A few years ago, don't remember which year, I walked into a Catholic church looking for solace, for insight, for an anchor in a stormy life. I sat down in the big drafty church, listened to a tepid, joyless sermon, surrounded by strangers, feeling alone. This is the religion I was raised in, and yet I feel no sense of solidarity with it.
It must have been a Christmas service; I recall the priest talking about the need to be generous and give help to the "less fortunate" of our fellow citizens--meaning poor people. He lost me when he spoke about the "embarrassment"of the poor when seeking help from charity. His tone was one that suggested poor people should be embarrassed because they are poor. I never set foot in a Catholic Church again.
I will concede that there are good and justice minded people who claim the Catholic religion as their own. As for me, I'm down with the justice minded, but I'm not in church on Sundays.
In the news this week, another reverend's sermon got a lot more attention than the one I just mentioned. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity Church in Chicago is candidate Barack Obama's fiery former pastor. Nothing tame or tepid about Reverend Wright's sermons, which is why somebody's bound to be offended by them. But Reverend Wright is NOT Barack Obama, any more than Father what's-his-name represents me.
Anyway, wasn't it Jesus who got so p!##*% off at the subrime lenders loansharking in his temple that he delivered them a thundering sermon of his own? Read your Bible. He wasn't shy about expressing his views, either.
So, could we get over the hair splitting and semantics scrutinizing and MoveOn with the business of restoring America to the country we know it can be?
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