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It sucks that I have to leave DU. I don't want to leave DU. I really don't. But there is no other choice. It's been made fairly clear here that if you're Catholic, you're a supporter of pedophilia and basically, you're not welcomed here. Not that I would ever feel welcomed in a place that considers me a pedophilia enabler, so, even if they're not openly saying, "go!", the attitude toward Catholics is pretty blatant in its implication.
I'm gone. You've won. I will not continue posting on a message board that looks at me with such contempt. Like I said, I don't want to leave DU. I've been a member here, in a couple incarnations, since it opened in 2001. I've met some great people - some I hope to keep in contact with online (and I'm thankful for places like Facebook which will allow me to do so). But sometimes it becomes clear when it's time to move on and this is that time.
To be fair, there are some amazing people here and I respect a whole helluva lot of 'em, even if we've butted heads in the past. But I can't be myself knowing so many of you look at me as some monster because of my faith. That's not fair to me. It just isn't. It's also not worth the hurt I receive reading each thread that not only bashes my religion, which I can tolerate, but also bashes its members - those include the living and the dead ... John, Bobby and Ted Kennedy, our vice-president Joe Biden, our Secretary of State John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Tip O'Neill, Al Smith, Geraldine Ferraro, Dorothy Day, Mario Cuomo, Jennifer Granholm, Martin O'Malley, Sonia Sotomayor, Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich, Dick Durbin, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and the list goes on.
These people were not, and are not, pedophilia enablers. Many have been great Americans - many are great Americans. They were instrumental in building not only this country - but our party - into what it is today. The Democratic Party only became a political force because it was the first party to openly welcome Catholics. For so long, when the Irish and the Italians, emigrated over to the U.S., they were discriminated against because of their ethnicity and their faith. It was Franklin Roosevelt who reached out to the Catholics and brought them fully into the party and they have remained a part of Democratic politics since.
You can dismiss us. You can ridicule us. But we are the Democratic Party. Sure, the O'Malleys are now the Martinezes, but the force of this faith remains one of the most important aspects of Democratic politics. You can't win without the Catholics. Just remember that when you demonize us as enablers to horrific crime.
Obama would not be president today had it not been for many ardent Catholic voters. Many of whom have remained with the Democratic Party, even though their church has vilified them at times for what they believe. Think about that for a second - many members remain liberal and progressive, even though they belong to a church that in the past has told them they're not upstanding members of that faith because of their politics. John Kerry didn't abandon the Democratic Party when there was talk of his being refused communion because of his pro-choice views. Nor did he ever compromise those views - and neither did Ted Kennedy or Joe Biden.
The backbone of the liberal movement - from the fight against poverty and the support of unions, was created by many hardworking Catholic emigrants. Mary Harris Jones, or as you may know her by, Mother Jones, and Dorothy Day were two women who devoted their lives to the labor movement. They were also Catholic.
The Church is not flawless. God knows I fight every day with my faith. But I also know that it has a hundred million, certainly more, great members. Members like my grandparents - my grandmother, who graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Wasatch, a Catholic college here in Utah, then went on to become a social worker advocating and helping the poor and displaced and my grandfather, who fought in World War II, on the beaches of Normandy, then came home and taught in the Salt Lake City School District for 30 years. He was a beloved high school biology teacher - and a proud American who served his country and then came home and served his community. They were both devout Catholics. They were also Democrats. My grandfather voted Republican once in his life - when he voted Eisenhower the first go around. He voted Stevenson four years later. My grandma cast her first vote for Harry Truman in 1948 and voted straight Democratic until her death in 2003.
Both my parents were Catholics. Both were Democrats. Both hardworking, loving, and tough, individuals. Mom is still a Catholic and the eternal optimist. The first person she called when it was announced we had a new Pope was me and she was in tears. She's pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, and probably a bit more liberal than myself on a few issues - as are all her sisters, sans one, the one who left the Catholic Church in the 1990s.
These are the people I've grown up with. They are my rock. They always have been. They are good people, who've worked all their lives so that maybe their kids could have a bit more than they did. It wasn't always easy, or perfect, but they were my heroes. Every single one of 'em. And when you tell me they're enabling these crimes, it breaks my heart. It makes me cry. It hurts. It feels like a thousand knives to the heart because they're family - and they're Catholic. And there are millions of them in this country. They live their lives no different than you do. They support the same causes you do. They fight the same fights as you do. They are your allies.
And some of you are content with just tossing 'em aside like they don't matter - like they're the enemy. I hate to tell you, we're not your enemy. We've never been your enemy. So, don't treat us like we are. We are in the trenches with you. We are fighting with you. We are working for social justice and change and a society that truly is great. Our faith, what church we call home, does not change that. It never will.
Just remember that. Remember that we're on your side and we've always been on your side - no matter what you say and how hurtful your words are. But don't expect us to share your hatred or your rhetoric. I might be leaving DU, but I am not leaving my beliefs. I am a proud a liberal and a proud Democrat. I'm also a Catholic and I embrace my religion because it's who I am and where I come from.
I hope maybe one day I can return and the attitude here will be more accepting. But if that day doesn't come, good luck to those who really are fighting the good fight.
Maybe I'll see you around one day.