I Hope He Burns In The Hell I Don't Really Believe In Anymore
It's not the sadly bigoted but predictable opening gambit here that makes me apoplectic; hostility to organized gay tourist groups is idiotic but I'm not so surprised. What puts me over the top is:
I consider if someone is homosexual, it is a provocation and an abuse of this place. Try to go to a mosque if you are not Muslim. It is abuse of our buildings and our religion because the church interprets our religion that it is not ethical. We expect respect of our church as we expect to respect that a person does not have to belong to the Catholic Church. If you have different ideas, go to a different location.
The Catholic Church I grew up in had a small leaflet with every hymnal in the pews, which in addition to providing the schedule of services and other such items had a few FAQs (before that was common parlance) in the back, one of the questions being something like "is it appropriate for me to observe or partake in a mass if I am not a Catholic?" The answer was something along the lines of:
Our church is of course welcoming to visitors of all faiths and creeds, whether they be guests of a member or simply exploring the nature of Catholicism. We ask that non-Catholics refrain from partaking in the Communion, as we consider it a holy sacrament, but are always pleased to have visitors to our church.
THAT is the church that I loved as a child, and if I were ever to return to Catholicism, that is the church of which I would be a member.
__________
Veteran's Day, né Armistice Day, is lately most notable to me for being the anniversary of my (other, paternal) grandfather's death. He himself was a veteran, during but not of World War II, as he never saw a foreign theater. Perhaps this is why, or some other reason, I was in a state such that, on seeing this image my eyes reddened and my throat swelled shut. "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is one of the Oldest Lies, but I remain both moved and confounded by the service and sacrifice offered up by so many, both willingly and under duress, for causes noble, amoral, and wicked.
My faith in God is largely absent (so I should stay out of Bishop Kaleta's church) and my admiration of war long banished since boyhood, but the poetically simple message on the monument still moves me.
Here rests in honored glory an American soldier. known but to God.
I consider if someone is homosexual, it is a provocation and an abuse of this place. Try to go to a mosque if you are not Muslim. It is abuse of our buildings and our religion because the church interprets our religion that it is not ethical. We expect respect of our church as we expect to respect that a person does not have to belong to the Catholic Church. If you have different ideas, go to a different location.
The Catholic Church I grew up in had a small leaflet with every hymnal in the pews, which in addition to providing the schedule of services and other such items had a few FAQs (before that was common parlance) in the back, one of the questions being something like "is it appropriate for me to observe or partake in a mass if I am not a Catholic?" The answer was something along the lines of:
Our church is of course welcoming to visitors of all faiths and creeds, whether they be guests of a member or simply exploring the nature of Catholicism. We ask that non-Catholics refrain from partaking in the Communion, as we consider it a holy sacrament, but are always pleased to have visitors to our church.
THAT is the church that I loved as a child, and if I were ever to return to Catholicism, that is the church of which I would be a member.
__________
Veteran's Day, né Armistice Day, is lately most notable to me for being the anniversary of my (other, paternal) grandfather's death. He himself was a veteran, during but not of World War II, as he never saw a foreign theater. Perhaps this is why, or some other reason, I was in a state such that, on seeing this image my eyes reddened and my throat swelled shut. "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is one of the Oldest Lies, but I remain both moved and confounded by the service and sacrifice offered up by so many, both willingly and under duress, for causes noble, amoral, and wicked.
My faith in God is largely absent (so I should stay out of Bishop Kaleta's church) and my admiration of war long banished since boyhood, but the poetically simple message on the monument still moves me.
Here rests in honored glory an American soldier. known but to God.
posted by medrawt at
22:45
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