Monday, April 12, 2004
Beyond Rebellion
I come to the Catholic Church ready to accept the Catechism. I am beyond any rebellious stage in my life and have seen, first hand, the way the Methodist Church bends to breaking under the modern wind while Catholicism seems only to sway. I come ready to pray to the Catholic Saints for intercession, I come ready to learn from their lives because Methodism has no such backdrop to learn from or to use as examples in how to live. Methodism came from Catholicism and the Methodist Church has thrown away 1500 years of living history. I come ready to stand up, politically and personally, for the teachings of the Church. What is my alternative? Why should I stand up? Because the Methodist Church takes no stand from the pulpit and the Global Ministries takes stands which seem against the only directives they ever had. The Methodist Church supports abortion, they like what Castro has done for Cuba and they don’t care about divorce. Once staunch opponents of gambling and drinking, Methodist leaders don’t care about those things, today, either. Even those things Methodists say they are against, like Pastors being homosexual, they don't care enough about to stand up and claim, they hold a trial and don't convict the guilty because they no longer seem to accept what guilt is. So what is my choice? I either become Catholic and stand up for what I believe is right, or I remain Methodist, silently supporting what I believe to be wrong? What choice is that? If I don’t understand some rules in my new Catholic Faith, like the celibacy of Priests, I come ready to accept the rule and not rebel against it, for what is the alternative but no rules at all. I come to Catholicism because the Discipline and tenants of Methodism change at the will and the whim of the people, why would I run away from that problem and yet seek it in my new home? I come knowing there is conflict in the Catholic Church, I come knowing there is scandal in the Catholic Church. In short, I come because the Catholic Church still cares enough about their religion to have conflict and scandal... for in an institution run by humans, the only alternative to conflict and scandal is to not care. I come to care.
