I was baptized Catholic at birth but my Luthern father wanted all of us to not put a building, a church or a Pope between us and God. He double baptized us on his own as Lutherans ? He (and my mother) brought us into the beautiful world of nature and music and art and both of my grandmothers passed on their own unique kind of love and magic. Those were insight into the holy, the sacred, and the divine.
Later, we did receive the other Catholic sacraments and I chose to be married in a tiny Catholic Shrine on an island in Alaska. My husband was not raised in any particular faith or belief system. But he loved it too. We had a beautiful wedding with an amazing visiting priest who radiated pure love not dogma.
That and folk masses were lovely reasons to enjoy those energies and simply allow the others to be as they were just not in me.
I did stop attending church by 1975. Now I do charity work in churches of all kinds and have helped people of all faiths. My best friend was Mormon, my next door neighbors Ba'hais, my college roommates and friends every faith you can imagine.
I like to think it allows me to understand and love everyone no matter what their walk or how I disagree with their talk ?
But I still carry a love of sacred altars, rituals, crosses, my rosary and other symbols of faith just not a traditional or specific faith. I like and use the word God as good/divine/sacred in my life and rather than always saying the Universe or universal. ? Though really even though all of those are just euphemisms.
But then I believe I'm a just a euphemism too! ?
I was barely raised Catholic, but enough where I have a residual identification with them, and I worked for a Catholic organization at one time. There are a lot of social justice Catholics doing great work, both in the US and around the world. Many are Catholic sisters (not all call themselves nuns) who do amazing work for the poor. Even the Catholic Bishops, who run the church in the US, and with whom I have serious disagreements, have a long history of championing the rights of immigrants, and opposing the death penalty. There is good and bad everywhere. The bad comes in when movements become businesses and money become their God.
This country is currently run by religious zealots masquerading themselves as something else. Pompeo, Barr, Pence, Paul Ryan, and many, many more, have a weird belief system they call religion but really isn't. It's a mishmash of misogyny, white supremacy, greed and ambition. Many right wing politicians are members of The Family. Others are Opus Dei. Others Dominionists. What they have in common is they believe the US should be a "Christian" nation (and they define what Christian means). They believe it's OK to lie to non-believers in order to advance their cause. Trump is their vehicle. They believe victory is within reach. But it's not. They are selling their souls to a false idol.
This country is currently run by religious zealots masquerading themselves as something else.
It's a mishmash of misogyny, white supremacy, greed and ambition.
@lynnventura, I couldn't agree more.
@michele-b, your parents and grandmothers sound like amazing people. How wonderful to grow up in that environment, finding the sacred in nature, art and music. I liked some of the traditions of the Catholic church, but not if they were rigid in their thinking. I also enjoyed the incense and many of the rituals. Interesting how many of your experiences served as a primer in helping you create your own mythologies, rituals and magic. If you allowed it back then, growing up Catholic could unleash a certain creative spirit. I remember Martin Scorsese talking about that.
When I was a kid the Masses were either in Latin (!) or Polish (I attended a church with a large Polish congregation). I couldn't understand either language. That experience, under the watchful, cold eye of a psycho nun who taught me in 2nd grade, made me always feel anxious. No wonder I'd keel over. Thankfully my mother always had a steady supply of smelling salts in her handbag. Too bad I didn't know about the protective evil eye back then. I would have worn one around my neck. Either that, or I should have sneaked out to see a movie.
@triciact, Thank you for making me smile. I'm laughing about you being chased for 2 blocks. You were quite the hell-raiser at such a young age! I think it's wonderful that you used your voice back then. I was a shy kid, but also felt constricted with expressing my views for fear of reprisal. I kept those views to myself, but never allowed myself to be brainwashed. I was really solid with that. I stopped attending church when I was in my 20’s, unless it was to offer my mother support. When I was in my 30’s, I spent some time meeting with a Catholic priest to air my past grievances. His responses to me were (1) perhaps the church caused too much damage for me, and I might need to find my spirituality elsewhere, and (2) that he didn’t “do Rome.” He sounds a little like the priest who confirmed you.
But back to BillyB … @triciact, I agree with your assessment of him. Scary guy and scary stuff.
@lynnventura
Well said and I so agree. And its those good people that keep people of many Faiths and varying beliefs going and give me hope in a nation with the right to believe and to worship as we all choose.
May goodness and good people prevail.
I was raised Catholic as well, and for humor, you can't beat the book Growing Up Catholic. A hoot. I too used to pass out in Church. When I was a kid the Communists were coming to take us over. We were told that one of them would point a gun at your head, and ask if you were Catholic. When you said yes - like that's what I was planning to say - he would shoot you.
Today the Catholics I feel are trying to be like Protestants. They sing all the Protestant songs, and the Cathedral now has what looks like a hot tub in the front for total immersion baptisms. They've added that extra part onto the Our Father. The Mass is in English. I've always felt the Church was rigid and unreasonable, and this business with the priests is very disturbing.
William Barr and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day (Week/ Month)
Over 2000 judges now call for Barr to resign!
More than 2,000 former Department of Justice officials are calling on Attorney General William Barr to resign, according to the group Protect Democracy.
"Political interference in the conduct of a criminal prosecution is anathema to the Department's core mission and to its sacred obligation to ensure equal justice under the law," according to the group, which has been critical of the administration in the past.
The nonpartisan, nonprofit group said that the attorney general has "flouted" that fundamental principal.
The former DOJ officials said it is "outrageous" the way Barr has in the Roger Stone case.
"Although there are times when political leadership appropriately weighs in on individual prosecutions, it is unheard of for the Department's top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case," they wrote.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/1100-doj-officials-call-william-barr-resign/story?id=69030388
So, how upset are federal judges?
A national association of federal judges has called an emergency meeting Tuesday to address growing concerns about the intervention of Justice Department officials and President Donald Trump in politically sensitive cases, the group’s president said Monday.
Philadelphia U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, who heads the independent Federal Judges Association, said the group “could not wait” until its spring conference to weigh in on a deepening crisis that has enveloped the Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr.
“There are plenty of issues that we are concerned about,” Rufe told USA TODAY. “We’ll talk all of this through.”
Here is an interesting article on Salon from Heather Digby Parton about Barr and whether he could be forced out . I am interested in finding out what happened in the emergency meeting of Federal judges today.
@lovendures, it looks like the emergency meeting of Federal judges will be taking place on Wednesday.
Barr may be in charge of the Federal system. But he is powerless to stop the State DAs. New York, in particular, will wait for the right moment to strike. I suspect that they will wait until just before the 2020 election (probably October 2020, if it looks like Trump will cheat to win), to file indictments against several members of Trump's family. In particular, Jared Kushner.
Talk about an October surprise! :D
This will cause Trump to go ballistic, make threats, try to say his kids are immune because he is President (which will have almost zero credibility), and may even take actions that will cause the American public to be even more alarmed and will drive Independents and Democrats to the polls in record numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump tries to arrest the State DAs or even call for martial law. Regardless, even the most independent minded voter will cringe at the thought of another four years of more Trump scandals, and will be unlikely to vote for him (think what happened to Clinton a few days before the election in 2016 when Comey announced that there was more emails on a computer that may re-open the investigation as to Clinton's emails). Many independents cringed at the thought of more Clinton scandals, and voted for Trump instead. Will they stay loyal if they know they must endure another four years of Trump scandals if his family is indicted? I think not.
Also, don't be surprised if the State DAs use indictments against the Trump kids as leverage against Trump. If the Predator in Chief either cheats to win the Presidency or loses but tries to contest the election, then the State DAs may approach Trump with an offer. If Trump agrees to step down from the Presidency without causing , then the State DAs will agree not to file an indictment on Ivanka (Kushner's wife and Trump's favorite child.)
How will Trump solve this? I don't see New York becoming a Republican haven anytime soon. They hate Trump. And Barr is powerless against the State DAs, since they are not under his jurisdiction. Trump cannot even do a pardon, because he can only pardon federal crimes, not state crimes.
Remember that many of you predicted that the Federal Government will lose standing in the eyes of many and that people will look to local and state governments for help? I think that will also apply to the legal system as well.
@allyn. Thanks for posting this about the NY State DA. Does anyone know that they are planing to do this?