What you can do if no one will listen…..

We have all been frustrated at times by injustice that we feel incapable of correcting. Not merely do we feel powerless to challenge the system ourselves but we have no idea how to get anyone to listen to us.

I ran into this system with our local city authorities recently. The city refused to return s deposit I had made to get my utilities hooked up in spite of an admitted agreement to return the deposit after a specified period of prompt payment of my bill. When the time came the city manager was very pleasant, admitted that we had a contract but said the city council had decided not to live up to its

Why am I a Catholic?

After one has spent pages detailing the failures of the Church, primarily the hierarchy, to live up to the ideals of Christianity, it is necessary to say why I am still a practicing Catholic. Every day I run across people who ask “why if you feel that way are you still a Catholic?” The simple answer is Peter’s: “Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life!” But those words are increasingly difficult to distinguish in all the clamor and debate today. As one realizes that the Church only gives us the principles but we must make our own decisions as to their application, right and wrong are no longer simple obedience to another human, be he bishop or pope. Before God it is my decision, not theirs. And that is what my faith comes down to: it’s God and me and no one else

There are others who have supporting roles: my parents who shared their faith with me and my brothers as we recited the family rosary each night, my god-parents, my aunt and uncle, and some priests from my childhood. And my wife by the love she shows me each day, a tangible image of God’s unconditional love. But my Christian dignity is as an individual for whom Christ died and I am privileged to make the choice to respond to His love in love and trust and faith.

That’s not exactly the question I set out to answer. I suppose some may feel I’m too lazy to change or too stubborn or too dumb, that I don’t know any better. I don’t! I believe that Christ is the divine Redeemer, the Son of God. I’m not even sure what that means, which is what faith means, but I believe. And I believe that He lives not just with the Father in Heaven but also in His Church, His community of believers here on earth.

About Authority ....

I frequently read comments posted by that most prolific writer, Anonymous. It irritates me, probably because I disagree with them, even when their subsequent comments disagree completely with their previous one. I'm not sure what it really is that is off-putting to me, possibly that a signed criticism carries more weight than an unsigned one. The writer is putting himself on the line.

Still there are reasons, sometimes substantial ones, why individuals do not want to identify themselves. It's a lot easier to append your signature to a statement or petition where you are one of many, than it is to stand alone in speaking up. Sometimes such action may jeopardize one's future or even one's current position. That's where age gives one great freedom. If you are near retirement, you can be pushed out without fanfare. I am inclined to think of some bishops who have received a gentle (or not so gentle) nudge into their twilight. But that frees them to speak out, unlike an otherwise pastoral cardinal who endorsed the papal teaching on birth control in Humani Generis but told a priest privately "I had to say it. It was expected of me." If you are retired, there's nothing "they" can do to you. If you are a prominent and respected theologian "they" can withdraw your license to teach as a Catholic theologian, and if you are a priest you are removed from the list of episcopabile.