Thursday, May 21, 2009

Catholic Church

The Catholic church sure has me scratching my head lately.  I have been raised in the Catholic church, went to Catholic school all my life (even college), and still consider myself a practicing Catholic.  But lately there have been some things that make me wonder why I keep going to church.  I mean, I know what I believe and believe in, why must I go to a church to pray especially when they seem to be very hypocritical lately?!
I guess it all stems back to the priests molesting the altar boys and it being covered up and the priests still being allowed to keep their jobs.  Since this didn't apply to any of the priests that I knew in any of my parishes, so I didn't let it bother me too much.
A few years back, a teacher at the Catholic high school here in the valley (also part of the system were I used to teach) was fired for her decision to use in-vitro fertilization to get pregnant because they couldn't any other way.  I understand that in the contracts we sign, we are expected to live by way of the catholic values and obviously that would be to use no medical measures to have a child, but don't you think firing her is a little over the top??  I mean she probably would have been better off to LIE and not tell exactly how she became pregnant.  Is that the Catholic way??
Then I find out a few weeks ago that Archbishop Weakland, who was in charge of the Diocese where I grew up, is writing a book about his experiences and the molestation issue.  Also in the book, he apparently comes out that he is gay.  HELLO!!!!  Doesn't that totally go against the Catholic teaching of Adam and Eve.  I have nothing against homosexuality, you do what makes you happy, but to have such a high Catholic official admit that he is gay seems a little wrong.  And again, he covered it up for who knows how many years.  So he figures that since he had resigned after the molestation issues that now would be a safe time to come out of the closet?!?!
Finally, and most recently, another Catholic high school teacher has not been given a contract for next year due to the fact that he slept over at his girlfriends house instead of driving home drunk.  Again, so we are promoting drunk driving rather then safety.  Ok, so it was his girlfriend, but how do we know that he didn't sleep on the sofa??  I am just a little confused are we supposed to drive drunk rather than stay somewhere that may lead people to jump to the wrong conclusions??  The students are supporting the teacher in fighting this one and they also seem to feel that the school is then promoting drunk driving.

So, after all these things that have happened and some that have been covered up, how am I supposed to be expected to go to a Catholic place of worship and listen to these people that are involved preach about what Jesus would do??  Would Jesus get rid of someone for doing the only thing they thought possible to create a family??  Would Jesus want you working for him if you were hurting children, the very people he works so hard to protect??  Would Jesus want you to preach about something (marriage between a man and a women) if you didn't believe in that yourself??  Would Jesus want you to risk your life and the lives of others just so people didn't jump to incorrect conclusions when you stayed over at your girlfriends house?? (Wouldn't Jesus be more upset by you possibly killing innocent people??)

Thank you for reading.  Sorry it got so long!!  I just felt like this is something that has been on my mind for a few days and that I needed to get it off my chest.  Feel free to leave your comments on this issue.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Happy May!!!!

After quite a busy and rainy April, I am glad May is here.
April brought: 
*only 9 days of subbing (but Spring Break was also part of April)
*16 evenings at Sylvan
*2 Saturdays at Sylvan
*Easter celebrated at our house, with both my parents (and Adam) and Brian's, as well as my aunt.
*A dress fitting and alterations for a bridesmaid dress

*And the busiest weekend of all of April, the wedding of 2 great people and wonderful friends, last weekend.  While it was a wet weekend, the wedding and everything having to do with the wedding was wonderful.  It did contain a lot of driving as Brian and I stayed with my parents 40 minutes away from all the activities.
Both Brian and I were in the wedding, so that was nice.  Friday was rehearsal, and what a beautiful day it was.  The dinner was also nice and we were able to get to know the wedding party a little better, since there were a few people in it that Brian and I had never met.
Saturday began very early-the girls had hair appointments at 8:30.  I had to drop Brian off at the hotel with the guys first, so it was an early start to our day.  And of course, there was rain!!  That made getting into the church dry a little interesting.  Thank goodness the guys had gotten there first and met us with umbrellas and even parked the car for us.  (Thanks Mike!!)  The wedding went well, and the only "issue" was the blusher falling off the veil as the bride bowed at the altar.  It was handled beautifully!!  Then there were pictures and a short visit to a bar before heading to the reception.  Everything there went really well also.  So, despite the rain, the celebration was perfect.  Sunday brought church, as a group, and brunch followed by gift opening.  One last time to talk to the wedding party.
Boy, were we glad to be home!!  Then the laundry was calling my name.

Hopefully May will be a quieter month.  So far, we only have a dentist appointment, a rummage sale, and a carpet installation scheduled.