A bad experience at Theology On Tap...

[jakefrep]

As a Catholic who is trying to re-connect with my faith, I have been attending the Theology On Tap lectures in Toledo, near my hometown.

Tonight, the featured speaker was Teresa Tomeo(sp?), a former Detroit TV news anchor, who had a spiritual reawakening, and now hosts a talk show on Ave Maria Radio out of Ann Arbor, MI. The first 15 minutes were OK, where she talked about her rediscovery of the faith. What followed nearly made my evil twin come out and go postal. The next 30 minutes were essentially a anti-mainstream media, anti-Kerry, anti-Democrat diatribe (centering, of course, around the supposed "deal-breaker", abortion rights).

I left with the unmistakable impression that conservative Christians and Catholics have become every bit as adept at playing the victimhood game as the minority activists they like to criticize.

[Dookus]

1. That's nothing new to Catholics...

It's the largest denomination in the largest religion in the world, and the richest church in history, and they bitch constantly about how put-upon they are.

[writekid]

2. agreed

amen

[DemBones DemBones]

3. I hope that a bad experience

like this one won't turn you away from Catholicism, since you apparently want to reconnect with the Catholic faith. I'm a Catholic who grew up Protestant (no, I didn't marry a Catholic, I converted of my own volition) and I feel confident in stating that any church will contain some people you don't agree with politically. I hope you'll let the Theology on Tap people know this woman's presentation of her political views were a big turn-off, though. From your account, she spent far more time on politics than on faith, which is hardly the purpose of the program.

[jakefrep]

5. No No...I'm sticking with this..

Ms. Tomeo is basically shilling for all of the petty, divisive crap that driving me up a wall with the Church. A couple of other folks stepped up and questioned "well, if we're not supposed to vote Democratic because of "life" issues, why should we vote Republican?" She couldn't come up with a reasonable answer.

I'm sticking this fight out because I know there are others within the Church who feel the same as I do.

As an aside, the priest who runs ToT here in Toledo is a pretty cool guy. His dad is volunteering on the Congressional campaign I'm working for right now.

[mistertrickster]

4. Kerry is an Irish Catholic from Boston--if the Catholics can't get

behind him, then they are just wacked . . . Most Catholics will vote for one of their own, just like they did for Kennedy.

I've got this sneaking suspicion that most Catholics think abortion and contraception should be left up to the couples themselves and not some celibate geezer in Rome (like most Americans do), but that's just my opinion.

[Cornus]

7. No he's not

From a Joe Conason column last year:

In a preview of Republican spin, Vennocchi tells readers that Kerry "doesn't know who he is." Why would she say that? His grandmother was Jewish and his grandfather, who immigrated from Austria, changed the family name from Kohn to Kerry. Kerry learned these facts about his family background late in life. He has known about his grandmother's Jewish origins for almost 20 years. But to Vennocchi, "confusion about his heritage mirrors a larger confusion about his essence." His "essence"? Is she writing astrology? Where did the editors go?

[BiggJawn]

8. If Kerry needs "Essence"...

He should ask Emeril Lagasse. I'm sure he could get plenty.

Remember when they'd point to somebody like Kerry as proof that the "Melting Pot" worked?

My great-great-grandfather changed the family name, too. Guess that makes me "confused"?

[mistertrickster]

9. Hmmm . . . okay, I stand corrected. But Kerry sure sounds Irish,

especially since it is a county name in Ireland. He wasn't raised Catholic?

[Egalitarian Zetetic]

6. I swear spirtual crisis is just another cliche <nt>