I no longer consider myself Catholic. I haven't in a long time. But when crazy things start hitting the news media about the church's rules/teachings/etc. I have to defend.
Today's Globe ran an article about 50 "catholic" organizations taking out an ad in an Italian newspaper demanding the church to reverse it's teachings on artificial contraception. THey claim that teaching that contraception is wrong "has had catastrophic effects on the poor and weak of the whole world, putting in danger the lives of women and exposing millions of people to the risk of contracting HIV."
Ok, I will say that poor people shouldn't be having 10 kids...but, I digress.
If you are a faithful, practicing Catholic, you wouldn't be at risk for contracting HIV through sex. You wouldn't be sleeping around, you most likely wouldn't be marrying someone who has (because you'd be looking for someone with your same faith and values). You wouldn't be having same sex relationships, and you wouldn't be wishing to become a female priest.
I don't know... I am a traditionalist in many ways...and because of that, I have a hard time with people thinking they can just change a whole faith tradition because they have problems with it. WHile I don't agree with many of the church's teachings, I respect it because it has largely remained unchanged for centuries. A faith that blows with the wind is not faith at all.
People have convictions all the time, and if your convictions tell you that Catholicism is NOT the true way to salvation (because you think it's oppressive, or whatever), than you need to tune into your spirit and ask God "what is truth?" and find a place that reveals that truth to you. It's a path that we all must take, if we want to be serious about our beliefs - and if we want to know WHAT we believe.
I went through a time where there was so much that I disagreed with in the Catholic church that I said to myself, "self, you DON'T ascribe to these beliefs...so how can you say that you're Catholic?" Heck, according to canon law, just by thinking/believing some of the things I do automatically excommunciates me. And that's just fine...because to each his own.
I believe in my heart that I've found truth. It's not something you find in "religion" per se... it is faith... it is personal. There are tons of denominations of churches out there. Based on my faith, I know some of them are crap, but there is a different flavor, if you will, for every type of person out there. So don't go around expecting fundamental beliefs to change in your church just because you want them to.
Knock and the door shall open. Seek and you will find...
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