Pope's Visit Exposes Anti-Catholicism

Pope Benedict's visit to England has been greeted with protests and negative media. It pains me to see such hateful speech and slander thrown the direction of a man such as him, much with no intelligent thought put into the words at all.

I understand that the Church has had to deal with sexual abuse of children and has not always done so quick enough or harshly enough. Most Catholics do not deny that the Church has had its challenges throughout history. I challenge you to find me one religion that has not. So let me make it clear that this blog entry in no manner is meant to trivialize what has happened to some people in the past at the hands of some deviant priests. But let's remember that not all priests are like that, and that not only priests do those horrible things...so do pastors, school teachers, doctors...etc.

As I have read the stories about the Pope's visit to the UK, I also read the comments at the bottom of the stories. I am amazed at how incredibly hateful they are. Many are also unbelievably inaccurate. One opinion piece was filled with so many half-truths about the Catholic Church that it completely misled the reader. False statements about why women cannot be priests, half truths about IVF and stem cell research. When uneducated, biased people spread their view of the Church without finding out the real reason for a practice, or teaching, or belief, it does nothing more than spread the hate. Just once, I would love to have a Protestant (especially a Baptist, since they are the most anti-Catholic religion out there) sit down with me and ask me to explain some beliefs of the Catholic Church to them. We are called idolaters, worshippers of Mary, blasphemers, all due to what they have been told or taught by someone who doesn't know the reasons or the teachings of the Catholic Church. Try to sit down an have that conversation though and it inevitably turns to an argument because the Protestant does not want to listen. They are more comfortable with their ignorance and hate. Not very Christian if you ask me.

So why this incredible anti-Catholic fervor these days? Is it really because of the sex abuse? If that were the case, we better hate all teachers because of the few who had sex with their students. Or is that OK because it was a woman and a boy? Or because it was not a religious person? Seems like a double standard at the least, and sheer hatred at the worst.

For those Catholics who were abused by a priest and have left the Church because of it...I think you made a mistake. It was the priest who abused you, not the Church. If it was covered up, it was not the Church who condoned it, but the people running it. It is during times such as those that you must turn to God and seek His help in bearing with your anguish. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing and lifts a mighty load off your shoulders.

I leave this posting with a piece from my parish priest he read to my Knights of Columbus group one evening: "I put up with the Church in the hopes it will some day be better, just as the Church puts up with me, in the hopes that I will some day be better."