I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school, and then went off to the seminary in ninth grade, at the age of 13. I spent eight years in seminary, and loved it. I changed from a shy, pious, quiet person to a 60's radical. I left the seminary to get married, but I've worked in the Catholic Church ever since - usually as a volunteer, and sometimes as an employee.

I guess since college, I've always considered myself part of the "loyal opposition" in the Catholic Church - some outsiders and some fundamentalist Catholics might not consider me Catholic, but I'm well within the mainstream. My theology is consistent with what you'd find in the Theology departments of most of the established Catholic universities. I'd like to see married women priests and an easier home for homosexuals in the Catholic Church, and I'd like to see a less combative opposition to abortion and an openness to birth control and to remarriage after divorce. Lots of Catholic priests and nuns (and a fair number of bishops) would like to see the same. Outsiders see the Catholic Church as monolithic in authority and doctrine, but it has never been that way - there has always been discussion, disagreement, and growth.

In general, I'm happy being a Catholic and see it as a good context for my spirituality, my study, and my work with the poor. The pope and even my local bishop have very little to do with my life as a Catholic, although the institutional Church does provide a culture and facilities and resources (like the schools I attended for 16 years). I've never, ever thought I had any need to obey the Pope. I've always thought if was every bit as much my church as it is his. And if my church has flaws, then I feel an obligation to do what I can to fix them.

As I've grown older, I think I've become somewhat less doctrinaire in my liberalism, and somewhat more able to tolerate conservatives. And since I went through a sad divorce in the early 1990's, I've found that I no longer had to try to be a religious person. It's hard to say this to people who won't believe it, but I've felt a constant, comfortable Presence of God with me since then. It's not a chit-chat sort of thing and I don't see anything other people don't see, but I do see God's action and presence in the life that surrounds me and that is within me. I'm not heavy on doctrine, but Jesus makes a lot of sense to me. But I'm hesitant to say that, because this is something that is sacred to me. I don't care to preach to unbelievers, or to force my faith on my children or on anybody else - but I do hope that they see something good in the way I live, and that perhaps people see that my faith gives deep meaning to my life.

And fundamentalists hate people like me, more than they hate atheists. I have always tried my best to tolerate people who have other beliefs, but I have to say that it has always been hard for me to accept and understand the rigidity of fundamentalism.

-Joe Offer-