The Atheist Inquisition

By Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición (Enciclopedia Española) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

So Happy 4th of July!  Before I even left for 6:30a.m. Mass yesterday, I saw the ad headline in the Los Angeles Times:   "Quit The Catholic Church". I was miffed, but it had to wait until after Mass.  In fact, I made it wait until after breakfast, when I read the whole ad.  Then I just rolled my eyes. 

Somehow, a group that has only been able to amass (pun intended) 18,000 members since its founding in 1978, is running this full page ad as they are able to raise funds.  It appeared in the New York Times way back in March, so obviously, they don't have a lot of support. Still, they are launching the same tired arguments about why the Catholic Church is such a bad guy. I say "tired", because they are calling women, like me, who are loyal to the church "ignorant", while they apparently refuse to acknowledge scientific evidence contrary to their primary argument, which is women's "reproductive rights".  I'm sorry, but as a mother of 4 children, I vote for the right of every woman to practice abstinence if she does not want to conceive, acquire an STD, or be a slave to her hormones.  To lower a woman's dignity so far that you have to call it "reproductive rights", is to say that she does not have the choice not to engage in sexual activity.  It is to say that she is too stupid to realize how babies are made.  That it is better for her to pump herself full of chemicals or extra hormones which will raise her risk of cancer, than it is for her to abstain from sex, or to have a baby. How can a woman possibly be happy and fulfilled if she is not having sex? Personally, that is more of a Dark Ages mentality than what the ad is accusing the church of.

Their other argument is that US healthcare reform is being held hostage by the Catholic Church. Not so. The church has worked hard towards affordable health care for all for years. The current health care law, in fact, coerces a faction of society, Catholics and Catholic Institutions, to pay for what they regard as murder, female oppression and religious persecution. In fact, if a non-Catholic, working at a Catholic Institution, wants free or low cost contraceptives, there are hundreds of family planning clinics they can get them from.

As for the sex-scandal issue, sex scandals and pedophilia, complicity, collusion and cover-ups are not exclusive to the Catholic Church. They are rampant at every level of society and in every institution in the United States.  Pointing the finger at the Catholic Church is just a smokescreen, using the currently popular bad guy, to cover up the fact that this is just an organization, like any other, trying to get more money to promote their agenda, which according to their own website is to educate the public on matters of non-theism.

We Catholics stopped murdering folks that refused to convert to our religion over a century ago. Don't shove your atheism down our throats just because you don't want to have kids to pass it on to.

They say "humanity above dogma".

I say "the truth shall set you free"!

St. Katherine Marie Drexel, American Saint

And now for some GOOD NEWS...what is better than an inspiring American Roman Catholic from currently tormented Philadelphia?  And a modern saint to boot?

source - freebase

March 3rd gives us the feast of St. Katherine Drexel. It couldn't be more timely this year. With the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in an uproar over more old clergy sex abuse cases coming to light, now would be a good time to remind ourselves of the good that comes out of the Catholic Church.

Katherine Drexel was born in Philadelphia in 1858 to wealthy parents. Following their example, young Katherine used her fortune to help the poor and suffering.. After touring the western U.S., she began establishing mission schools for Native Americans. Later she became a missionary and founded the "Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament", an order of religious sisters to help the poor and needy. She financed over 60 missions and schools for Native Americans and Blacks and also founded the first United States university for blacks in Louisiana.

She is the second American born saint. Katherine died on March 3, 1955 and is buried near Philadelphia, PA.

Oh the Drama!

Maybe it's the so-called "alignment of the planets", as some say, or maybe it's just me, but there seems to have been a whole lot of drama going on lately.  Families have their own inherent drama, of course.  Someone's hurting, "well-meaning" others come in and stir things up and suddenly everything's out of hand.

In our church communities things get out of hand, too.  Disputes over bilingual Mass and Latin or not get as heated as immigration law debates.  Some cannot set aside their differences and agree to disagree, and leave.  It's sad in families, it's sad in our church family. 

The media pursues the sexual abuse issue like rabid hounds.  As though they've forgotton Jim Baker.  Or as though it's any bigger than taxpayer dollars going to big bankers to pay out bonuses to already overpaid executives.

Why are we so addicted to drama and the inevitable tragedy that accompanies it?  Where do we find the answers, for healing in our families, our church, our world?  All we can do is practice.  Practice Jesus' example of unconditional love.  Practice tolerance - of different languages, different opinions, different customs.  Practice spiritual discipline - attend Mass, receive Holy Communion, go to confession.  Pray the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. 

We who are not politicians, turn over our anxieties to the Highest Power, and make our voices heard to our elected representatives.  We who are families, die with Christ every day for peace in our homes.  We who are Catholics, die with Christ to our own self-righteousness, for peace in our communities.  We can only do a little.  But if we each do a little, so much gets done.