First entry - after this anything goes
Mood:  party time!
As promised in my original email, I am going to discuss my feelings on the topics discussed by the four guys on the way to the Cubs game.

First off, I am a Catholic. I go to Mass every week and am an active volunteer in my Church.
Why do I go to Catholic mass?
I actually LIKE the ritual (many people find it boring). As catholics, we do the same thing at every Mass in this order:

1)We begin the Mass by asking forgiveness for our sins (it has been a full week since we have last been to mass. We Catholics realize that we commit sins daily. We try not to..but we do)

2)We recite a community prayer where we profess our Faith (I would be happy to provide anyone with a copy of this prayer). In sum, it says that we believe there is ONE God, but we also recognize three distinct faces of that God: God the Creator, Jesus (who we believe was/is God present on earth), and the Holy Spirit (who we believe was/is God speaking through the prophets(i.e. Isiah, Moses,etc.), and the disciples of Christ, and (hopefully)the Spirit guides us (meaning all humanity) in our actions.

3)Any member of the church may volunteer to read two Bible passages (the Church determines every year, which Bible Passages will be read on which dates)and then our priest reads a passage from the Gospels (i.e. Mark,Luke,Matthew,or John)

4) After the priest briefly discusses the readings, we offer up community prayers for our world leaders, clergy leaders, and any sick or recently deceased members of the parish, and then we recite the passage the Last Supper (the Passover meal) when Jesus declared the Eucharist (bread) to be his body and the wine to be his blood. This is what we refer to as the new covenant between God and his followers. It is basically an amendment to the old covenant with God that Moses delivered to the chosen people. Jesus asked his disciples (us) to recreate the Passover meal in his memory. As a result, the Eucharist is the essence of the Catholic Mass. We do not view Communion as symbolism. We believe that a true miracle occurs at every mass where the bread and wine are transformed into Jesus' body and blood. And by receiving Communion, we are feeding our souls with the essence of God. Other Catholics might phrase this belief differently. I might even ask my priest to get his input. But this is my understanding.

5) After Communion, the priest says a closing prayer and we all go home.

The above ritual and beliefs are the reason I am a member of the Catholic faith. What do I dislike about the Catholic faith?
My fear is that Catholics can be exclusionary. For instance, if you are not Catholic, you may attend a Catholic Mass, but you are not allowed to receive the Eucharist. The explanation is that if you do not study the faith, you can not truly understand the significance of what you are receiving. I understand the explanation. Nonetheless, I do not support the belief.

The other thing that concerns me is the numerous instances of scandal in the Catholic Church (this includes both, the recent priest scandals and the history of persecution by the church). To reconcile my concerns, I go back to what I really believe. I believe Jesus was God. I try to live my life by imitating what I think Jesus would do, and this sometimes conflicts with what I am hearing as "official stance" of the church. In these instances, I disregard the word of the Church and defer to word of God, as presented in the Gospels (By the way, I view Jesus' words in the Gospels as the only passages that I will accept as absolute truth).

As a result, I try to live my life by the simple commands that Jesus gave when questioned - what is the greatest commandment? Jesus' reply was "love God with your whole heart and love one another as yourself." To me, this means that in order to be a good follower of Christ, I can not judge others, and I am obligated to love everyone and treat them fairly, whether or not I agree with their beliefs, lifestyles,etc.

How do I rationalize my tendency to sometimes disregard "official church position?"

The fact is...I actually agree with the church positions, because I can trace these positions to specific passages of the Gospels. Nonetheless, I DO NOT agree with my religion or any other religion when they try to get involved in politics and law. Our forefathers, although religious, were very deliberate in ensuring a separation between Church & State in our laws. It is this distinction that makes America a true democracy. As a result, I refuse to argue secular issues (i.e. laws & rights) in terms of religious beliefs. On controversial issues, I will consider my religious beliefs, and I will weigh those beliefs against my natural inclination to ensure that religious beliefs do not influence politics to the point that they take away the freedoms and rights that we hold dear in a democracy.


Now I will briefly discuss the other topics of our car ride. I will provide what I believe to be the Catholic viewpoint, and then I will provide my personal viewpoint.


Abortion
The Catholic Church is obviously against it. My belief is that there is a life created when the sperm meets the egg. I do believe that it is a sin to destroy that life (but I also believe it is a sin to lie, to slander people, to gossip - in other words, we all have sins.

So should we outlaw abortion? I say NO, because I don't want us to go down the slippery slope of outlawing sin. But abortion is murder you say - shouldn't we outlaw murder? My answer is that abortion is murder ONLY if society agrees with me that a human is created when the sperm meets the egg. If we, as a society agree to that principle, then abortion should be outlawed.

While I do not propose outlawing abortion, I do agree with a law that requires parental notification for anyone under 18 considering abortion. If you are not old enough to vote, you are certainly not old enough to make this decision alone.

I further support a law that would require education about alternatives and counseling (which includes literature from churches,synagogues, & masques)for each person considering an abortion. If the person then makes an informed choice to have the abortion. It is my feeling that they have made their choice, and it is my obligation to pray for them.

Homosexuality

The church is certainly not as vociferous regarding this issue as they are regarding abortion. Though some will certainly point to scripture passages that refer to this as a sin.

Since I base my beliefs on the words of Jesus, I refer to a passage in the Gospel of Mark (Chapter 10 - New American Bible) where Jesus specifically discusses the issue of divorce. In sum, he says that divorce and remarriage is sin. He bases this on the premise that God created man and woman. "AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.

9"What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

I interpret this to mean that God's plan is for man and woman to get together. If man and man or woman and woman get together, this is against God's plan and it is sin. However, divorce and remarriage is sin; Lying is sin; slander is sin. The bottom line is that I commit sin and I love others who commit sin (Yikes! Time to go to church again!).

As a result, I do not think it is right to deny homosexuals the same rights we provide divorcees or liars,or people like me. I have many good friends who are homosexuals, or divorcees, or liars. Thus I am in favor of outlawing discrimination against same sex partners.

However, a very difficult question was presented to me. "If you allow full rights for same sex partners, shouldn't you allow full rights for polygamists (i.e. having more than one spouse)? How do you distinguish between the two? Can anyone help me out on this issue?

JM