Yesterday an article was released condemning a Catholic Church in Maryland for refusing to allow an openly gay congregant from participating in communion at her mothers funeral. The liberal media likes to paint a mean picture of the Catholic Church. One of intolerance and hypocrisy that allows sexual abuse to run rampant. While I was scrolling through the comments that were posted about this specific article there was a consistent pattern of bashing the Church and the assertion that this incident was a violation of gay rights. But people need to step back for a moment and think. Even if you are a supporter of gay marriage, and equal rights for members of the LGBT community, you have to realize that this had nothing to do with gay rights. The Catholic Church has the right as a private entity to refuse giving sacraments to people they believe are living in sin. This woman who has been a lifelong practicing Catholic, should have been aware of the rules of her church. While many readers agreed that it was wrong of the parish priest to make an example out of her at this particular mass, I would argue that it was wrong of her to try and challenge the rule at this particular time. Liberals are often strong believers in the separations of church and state. That idea cannot only be applied when it is convenient for them. Just because society has become more tolerant of homosexuality it does not mean we can force a Church that is thousands of years old to change. Hypothetically speaking, if we were to force all Jewish delis to serve pork, because some people like pork, it would be a blatant violation of their freedom of religion. That applies to all religions across the board. The only reason the media gets away with demonizing the Catholic Church is because the public has become so desensitized to it.
There have been a few members of the Catholic Church that have done some really terrible things. But lots of people commit atrocities, including clerical members of other churches. I prefer to think about some of the wonderful things the Catholic Church does for people. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and providing charitable services for people all over the world.
So instead of bashing the entire Catholic Church for something that an incredibly small percentage of its 1.2 billion members have committed. Pray for the victims, and for their families, and pray that the Church can continue its mission of reaching out to those who need help. And if you really cannot tolerate the Catholic Church, no one is forcing you to be a member.
For those interested, the original article can be found by doing a search online
I would like to think that all Americans would be "strong believers in the separations of church and state." And now to quote Thomas Jefferson; "... I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." The Church has the choice of making decisions about major issues and as long as they don't go against the Constitution, they should be allowed to be carried out within this country. However, if there ever is a time that a church decision goes against the Constitution, I would have to take the side of the U.S. Feel free to correct me about anything I've said, just don't be a jerk. After all I'm only 16
ReplyDeleteYou have to realize that the Constitution was written to protect the citizens from the government. Even if the government were to recognize same sex marriage, they would not have the right to change the laws of a particular church. Unless the church was breaking laws, for example there was a church back in the 60's that gave its congregants LSD as their sacred communion. The government shut that down pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteabout that church issue, the Church should be bending over backwards to move up with the reality of life today. That priest who refused religious comfort to a family of a devout Catholic woman who died was way out of line. He refused to apoligize even though the archbishop later did. Everyone can't make up his own rules, in Gods house the priest doesn;t get to make decisions , God does, how many divorced rich non catholics get a buried from a church these days just because they have money. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", do you want to be chastised at someone you loves funeral by someone who does not know you at all?
ReplyDeleteI can see where your ideas come from, however they are slightly out of line with fact. The Archbishop did not apologize for the rule, he apologized for "pastoral insensitivity", because the parish priest was not discreet in the situation. Church rules allow priests to deny communion to anyone they feel is out of touch with the Church.
ReplyDeletecatholic church has nothing to do with jesus, they're just a bunch of pedophiles who don't want to change. i find them pretty sad and feel sorry for them. i'm sure jesus wouldn't want to have anything to do with them. he'd have nothing against gay people or their marriage, though. jesus is all about love, catholic church is all about hate. it's wrong it exists. real representative of christ on earth should be poor, not have a throne made of indian money. as bill maher put it: gandhi was so christian, he was hindu :)
ReplyDeletejust my 2 cents, luka
p.s.: i don't believe in any god, that's just how i feel.
Luka,
ReplyDeleteWhile you are entitled to your own opinion, I would ask that you do it in a respectful way. Unfortunately you have a negative image of the Catholic Church and are looking at only some of the things that a few bad members have committed. The Catholic Church is not about hate, it provides more relief programs than any other institution. There are some dark spots on the history of the Church, but for something that is thousands of years old can anything less be expected?
God if not flawed. Religion is flawed only because man is.
of course man is flawed, god himself has little to do with organised religion. as far as i'm concerned, it's not at all important to know whether god exists or not, i don't think i'd care about him much even if he would exist for sure. what i do think, however, is that when many millions of people die in your name, you do lose your credibility. at least to me.
ReplyDeletesure, the catholic church has done a lot to help other people, but there are crimes that you just can't compensate for with other good things. not to mention they blocked science and improvement for hundreds of years in middle ages, but that's past, anyway.
i don't know. and i'm sorry if i'm not being respectful, i'm sincerely trying to be :)
Thank you for your input Luka, I hope you are enjoying the blog and ask that you share it with your friends and family =)
ReplyDelete