Word: religion
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...scandal, more than a few friends and colleagues wonder why I haven't given up on Catholicism. I'll still be attending Easter Mass this weekend precisely because I follow Catholicism and not the Catholic Church - because Easter's redemptive message resides not in my church but in my religion. Not even our bishops, try as they have, can shame us away from the Eucharist and the human elevation we derive from it. Our church's disrepute, in fact, compels us to consider our religion's virtues more seriously. For starters, it might prod more Catholics to question...
Little can alleviate the pain and suffering of the abuse victims. But at least in one sense, the Dr. Seuss sense, Catholics can use the Easter spirit of renewal to turn this heartbreak into something positive by putting their religion - their singular communion with Jesus' life and teachings - above their church. We're in this mess largely because we've continued to let the Catholic Church believe that it's somehow more important than the Catholic religion. And that's got to stop. (See the top 10 Jesus films of all time...
...Catholic Church is capable of tremendous good, as I was reminded recently while watching Catholic Relief Services work in Haiti. But a lot of Catholics feel like the Whos right now: the main symbol of our religion - the Church - has been stolen from us through its forfeiture of moral authority. The silver lining is that we're left to ponder our religion sans church, to define our faith not via hoary doctrine but via our own reason, which is how Catholicism is supposed to be practiced anyway. (Yes, despite the Vatican's warnings, it's safe to try theology...
...hate the fact that it takes a scandal like this to see the forest of religion from the trees of the church. But if Catholics are tired of their church embarrassing their religion, then they've got to quit indulging the priesthood's belief that its earthly power somehow matters as much as Jesus' teachings - one of the most important of which is that earthly power isn't what matters. Just as "packages, boxes or bags" didn't matter that much to the Whos. Dr. Seuss knew better. So should...
...religion stories...