We're assailing our own faiths now, too....

We're likely to talk a lot about religion around here, led of course by Lex "Just Because You're An Islamophobe Doesn't Mean They're Not Out To Get You" Lesotho. Talking about religion makes a lot of people uncomfortable... and we strive for making people uncomfortable, in all facets of life.

As all four of us are of Irish and/or French-Canadian blood, we grew up primarily in the Catholic faith. Like many people our age, though, none of us are what one would call "devout"; Cartola had a head start on being a heathen as his family was never the churchgoing type, Lex thinks he's Christopher Hutchins, Keyser isn't allowed back after that incident with the altar server, and I go only on those Sunday mornings when I'm not massively hungover (read: just Christmas and Easter). Still, we feel like we can assail the Catholic Church more than all others (except Lex and Islam) because we're one of them, sort of like how black folks are the only ones that can drop the n-bomb.

Three incidents have recently reminded me why I have such a problem with Catholics. (And yes, all come from the world of sports, because I get all my news from sports blogs.)

First, and most egregiously, comes this quote from the Archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, regarding SLU coach Rick Majerus' support of abortion rights and stem cell research at a Hillary rally:

It's not possible to be a Catholic and hold those positions. When you take a position in a Catholic university, you don't have to embrace everything the Catholic church teaches. But you can't make statements which call into question the identity and mission of the Catholic church.

(emphasis mine) Now, it's been a while since the last time I was excommunicated (the Jesuits really didn't appreciate my feces sculpture of St. Ignatius Loyola), but I'm pretty sure I'm still a Catholic. Was I not supposed to stand up for the rights of pregnant women? Was I not supposed to push for medical innovation that can potentially prolong the lives of sick adults? I can understand disagreeing with Majerus and Clinton - though the pro-life stance makes much more sense to me than the anti-stem cell research stance - but just because you're a Catholic doesn't mean you should have to take every word from a very conservative Vatican as (pardon the pun) gospel. I expected more out of you, Roman Catholicism; this kind of opinion squashing I saw as the purview of some organization with far less intellect and smart governance, like the Bush Administration.

(A related, possibly apocryphal story from a few years ago: Back when my wife was in law school, she had a professor that was on loan from BC Law. Apparently the president of BC, Father B. L. Zabub, S.J., had asked the then-dean of the Law School how many practicing Catholics were on the Law faculty. When the dean didn't know, he was let go. I didn't realize that BC Law was only concerned with canon law, and not the laws of the secular, godless world.)

Incident number two:

Fuck Notre Dame!
Fuck Touchdown Jesus!
Fuck Jesus!

Now, I can totally get behind those first two sentiments (though fucking Notre Dame would feel a little like getting with the girl who has had WAY too much to drink, what with the state of their football program). And I've been known to jokingly curse out God and His Son and, yes, His Holy Spirit, on occasion if properly motivated. But here's the key: jokingly. Even Lex's favorite imams give props to Jesus as a great guy. Dana Jacobson was clearly kidding; it was a roast, for Christ's sake (ouch). People make crazy exaggerated (drunken) statements at those things. But that doesn't mean that Christ's One Representative On Earth, Bill Donohue, from making wild pronouncements and demanding more than just an apology. Perhaps a crucifixion is in order? That would even the score.

Finally, something closer to home for me. The town-versus-gown battle never stops around Boston College, but some BC fans took it too far when they made anti-semitic comments about some of the Brighton residents who are in opposition to... well, pretty much everything involving BC. I'm no fan of the Brightonians (and there's no way I'm linking to their blog), as they're petty, ridiculous, and want nothing less than BC to move back to the South End, but this kind of statement on the BC message board makes no sense:

If it was Brandeis looking to move into this neighborhood, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

The Holocaust stuff, that's (hopefully) just bad luck; people use Nazis as imagery for overly strict people all the time, and the fact that one of the Brighton No-Goodniks is related to a Holocaust survivor is probably only a coincidence. Still, the anti-semitic sentiment wasn't necessary, as it's hard to make the case that religion is the reason for their constant opposition to BC expansion. But accusing people of being anti-Catholic in Boston? The city of Boston is more pro-Catholic than the Holy See. It's been a long time since Catholics were discriminated against in Boston - even the old money Brahmins have an Irish brogue these days. Lots of people can feel discriminated against in Boston - blacks, Hispanics, blacks, Republicans, blacks - but Catholics are the last group that should feel that way.

I don't think I'm alone in feeling like the Catholic Church and its more outspoken lay members are doing all that they can to drive me away. And they wonder why Mass attendance is still trending down, churches are going belly-up, no one signs up for Holy Orders anymore, and "lapsed Catholic" is a widespread stereotype....