I am -- and I shouldn't be -- I am a practicing Catholic who watches the shenanigans at Mass through eyes squinted with cynicism. I know the difference between Man-made church law and God-made church law... (all but 2 are manmade)..but when my son came home from religious ed tonight - complete with flyers urging these teen-aged CHILDREN to participate in the public shaming of people at a nearby abortion clinic... I told him he should have left the flyers there... My head exploded when he told me about what was said in class. Follow me over the jump for the rest of the story.
During class, one of the kids, who my son says is "apparently really into religion" got up and delivered a long lecture on the "inappropriateness" of the HHS rule on birth control coverage, under the guise of religious freedom...saying they should write letters to officials objecting to it.
Now, none of these kids has the families of 10 or 12 or even 6 common back when I was IN Catholic school... so now, what do they think their parents are doing?? Anyway, THAT'S when my head exploded...
I called the church Religious ed program and left an angry message for the coordinator saying,
1) .. the HHS rule is already in effect at the state level in our state and many others.
2)...None of these CHILDREN is old enough to vote.
3)....IF this occurs again, the IRS needs to take a look at the Church's tax-exempt status... because this, in effect, tells kids to tell their parents for whom to cast a ballot.
4)... My son is there ONLY so he can be confirmed.
I am an observant Catholic, tho not necessarily a religious one. I believe just the fulfillment of the obligation does one good -- because it's self-discipline in a way..
I'm willing to honor the requirement (different from other denominations) that I and my son attend Mass every week and honor the requirement (again, unlike other denominations) that he receive the sacraments. But I won't stand for their propaganda... and they really don't understand how close they are to losing more people -- and to them, FAR more important, the MONEY brought in by the American Church. Catholics aren't monolithic -- and I know alot of us who vote Democratic and laugh at the idea that they can still hold their congregations under their thumb as they could before the whole education thing caught on.
thanks for listening to me vent!