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I have long been in a struggle with the Catholic religion, and at times organized religion in general.
I
encourage the practice of faith. I encourage the teachings of Jesus
Christ, and the teachings of any other enlightened and introspective
being that can offer insight, understanding, compassion and comfort on
our spiritual and physical journey as a human being.
My husband was raised in the Southern Baptist Faith.
I was born and raised in the Roman Catholic faith.
His father was a deacon.
My mother was a nun.
Unfortunately
the message I got growing up inside my faith was one of fear, guilt,
and suppression. Ask most of my fellow piers how they experienced
their faith and the majority will tell you the same.
How is it
that Jesus and the teachings of his benevolent message was so far from
our experience of our faith? Organized religion has a long way to go I
would say in inspiring a love of his teachings and in understanding how
to put his enlightened teachings to practice.
This morning my
husband Brad came in from a business trip clutching a New York Times,
and thrusting it disgustedly in my direction.
On the Front Page of Tuesday's February 10th New York Times
is a story about a new escape from hell that the Catholic Church is
granting it's sinners as a way to increase popularity, and re-
establish lost ties with it's members who have strayed from the flock.
It's called an "INDULGENCE" - I'll say.
The basic premise is that the catholic church can grant an amnesty from punishment in the afterlife.
RIGHT. Kind of like a "get out of jail free" card from purgatory or hell.
Dear
people - where has our common sense gone? Do we really believe first of
all that the loving God in its many forms that so many respectfully
believe in would create a "waiting room" of penance for our sins to
punish us for our transgressions on earth? If the answer is yes...I say
we are missing the point of the entire journey here. Secondly- Do we
believe that a church or institution has a direct line into God and can
grant us PARDON from having to spend time in the Big House? GIMME A
BREAK. Life is not a driving record where the your fines can be waived
at the pearly gates.
The article goes on to categorize the
various "flavors" of indulgences you can receive from the church as if
sitting in a booth a friendlies ordering an ice cream sundae. There are
"Partial Indulgences" in which you may "reduce" your time in purgatory
by a certain number of days and years, and there are "plenary"
indulgences which eliminate all of it until another sin is committed.
Although the church outlawed the sale of indulgences in the 1567 -
charitable contributions combined with other acts can help you earn
one. WHAT?! Oh- and there is a limit. Only ONE plenary indulgence per
sinner per day...and that sinner will be pardoned at the bishops
discretion. PAH- LEASE - I feel like I am reading the directions for
the MONOPOLY board game.
The
return of Indulgences began with Pope John Paul II, who authorized
Bishops to offer them in the year 2000 as part of the celebration of
the churches third millennium. I'm sorry- is someone screaming
"MARKETING!!!!" The offer appeared prominently on a website of the
Diocese of Brooklyn announcing that any catholic could receive an
indulgence at any of the six churches on any day by fulfilling some
basic requirements: going to confession, receiving holy communion,
saying a prayer for the Pope, and "achiveing complete detachment from
from any inclination to sin." Basically what the church is selling is
a "happy incentive" for confession and to attract sinners back to the
church.
So why would I post this on the Earth Savers Blog anyway?
Here's why:
If
we are to challenge and change and transform the way we relate to the
planet, and believe in our own capacity to make a difference to impact
the future- we have to also challenge the dogma's, institutions, and
belief systems that keep us in the DARK, and that insult our
intelligence. We need to excercise our own common sense as human
beings. It angers and upsets me to read of the abuse of power of
institutions of like the Catholic Church and the transparency of it's
motivations. As human beings, we have the right to explore our
intellect, our spiritual identity, and our physical experience of the
world, and our journey here.
At the very core of my anger and
indignation is NOT an opposition to the teachings of Jesus, and the
many wonderful things organized religion can provide for people- but
the manipulation of the
