American Catholic; an oxymoron?

[connecticut yankee]

I received this from a friend. Although I'm not a Catholic, I was very moved by this letter. The link:


http://catholicsforkerry04.org/AmericanCatholicanoxymoron.htm



American Catholic; an oxymoron?

By Annette Pritchard

I am a cradle Catholic with 16 years of Catholic education. In all those years I never ran into the kind of animosity and hatred I'm encountering in this election year. I always believed that the beauty, power and truth of my church lay in my freedom to study, pray and examine my own conscience. The Church has always offered scholarly and inspired information to help us form our beliefs. The Sisters of the Holy Names who taught me always stressed the importance of doing my own research and reaching my own conclusions and being open to new information and insights.

Can it be that time is moving backwards? Now I am suddenly being admonished on how to vote and told whether I'm worthy or not to approach the Eucharistic table. John Kerry is being held up,demonized as a heretic and judged by bishops who do not know him or his heart or mind. George W. Bush is supported by Church leaders as he continues to ignore direct requests from the Holy Father to first, not invade Iraq, and then to end the occupation and its accompanying crimes and abuses. At the same time, Bush asks for the Pope's aid in rallying US bishops to support his reelection bid. George W. Bush has overseen the state murder of more inmates than any governor in US history. His administration is guilty of war crimes against the Iraqi people. A sickening and thickening unethical fog boils around motives and contracts, leaks and deceits in his administration. Yet he is the paragon of Catholic virtue to these leaders because he claims to be against abortion!

I would like to know just how many babies have been saved since George W. Bush was appointed to office after the majority of US citizens made another choice. I would like to know how many souls have perished during this man's time in public office. I know, from grim personal experience, that one 19 year old boy who joined the Army because he thought the US Army did good things in the world, never came home from Iraq to celebrate his 20th birthday. Pfc William Ramirez was my nephew. His death this past February in Baghdad did nothing to bring peace or justice to the world. It was the worst waste of human life I can imagine. Not only did he suffer and die, but he was forced to cause suffering and death in the name of his country. His mother will live with that pain for the rest of her life. When I try to imagine the anguish of our family multiplied and amplified by thousands of American families of killed and wounded troops and by tens of thousands of Iraqi families dead, maimed, homeless and destitute, the enormity of evil overwhelms me. And the cause? Ask Mr. Bush what his what his current reasoning is for invading and occupying Iraq might be.

So at this time when I am hurt and struggling people in my own congregation turn from me as they come to know my circumstances and political convictions. Because I see in John Kerry an intelligence, understanding and experience that could work to end this abhorrent war which has stained our country's honor forever. Because I will not give my vote to a man who says he is against abortion, but who exhibits his clear disdain for life and basic Christian values here and around the world. Friends who used to call have stopped. Invitations that used to come don't. Smiles and warm greetings that were offered are withheld.

I am hurt, shocked and confused about what I thought of as my Church. I'm not sure I can identify with these people -- bishops, priests and laity, who are so unwilling to talk and listen and who are ready to judge my heart by a bumper sticker. What has happened to my Church? The Church that proclaimed the sacredness of every soul? The mystery of free will? The endless love of God and the dignity of all life? I must have been living in a time warp and just recently come through to the cold plane of reality. But I will not give up the Church of my childhood and my college years. I will not believe that the Church which witnessed my marriage and received my children with joy could turn on my family. I will also not give up examining and praying about the choices I have as an American citizen. No one can take that away from me. It is my right and my duty as a Catholic and an American.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

1. No - its not an Oxymoron

Work to change from the inside

The Catholic Worker:
http://www.catholicworker.org/
http://www.catholicworker.com/

Voices of the Faithful:
http://www.votf.org/

Capuchin Franciscan Friars:
http://www.midamcaps.org/
http://www.capuchin.net/site/PageServer?pagename=supportus

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Some Catholics, like some Protestants, are really fooled by Bush*

and I don't understand it. Some bishops are fooled, too.

I'll have to check out this site since I'm a Catholic for Kerry.

[MichiganVote]

3. Good for her. The Vatican is as corrupt as the Bushies