Holy F*&%, I can't believe I have to actually defend this on DU. [View All]

[ElboRuum]

A backgrounder.

I haven't been a believing Catholic since I was four. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny lasted longer than God on my list of "Things That Are Ludicrous To Believe In, But Which I Still Believe In Anyway."

I haven't been a complicit Catholic since the first time I had my knuckles rapped with a yardstick by a nun in 1st grade.

I haven't been a Catholic since my mother decided that further attempts indoctrination would be fruitless by 8th grade, although, since I have yet to be excommunicated, the church would say I still am Catholic (though obviously, lapsed).

The only time since that I've set foot into a church or cathedral was for a wedding or a funeral.

I am the LAST person who would defend a faith which originated among the humble and the poor, but gives you the "evil eye" if you don't tithe your 10%... gross, not net.

Now this is GOOD, because I'm not going to defend the faith. I can't defend that which is so recalcitrant and backward. Moreover, it doesn't want my defense, so it shall not have it. It loathes people like me as much as the most grievous of sinners.

But I will defend Catholics. I will defend the faithful.

I have read several threads commenting to the effect that any Catholics which remain Catholics after this abominable decree by the Vatican against the GLBT community are, by association, complicit. So, being a Catholic is now a high crime against progressives?

The only thing that I can say to this is, holy hell, what a bunch of bullshit so stench-ridden as to be embarrassing to thinking people everywhere.

Something you should be aware of if you are not a Catholic and aren't familiar with the faith:

This ain't the dark ages anymore. Catholics have, in the last century in this country, openly disagreed with and thumbed their nose at some of the more backward policies of the church. The Pope, while the leader of the faith, doesn't wield the power Torquemada had during the Spanish Inquisition. Many if not most Catholics have come to embrace progressive ideals AS BEING THE EFFECTIVE AND TRUE path to righteousness, where the church continues to back the wrong horse. Oh, sure, there are those in the faith who believe that the power of Catholicism derives from the papacy and not that bothersome Jesus person, and they have silly bumper stickers on their cars that say you're not Catholic if you're pro-choice and what not. But by and large, Catholics don't want too much truck with that. Catholics, in general, don't like such fundamentalist rhetoric. They've had to actively parse the meaning of their faith because of the grotesque hypocrisies that the papacy has historically clung to tooth and nail, so rote edict and decree doesn't sit well with them.

It honestly pains me to think that these sorts of blanket condemnations are welcome in a place where the dialogue is active and minds are supposedly open. It is beyond hysterical to think that just because the leadership of the Catholic faith has made a decree that the rest of the Catholic world is going to automatically step in line behind it. Wasn't this the same kind of horseshit people pulled with JFK? That the papacy pulls the strings and Catholics across the globe step and fetch? Do you actually believe that just because the Illustrious Eminence, His Royal Catholicness Pope Benedict MCMLXXXIX the Infinitely Awesome says "boo" that this fundamentally changes the thinking and belief of an American Catholic half a world away? If you do, may I interest you in some transportation infrastructure in the New York metropolitan area I'm looking to offload cheap?

We know better.

Now. Can we act better?