If you search Mudcat for the term "imaginary friend," you will see that the phrase has been used dozens of times and become almost a mantra for those who want to ridicule the Christian faith. And in using the term, the posters generally class all Christians with the extreme fundamentalists, holding all up to the same ridicule. Well, many Christians far more sophisticated in their thinking. They are often quite familiar with Joseph Campbell and his Power of Myth work, and they accept it or at least respect the idea that there is a strong element of myth in religious faith - and yet they remain believers.

Most of us hold something sacred - and I think that much of what we deem sacred is that which we do not completely understand, what Kierkegaard terms "mystery." The haughtiness of rationalism ignores the mystery of that which we cannot understand - and I think that haughtiness brought about much of the social and ecological damage wrought by the industrial revolution and carried on throughout the twentieth century. Religious thought and practice is one way to explore mystery, but there are also non-religions ways.

What we hold sacred, is part of who we are. Perhaps we hold our parents or grandparents sacred, or home, or a special tree, or our marriage. Perhaps it's the work of a particular author, or a work of art, or a special place in nature. For Catholics, the Eucharist and Jesus Christ are sacred; for Protestants, Christ and the Bible; for Jews, the Torah and the Exodus story; for Muslims, the Holy Koran and Mohammed; for Buddhists, statues of the Buddha. All of these sacred things and people and events lead us into a deeper and more appreciative understanding of the mysteries of life. If they are truly sacred, these sacred things are not imposed upon us - they are a real part of who we are. And if others attack that which is sacred to us, they attack us.

I've followed the child abuse and molestation crisis in the Catholic Church since the very beginning, long before it hit the general press. And I am outraged at what has happened. I felt betrayed by Pope Paul VI by his refusal to accept birth control in 1968, and the authorities of the Catholic Church have done one outrageous thing after another since then - silencing of theologians, punishing priests and nuns for ministering to gays and lesbians, trying to make an "infallible" statement that women can never become priests, ridiculous grandstanding on the issue of abortion, and on and on and on. By 1995, thirty years after Vatican II, the hierarchy had very little credibility among thinking Catholics. And then the sex abuse crisis hit, and the hierarchy dealt with it abominably.

Since 1968, I have had no reason to have any shred of respect for authority within the Catholic Church - and because of this, "authority" is completely outside my religious vocabulary. But I still have my Catholic faith, and it is still sacred to me - even though it is administered by dottering old men who are horribly flawed and oftentimes outright corrupt. But still, my faith is sacred to me, and my life of faith has been a good one.

So, when you criticize, criticize the corruption and the crime and and all that is bad within the Catholic Church (and there is a lot) - but remember that there is still an essence of the Catholic faith that lies very deep in the hearts of Catholic people, and that essence is good and sacred. Please respect whatever it is that people hold to be sacred - because if you don't, you fail to respect the people themselves. And if you don't understand something that is sacred to somebody, leave it be - don't try to explain it away or hold it up to ridicule.

-Joe-

Oh, and you may want to Click here for a series of very honest articles in the National Catholic Reporter that are very critical of the child molestation and abuse scandal.