For those of you who don't know, I was baptized a Episcopalian which I've heard is like Catholic light. I cannot ever remember attending an Episcopalian service, but do remember going to our local Catholic church every Sunday while growing up. Church to me was boring and the hour seemed like forever when I was young. I really didn't understand anything that was happening, but knew that there was a good deal of routine built into the service. I enjoyed the Christmas service because I actually knew what the heck they were talking about and liked the song selections. My parents never pushed church on me and asked if I wanted to attend Sunday school (I declined). My Mother gave me the option to keep going or stay home when I was about 13 I think and I opted to stay home and sleep in on Sundays.
I married a Catholic girl who attended church some of the time. She even went to Catholic school until college, so I think you could say she was somewhat devout. As a couple, we didn't attend church often but that all changed once we had our first child. I agreed with my wife that we should start going to church since it's a good place for kids to learn about God and the Ten Commandments. I thought that it would be a good reinforcement in her upbringing. After a few months, I started to enjoy the service too. For me, the service was a place to be reminded of the higher morals and ideals that I may not live up to everyday, but keep striving for anyway.
I'm still a neophyte when it comes to understanding, Catholicism, the Bible, and church overall. I get most of the big points, but the last two homilies were a little unsettling. A homily, for the uninitiated, is where the Priest or deacon uses one of the parables to illustrate a point in our modern world. The last two homilies were focused on how Jesus was akin to a Communist and would be against the war. I understand that Jesus taught people to help one another, but when the Priest threw in the word Communist, I was shocked. The Priest did qualify the word and did not try to extol the virtues of Communism, but he opened the door to the philosophy. I agree that people should take care of each other to an extent. I think the person needs to take responsibility and do what they can and those who truly can't deserve a hand and not just a blanket handout. I also think that those who help the people who don't need it only act as an enabler and make their bad behavior acceptable. I also understand that Jesus was against war and I wish that war was unavoidable too. Unfortunately, the world is filled with people who do not believe nor accept Jesus' teachings about peace and would kill us for no reason at all. I think that war is always the last option, but I believe in our cause. I understand that the Catholic church does not endorse the war and hope they are not trying to circumvent the war effort by attempting to put a wedge between Catholics and those who support the war.
I just thought both homilies were strange and confusing. Looking for your thoughts on both issues.
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1 comment:
Interesting post. I read it a while ago but am just now getting around to a comment :)
So, I'm not a religious person but I get it and understand the value. I can totally see the benefit of attending with your children to hopefully instill the values that are at the core of most faiths. I just never went to church for some reason. My wife used to go and would be open to going again. I've been thinking about that lately but am taking the "kids" thing one step at a time.
Politics and religion tend to not mix very well. Both are such heated topics and people get passionate enough to kill each other over either subject. Each stands on its own and probably shouldn't influence its subjects on the other (i.e. the Republican Party shouldn't tell me what to do with church and vice versa)
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