom and a dad and kids, homosexual parents (WHAT!?!?!?!?! ISH!!!!!!!!!!), single parents, guardians, etc. It included every family known to man.
Well, once again I was reading a Catholic Online article and some wretched writer, Kathleen Gilbert, wrote a bulletin sort-of-thing about "National Family Day." In the article, she ingeniously stated the obvious: Obama's interpretation of "family" includes GAYS!!!!!! Although the author never really said anything pejorative regarding gays or those families, it was obvious what she was pointing out: "Lookout Catholics, these gay families and their gay kids are coming." However, one thing she conveniently forgot to include was that there are more families than just those headed by homosexuals that are in opposition to Catholic teaching. Quite frankly, I've been reading all these Catholic articles about how the best family structure is the traditional family. So really, the Church should probably have issue with every family included, except one. But no, this ingenious, faithful Catholic woman . . . who writes . . . she only saw the gay thing.
OK, here's my point, Obama's inclusion of all families also includes those slutty little girls that get knocked up at 17 and the baby's daddy hits the road. It includes families separated by divorce. It includes pseudo-traditional families where the parents live together but aren't married. These are things that also go against Catholic teaching, yet this Gilbert woman completely forgot to mention that.
Actually, I wrote a rather scathing letter to her via her listed e-mail address to tell her that her mistake tended to showed a particular animus towards gays. To sit there and complain that gays and their marriages are immoral because of scripture, but then completely disregard those other things that are also in opposition tends to show that she is focusing on gay families simply because she doesn't like them, her personal preference (notice how I said "tends to show," there could be something else that could get her off the hook). It has nothing to do with scripture, it has nothing to do with morality, it has nothing to do with family. All it is is two men or two women shacking up and adopting kids.
By the way, I gave the author my full name and e-mail address in my letter to her in case she wanted to discuss it or give me a rebuttal. This was only yesterday, so perhaps she has not had the time to get back to me. But, I think it's probably going to go unanswered.
Further, I tried to post a comment similar to the one above on the board following the article. It was never posted. I tried once again, it, too, was also never posted. I wrote a stearn but kind e-mail to customer service at Catholic Online. Nothing. Are they just sick of me, or did I call their author on her egregious mistake and they're embarassed? Of course I don't know for sure . . . but I do.
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