Okay you guys, if I hear one more time that 98% of all women
who identify themselves as Catholic (except when some of those women were baptized Catholic and are now actually
Unitarian) use contraceptives, I think I am going to scream. Not kidding. I
think I am going to go all ballistic and start pulling out my hair. And I rather like my hair so this is something I would like to avoid.
Let me just send a little message in all love and Christian
charity: Sin is Sin. The consequence of sin is separation from God. Separation
from God, if not corrected and continued willfully is a mortal sin. Mortal sins, if not corrected, will lead to Hell. Sorry for
that, but that is the Truth. It doesn’t matter whether you particularly like a
certain sin or whether you even agree that sin really exists. The truth is the
truth whether you agree with it or not.
Being Catholic starts with baptism. But it doesn’t end with
it. It is a journey and a constant battle, every single day. Believe me, there
were times when I knew it would be easier to not be Catholic. I had that very
thought the other day at the grocery store as I was passing the table of Girl
Scouts selling their delicious wares (that fund Planned Parenthood). So it’s
not a walk in the park and a yummy Samoa . But to me, it’s
worth it in order to live my life aligned with the Truth. And I have been
happier every day for it, even when I thought I was miserable in the moment
(like when I had to wake up at 4am on
my Hawaiian vacation to take my temperature). And being Catholic is something active. It involves things, very basic
things, like going to Mass, availing yourself of the sacraments, and living the
life that the Church in Her 2000 years of wisdom proscribes for us.
So here’s my main argument about that 98% statistic. If you
don’t attend Mass and you don’t accept the rules that are being given to us
(especially when not accepting them puts you in a state of mortal sin), then
you are.not.Catholic. Even if some years back, your mother and
father brought you into the Church in a beautiful little white dress and promised
to raise you in the faith. Even if you attended Catholic school
all your life until college and then had an “epiphany” that a “bunch of old
guys in Rome
I am so tired of being someone living the Catholic life to
the best of my ability, and being the one ignored. Why are they measuring us by
those who aren’t of us? I know this is media spin, and I know we have made
strides, but really? There are plenty mass-going, NFP using self-identified
Catholics and we never even pop up on the radar.
So what do we do? How do we make ourselves heard? What do we
have to do to in order to prove that those of us who are actually Catholics
truly live our faith and that it’s not really open to discussion?
If they can say “don’t like abortion, don’t have one,” can
we all just say “don’t like Catholicism, don’t call yourself one”?
