Reply #33: Ultimately,

[SOteric]

we Christians will stand in judgement and be asked to account for our beliefs and our actions according to those beliefs.

The leadership, the stewards of our church during the second World War took a chilling position with regard to the plight of the Jews. Given all I've come to know about Christ and his compassion that was a very wrong thing. If as a result of the perspective of the church at that time, a person had acted uncharitably toward a Jewish family, no part of me believes that the God I've walked with since my childhood would accept "The Pope and the Cardinals told me to" as excuse for reprehensible behaviour. We've been imbued with free will and with intelligence. If we believe in our hearts that a thing is wrong, Christ (who outranks the Pope) demands the we do what we know to be right.

In many places at various times and with regard to specific issues, the Church in Rome and the Church in America are more liberal and alternately more conservative. Our beloved retired Archbishop Hunthausen here in Seattle was as liberal a man of god as I've ever met. The Jesuit priests who work with and run the school where I teach are all but a small handful, liberal.

But politics and the church are two different issues and should ever remain so (however true it is that some aspects deeply intertwine). Regardless of our politics, we are called upon by God to act in ways that further our spirits, not our political agendas.

My family has a few assholes in it, and sometimes those folks even have a great deal of power and authority. I still have not changed my name and left the clan. Time changes everything, including who wields the power. My country is currently being run by a vast asshole conspiracy and I haven't packed up and left for Europe. I feel an obligation to guide my family, my country and my church in the ways I wholeheartedly believe to be right and honourable.

So too with the Catholic church. I stay because I feel the church needs a strong clear voice telling the catechuminates that Christ does not hate and does not teach hate or discrimination; that science is a gift from God and not an enemy of the spirit; that ignorance is not the fruit of a loving God; that we cannot and should not legislate spirituality. If the stewardship of the Catholic church believe that aborting a fetus is wrong, God would call us to change the hearts of individuals rather than legislate for masses.

:hug: