Confessions of a former Catholic and what the priests, pastors and bishops said while I was present

[zulchzulu]

OK. I'm going to come clean.

I've seen how what Jeremiah Wright has said in his church can somehow be construed to be linked to Barack Obama, if only by omniscient osmosis (sorry, those who didn't go to college) and I've decided now to come out with the various examples I can remember from times where I was in a church and the sermon contained statements I don't agree with, but perhaps could be linked to agreeing with since I remained in the pew. Perhaps I even took the sacrament that day as well.

As a preamble, I partially my experiences on family and friends who pressured me to go to mass, be it during the holidays, at a wedding or just because that's what they do on Sundays. But I will heartily take the blame for my being present when various sermons occurred.

Here goes.

As a younger person, I was told that Ronald Reagan was a good religious man by a pastor and that the parish should vote for him. I remember it even though I could not vote at the time. My parents, who took me to the Inaugural Ball in 1980 at the Smithsonian with a brother, also may not know my brother and I smoked marijuana before we went into the presentation. That's not related to the sermon, but since I'm coming clean, what the hell.

Another time, the pastor had us all give money for a bus fund to go to Washington DC for a Pro-Life Rally. He preached about how the baby is murdered and was very graphic. I believe in a woman's right to choose, but I stayed in that pew even after he was done. As a matter of fact, that same church (that pastor turned out to be an alcoholic) has had a number of priests with the same message over the years. As for the pastor being an alcoholic, I could have done something about that since he was in my parish, but I failed to stop him from drinking. I could have embarrassed my aunt and uncle I was visiting, but I remained in the pew.

In 2004, a pastor at another church told the congregation that John Kerry was a bad Catholic and that George Bush was Pro-Life and should continue to be our next President. What did I do? Ok, I yawned loudly and put on a Kerry button when I went up for Communion so the priest could see me, but did I not leave the pew? No. My alliance and the fact that my ride back to my car was in my aunt and uncle's hands delivering back to their home overrode my fleeting intention to flip the bird at the altar and walk out.

Occasionally, where I live, I go to mass at a local church around the corner. Th pastor there has stated at different times that marriage is purely for man and woman alone. He is also gay and stays with his lover most of the rest of the week, according to many parish goers. Do I not stand up and tell him he's a hypocrite when he states homophobic statements? No, I remain in my pew. Why? Because the only times I go to that church (or any) is because I am pressured to. The people visiting me who thought we should go to church seemed to have more precedent meaning than me sharing with them the hypocrisy and ruining the nice brunch I had prepared for them later.

As a former Catholic who went to Catholic schools in my younger years, there are plenty of other examples that I could share that could damn me as a warmonger, a jingoist, an anti-feminist, a Republican and otherwise what I am not. That's why I am a former Catholic. I could go back to those schools and see if Father Duffy is still there, but it is winter and gas prices are pretty high.

But since it appears evident that whenever a pastor or priest said something "questionable" and anyone in that place of worship agrees by proxy, I just felt the need to come clean and on the record.

If this is not enough to just explain what happened, I hereby not only DENOUNCE but also REJECT any and all implications during my incarceration.

Did I mention that I DENOUNCE and REJECT any questionable statements from pastors past or even passed? OK. I feel better now.







:sarcasm:

[Beregond2]

1. Church

Ah, but the trolls here will say: "Yes, but you had the decency to leave that church. Obama hasn't!" They aren't interested in trying to understand; only in digging up anything they can to try to destroy the Democratic frontrunner.

[zulchzulu]

2. Chances are...

...I'll be in a church this coming weekend (visitors in town that like going to church on Easter) and will undoubtedly be in a situation where I will, by omnipotent osmosis, soak in some policy by the Pope that I don't agree with. That will be my cross to bear, no pun intended.

[blm]

3. At my mom's fundie Catholic church they were told to SHUN their family who divorced

even if it was their own children or brothers and sisters - and that was said in the 90s not the 50s.

[zulchzulu]

7. See! Your mom is by omnipotent osmosis stuck in the 1950s!

See how it works! Being her son, it is implied that you are of the same opinion!


:sarcasm:

[blm]

10. heheh....z...after all these YEARS, you didn't know I'm a female?

I take it you never went to the DU Gallery? heheheh

[zulchzulu]

11. I'll stop by DU Gallery more often

:smoke:

[blm]

12. haha....I just got that....

.

[rug]

4. This is a good approach that will be sure to unite America.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Perhaps Obama will become ...

a former Christian once he's President. :sarcasm:

[QC]

6. "(sorry, those who didn't go to college)"

How very progressive of you to be concerned for those ignorant rubes who just aren't as smart as you are!

[Divernan]

8. What about "Every non-Catholic will burn in the fires of hell!!!"?

From the priests in the pulpit and those sweet-faced young nuns teaching me catechism?
And "If you set one foot inside a non-Catholic (mainly meaning Protestant) church, you are guilty of a mortal sin and if you should die before you confess that, YOU WILL BURN IN THE FIRES OF HELL FOREVER!!!" And if we didn't give enough of our lunch money to buying pagan babies - why all those unbought pagan babies WOULD BURN IN THE FIRES OF HELL FOREVER! ! ! I'm sure JFK and all Catholic politicians (Ferraro)heard that kind of crap over the years. Most intellectual Catholics either leave the church or practise a cafeteria style Catholicism - choosing which manmade precepts to follow and which to ignore.

I figured out I was an agnostic at the age of 12 (having read about the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls in a Harper's article - and watched the alcoholic priests long enough). But I kept my mouth shut amongst all my Catholic family members, friends and neighbors. I kept going to the services, and taking communion and making up little lies to tell in confession while keeping my very enjoyable sex life to myself. At a high school reunion some 30 years later, I found out that a lot of my classmates had followed the same course of action - and not a few of them had been sexually molested by one of the parish priests. When we left our hometown, we left Holy Mother Church too. But when we went home to visit, we went to Christmas mass and communion so as not to upset the still-religious family members.

Decades later I tried attending a local Presbyterian church because one of my teenagers had gotten involved with their Youth Group (free ski trips!) and they had a wonderful choir and music program. One day the minister told the congregation he had personally heard Jesus speak to him "and I don't mean just in my mind, I literally heard his voice with my ears!" Shortly after that the Youth Minister, not recognizing me in a rental car I was driving, shook his fist at me, and with a few curse words, screamed at me for not letting him in from a merge lane, and ridiculed me as someone who had to drive a rental car - I guess that meant I was poor. (Their church was in the wealthiest, snobbiest suburb of the town). So buh-bye to the Presbyterians also. Told my kid my reasons, but didn't force the issue, and she shortly quit too.

On the other hand, I have a dear friend/classmate who was studying for the Catholic priesthood but switched to the Episcopal church and became a priest there. Super guy with a lovely family, and when I'm in his part of Virginia, it's an uplifting pleasure to attend his services and hear his sermons. And when I visit other countries, I enjoy attending church services to get a sense of local culture and history and architecture. I just bought a Great Religions of the World DVD series from the Learning Company because you really have to understand religions like Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, etc., to understand the variations within these religions and the economic, psychological and political impact they have.

Politicians nearly all belong to some church or other - Hillary even has her sex-segregated Capitol Hill Conservative Women's Prayer Group. So Obama's fiery preacher is a non-issue to me.
I don't expect any black preacher to say: "Know your place. Keep your mouth shut. You'll get your reward in heaven. . . . .Now, let's eat!" (Thanks to Red State Guys for that example)

[blm]

13. You make some great points.

.

[cooolandrew]

9. EXCELLENT point well made. =)