I went with my girlfriend for a short getaway trip, the fact
that I said “girlfriend” is significant.
You see, we are Catholic and by church doctrine we committed a sin
because we “roomed” together, but that’s another story altogether. During this trip to Santa Fe, NM we visited
the local museums and saw exhibits that recount the regional history.
Integral to New Mexico history is the arrival of the Spanish
conquistadores in the region, conquistadores is a Spanish word that means conquerors. The conquerors
brought with them missionaries whose purpose was to help conquer, or Christianize, the local
peoples, the native American Indians, savages, heathens. The problem with the mission of the
missionaries is that to Christianize them they had to be brutal. Exhibits in the museum attest to violent
atrocities that befell the indigenous population at the "point of the cross." As we viewed the exhibits I recalled the horror
of history in the name of the Catholic church. They used the point of the sword, but since it was wielded by a Christian conqueror in the name of Christianity, the cross brings to mind the image of a Catholic sword
I blurted out, well maybe it wasn’t really a “blurt,” more
of calculated comment, that the Catholic church has been perpetrating this kind
of shit since the beginning. I began to
recount the efforts of the holy crusades commissioned by the Holy See, supposedly
to protect its interests. As much as
anything else, the Catholic church was attempting to cleanse the holy land of
infidel Muslims. There were many
crusades beginning circa 1096 and ending in 1272.
Before 1100, the Catholic church began to suppress heresy. This was the beginning of the period of
inquisitions, and there were many. The
inquisitor was the church. Its basic aim
was to eliminate non Catholics. Historians
break down the inquisitions into four periods, regardless of the periods, the
Catholic purges on heretics extended from approximately 1184 to 1860.
From 1096 to 1860 the Pope waged war against non Catholics
and during that time frame he did some of it on this continent, as we witnessed
while viewing those museum exhibits in Santa Fe. That isn’t bad enough. Today Catholic priests are waging war on boys
around the globe, and it must be a church-sanctioned assault because the Holy
See has yet to cooperate with any criminal prosecutions. When was the last time you heard a church leader witnessed his own crimes or reported the crimes of a fellow clergyman, or testified against a priest in a criminal proceeding? Its been nearly a millenia of brutality bathed in self righteousness perpetrated by Priests, Bishops, Cardinals, and Popes. In this midst of this violence, the Pope has
the audacity to tell me that my getaway trip with my girlfriend is sinful. He decries homosexuality but not the sodomy
committed by priests. He denounces
abortion but not the church’s murderous legacy.
What a crock.
So…why do I continue to be a Lector and Usher at my Catholic
church every Sunday? The truth is that I’m too lazy to
find another church of a different persuasion.
I like my parishioners and I look forward to talking with them after
church and the occasional party. I enjoy
church bazaars where I can drink beer to support the church, the beer booth at
church bazaars are the top attraction and the best seller, how ironic!
But I feel so hypocritical! Damn!
1 comment:
So you just contradicted your own values and belief system to the point of apathy???? The Catholic Church is a building, your faith should be in your heart...what you're blogging about is the indignation of your faith and its caustic power in our history...The tradition of Catholicism began by taking points of the Jewish faith and the New Testament and integrating it into a faith and tradition. I have been one who has explored other religions and I have found ALL of them to have the same basic "golden rule" just "don't be an asshole".... even "heathen" based religions, such as Wiccan believe this....it is the sole interpretation of power, race and patriarchy that provides this "corruption" you talk about....not all priests are child molesters and not all criminals are bad....it depends on your perspective and experience with that subject that we tend to generalize and judge..."don't point out the splinter in your neighbors eye, when you have a log in your own" ....Do you feel bad about your drinking beer at the church bazaar? If you have not hurt anyone, including yourself, and you are truly happy, that is exactly what MY loving, forgiving and kind God wants of us...reconcile with your Catholicism Jaime, its ok to fornicate as long as its with consenting adults who will not hurt anyone in the process!
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