OK, so I've answered Greg and Steve and I hope we find a cure for the Zika virus.

Now I want to talk about what I've been thinking about the last couple of days, stemming from this discussion.

A while back, SPB-Cooperator started a thread titled Trump, and this was the main part of the first post:

In light of one of your presidential candidates calling for increased and more intensive use of torture, why do you think as a country you have any right to participation on the world stage, and do you think you should be subjected to worldwide sanctions?

Get this: since one obnoxious person is a candidate for political office, the entire nation should be disqualified from participation on the world stage.

I think I'm in a similar predicament in this and so many others of the religion threads: I get shamed for being a Catholic, because other Catholics have done things that I agree are wrong.

I'll be the first to admit that Catholicism is a fucked-up religion. I've been saying that since the 1960s. A nun I know told a class of prospective converts that she didn't know why anybody would want to become a Catholic, because the Catholic Church is such a mess. And so it is.

It may be a mess, but it's my mess. I was born into it, and most of my family was Catholic going back for centuries. My dad and I are the only Catholics left in the family, but so be it. A lot of people shop around until they find a religion or whatnot that fits their expectations, and then they join it. If that works for them, that's fine. My wife was raised Catholic, but she doesn't find room for women in a male-dominated church - and I can't disagree with her on that. So, she participates in women's spirituality groups that practice a mixture of Native American, Celtic, and earth-based spiritualities. It works for her, so I respect her for that - and I find that her spirituality and mine are very compatible.

But for me, the Catholic Church is where I'm from. It's my home, where I feel most able to be who I am. To me, it's authentic (partially because it's such a mess), and authenticity is important to me. I suppose if somebody were coming into the Catholic Church new from the outside, they would be unlikely to question Catholic rules and teachings. If they didn't like the rules and teachings, why did they become Catholic? I admit I get annoyed at evangelicals who join the Catholic Church because they like our sacraments, but then keep acting and talking like evangelicals otherwise. But as for me, I've been asking questions and breaking the rules since I was a teenager - I was born into the Catholic Church, so it's my birthright. Members of a family should ask challenging questions about what goes on in the family - but it's generally impolite for outsiders to be asking those questions. For the most part, they should be questioning their own families. Condemning others rarely accomplishes anything good - it just causes animosity and gives the blamer a false sense of superiority.

So, I guess I'll just keep on belonging to my "cult," if that's what you think it is. And I'll keep asking questions and disobeying the rules, because that's my birthright. And while I agree that the Catholic Church is seriously fucked up, I won't apologize. It's my home, my family, and I like it there. It may not work for other people, but it works for me.

Musket may call my style of being Catholic, "boutique Catholicism," but I disagree. I think the boutique people are the ones who shop around for something that suits them. I'd rather take what I have and try to fix it. But to each his own.

-Joe-