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I have a confession to make...
Dear Friends,
 I have a confession to make. It's not an easy admission to make. The truth is some Catholics make me want to run out side and stick two fingers down my throat and throw up. I also appreciate that I seem to have the same effect on those who have an affect on me. At times, I confess, I feel a greater sense of hostility towards those individuals than I do to, say, atheists to people who are completely disinterested in religion or spirituality. I confess I struggle with this personally. How does one deal with these feelings? I don't think this is any revelatory confession. I suspect most people, when really pressed, would admit to similar feelings — and whether they're discussing their membership of the Church or the local footy team or school. I know how I deal with it is that I endeavour to put a distance between such people and myself. I simply do not want to be in their company because of the bad feelings it leaves within me so the best policy seems to be one of organising my life so that I come into contact with such people as infrequently as possible.
That seems only a piecemeal solution though. It placates my immediate feelings, or prevents me entering situations where my hackles are likely to be raised but I'm not sure that it helps create the atmosphere of social harmony that we are called to either as Christians, or simply as human beings. Today's short essay by Daniel Gullotta is examining this issue within the bible context of the conflicts reported in Corinthians. To be "truly Christian" do we run around pretending that we are all united? Or do we have to put in the difficult yards that are often necessary to try and resolve these very deep conflicts that seem to emerge in any community — not just church communities?
<Link to Daniel's essay>
www.catholica.com.au/gc1/dg/040_dg_301009.php |
