The Catholic bishops and Obama

[hedgehog]

This is really weird. I live in a Red area in a Blue state - Upstate rural New York. About half the people here would call themselves Catholics. That includes people who show up every Sunday, just at Christmas and Easter and just for Baptisms, First Communions, Weddings and funerals.

I am very active - I've been on Parish Council, led the Liturgy of Word for Children, taken adult ed courses, taught Religious Ed for over 10 years and sing in the choir. Recently, our parish was assigned to a fundy pastor who is just waiting for the day he gets to turn the altar back around. We're also in the process of being merged with another parish. More and more of the people who are the backbone of this parish are slipping away to other, near-by parishes. They are voting with their feet.

The image of the Catholic Bishops being behind McCain didn't help McCain.More than half the Catholics who voted voted for Obama. Ironically, the bishops as a whole issued a very nuanced statement that boiled down to follow your conscience because this was a complicated decision. On the other hand, the moderates sat there in silence while the radicals threatened people with Hell. If anything, people are disgusted with the bishops for everything they did and did not do during this election cycle.

Here's the weird part - I have heard more than one person associate the election of Obama with the notion that things must change in the Catholic Church. This may be some sort of association of Kennedy with John XXII and Vatican II. This may be a feeling that if we can elect Obama, we can change anything.


Just an observation.

[Sal Minella]

1. "If we can elect Obama, we can change anything."

Could be. If we can break the stranglehold of rich old white men on the U.S. government, maybe we can break the stranglehold of the men in the red satin dresses on people who want to be Catholic but also want to give birth to only the number of children they can afford to raise in a decent standard of living. Wouldn't that be wonderful.

[Ian David]

2. There was one Bishop who said voting for Obama would damn you to Hell.

But why Catholics would vote for McCain, whose Pastor Hagee called The Catholic Church "The Great Whore" from Revelation, is beyond me.

[EC]

3. The Church lost a lot of us back in the late 60's because of their

unreasonable stance against "The Pill". That's when I left...finally there was a decent birth control method and the church was against it...all they allowed was the rhythm method and abstinance...stupid, stupid, stupid...So now it's going to happen again because of the same old stance, no birth control, no stem cell research, no abortion rights and accepting war and poverty to protect those stances...

[hedgehog]

4. Here's my observation - a lot of people left over the Birth Control Encyclical.

The ones who stayed either ignored it or else read the fine print that said birth control is a matter of your conscience (that is the official teaching, but you won't hear that from the Pope or any other bishop!)

The people who stayed thought the Church was more than and more important than the mumblings of a bunch of old men trying to preserve their status. For 40 years we've been willing to put up with them because they didn't interfere too much. The pedophilia cover-up shook up a lot of people, but as long as the bishops keep their word not to let it happen again, that's not a deal breaker. What is happening now, though, is that the bishops don't have enough celibate males to staff all the parishes, so their response world wide is to close parishes. In other words, now they are interfering with people's right to form a worship communities with access to the Eucharist.

There are two groups left in the Church - people who think that priests are little Gods and Vatican II was a mistake, and people who took Vatican II seriously. I think the second Reformation is underway, but this time people won't leave. We're just looking for our Catholic Obama!

[cap]

5. change is a commin' even for us Catholics

start checking out retreats sponsored by the nuns and you will be amazed at what's going on under the radar. Catholic yoga, Catholic reiki, Catholic meditation (contemplative prayer, reading Lectio Divina), grey nuns getting nominated for the Nobel prize. All kinds of Catholics are reaching out for this. You wouldn't believe who is doing this. I talked to someone who consults for homeland security and was a former air force pilot. The guy almost got sucked into Opus Dei... Now, he is reaching for meditation, yoga, and contemplative prayer. Who'd a thunk it?

Reach out and connect! You are not alone. It's just like the Dark Days of the Bush administration... where you are feeling disconnected and powerless. But this will change too.

Read Desmond Tutu's book "God Has A Dream" especially the part about Tutu contemplating a cross in the barren garden of winter. And how, he comes to realize that spring is coming and the world will flourish and turn green. He also has a wonderful discussion about the Transfiguration of Christ and what that means for us. As Tutu says, God works on his own time schedule... not ours.

The Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be saved.

People are there ... just look for them. Try the secular Fransciscans.