Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

FROM RELIGION TO POLITICS IN 700 WORDS OR LESS

i wrote yesterday about a teacher at st. ed’s who died recently. i wondered this morning if you thought that we were a “catholic” family because matt and mark went to st ed’s. so i thought that i’d write today about that and offend a lot of people, you know – the writing about religion thing.

no, we are definitely NOT a catholic family. i was raised as a catholic and attended mass regularly until i was 13. my sisters and i did this on our own. my parents were divorced, drunks, and excommunicated. when my sister pj was denied absolution when she was 12 because our mother was “living in sin” because her new marriage was outside the church, i stopped going. damned idiot, that priest. gave up on our souls, and the church sure as hell didn’t care about what the hell else was going on in that house. but it sure as fuck was brilliant, wasn’t it? take a little girl, pj, who loved the church, took great comfort and refuge in it, and throw her out, too. i wasn’t the kind of person who had a tremendous amount of “faith” in these people, even before this happened, so it didn’t hurt me as bad, but i sure wasn’t playing the game anymore.

i’ve known some truly great people of faith. jews, buddhists, muslims, yes, and even some catholics. faith is just that – faith. deeply ingrained. a part of a person. if it’s real. and those of profound faith work every day to live up to that. it’s not a badge you wear because you’ve completed the steps satisfactorily (like a boy scout merit badge). in the catholic church, those steps are the sacraments of baptism, communion, confirmation. you’re still considered a catholic before then as a child, you’re just a “cub scout.”

we ALL know catholics and others (oh boy, just call yourself a christian in the usa and it’s like the sky is supposed to open up with the sound of angels singing – all the while behaving like the biggest whore, thief, molester, liar, etc) who wear their religion like a badge. means nothing. at least to me. my god would prefer to see sit beside him my matthew, who, while not a catholic in ANY sense of the word (was never baptised, etc) was the student head of the retreat program at st. ed’s, handpicked by another angel on earth, mr. c., one of the most devout and steadfast men of faith i’ve ever met. matt is not even a christian; i’m still not sure what he is – he gave me a mathematical formula once to try to explain it to me. i didn’t get it. but he IS a good man, a strong man, a young man who had a lot to teach the other kids about goodness, kindness, compassion, and strength. traits mr. c. evidently felt worthy of his respect. there were plenty (duh!) of “catholic” boys he could have chosen, but didn’t. i don’t wonder why, do you?

and i don’t doubt for a second that on the other side, he’d seat jax, my recovering drug addict, the kid who hopes his hugs and love can help try to sooth the pain of a heroin addict in the midst of severe withdrawal. you see, the heroin addict is penniless, trying to get clean on his own, cuz we don’t have enough free beds to offer those who want/need to get clean (i’m pretty sure jesus didn’t lecture / condemn the beggars that they did this to themselves) can you imagine how hard this must be? how much you must want to be clean to put yourself through this hell? do you have it in you to be compassionate? does your “religion” allow (compel) you to try? if you say no, you’re fooling yourself. just like the men who flew jets into the world trade center towers “in the name of religion.” just like our own deeply “christian” president. he doesn’t give a fuck either.