Joe, you and I have had a rather up and down ride for a long while. But I feel it is important for you to know something. I guess I could do this with a PM, but I think a public affirmation might be better.

In my mind, you would have been a wonderful priest, one that I would love my children to be taught by. In your writings about the faith we share, I find wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. And most importantly, I find that my own struggles within our church are shared, and I learn much of what is required for me to continue my own attempts to get folks to see the man from Galilee as I see him. My belief is that the Lord is pretty angry at much of what is being done in his name. I want to share something that was written to me in a PM. It is from one of our finest, most thoughtful, 'Catters. I won't share the name because I don't have the permission, but this gentle soul is one whose opinion is always valued by me. He said:

I am not a Christian, but I am coming more around to the way of thinking of the gentle Aramaic speaker. When he was given the choice between quoting laws and invoking moral outrage, he invoked simple kindness. He did it time and time again - as indeed with the famous challenge, "Let he who hath no sin cast the first stone." I prefer that way of thinking to all the judgemental crap and psuedo morality (as I see it) put up by any of the institutions.

I believe, Joe, that those nuns, and folks like you, are the ones responsible for that kind of thought process. I believe you do more to touch the strings of the instrument of understanding and good works than all of those "know nothings" combined. We have those among us who seek to be seen as wise. Then there is you, who is just understood to be wise.

I was at church the other day, and was accosted by an otherwise nice woman who asked me how I could vote for a "baby murderer". I responded that I was voting against one. She looked at me, very puzzled, and wanted to know what I was saying. I asked her about the thousands of babies killed in a war that was started on false pretenses. Her response was, "Oh, well .... they aren't even American". So I asked her if her position was that only American babies should be saved? Then I asked her if that was her understanding of what it means to be Catholic and Christian? When you run into this stuff, Joe, when you see this kind of unthinking rhetoric, how can we get discouraged?

Yours is the truer vision of what it means to follow the teachings of the gentle Aramaic speaker. Yours is the correct understanding of the mysteries of faith, that it is about taking the basic training and then applying it as we walk the path. Folks like me don't have the answers, just the desire for the search. We look to folks like you to help us along when we get a bit sidetracked. Don't get discouraged, just get more committed. In the end, it will be worth it.

We may not always agree on the best way to do things here on Mudcat, but rest assured you are respected and seen as a thoughtful man. You have the right of it, not the black and white, right and wrong, know nothings.

Stay the course,

Mick