Warning: if you are a hard-core, ultra-conservative Roman Catholic, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS POST. However, if you still choose to go on, well...don't tell me I didn't warn you.
I came across an interesting post by a certain Mike Aquino. Please read on below (taken verbatim from this post):
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I no longer consider myself a Catholic
I no longer consider myself a Catholic. No matter how fondly I remember the good parts of being Catholic – the songs, the retreats, the lessons – Catholicism for me became increasingly difficult to reconcile with common sense and decency.
I can’t reconcile so-called Catholic values with the Catholic institution’s nasty tendency to close ranks around its priests. Child abuse in the priesthood was given cover for so long because bishops would rather hide abusive priests rather than confirm that such abuse took place. Justice became secondary to the preservation of appearances.
I can’t reconcile so-called Catholic virtue with its hierarchy’s politics, often exercised to uphold retrograde policies against family planning and reproductive health. Empowered by its mass believer base, the Catholic Church continues to abuse its political power in the secular world.
In Manila, doctors were forbidden to prescribe contraceptives to patients, because Mayor Atienza thought he could implement Catholic doctrine into municipal governance. Church pressure has distorted the Reproductive Health debate; the simple question of “should government-run health centers provide reproductive health services, including artificial family planning methods” has been drowned out by priests railing against it from the pulpits and banners hung from churches.
There has been no good-faith effort by the Church hierarchy to explain their side; there has only been arm-twisting and emotional blackmail. Church representatives have ignored or walked out on any efforts to engage them in discussion.
In short, I can’t believe the Church is moral anymore. A fatal conclusion for someone who was raised to believe that Catholic priests acted in persona Christi capitis, in the person of Christ.
I now know that is a lie; many Catholics, laymen and priests alike, use their faith as cover for some of the most grievous immoralities. Not just in the Philippines; the Church hierarchy is complicit in genocide in Rwanda, torture in Argentina, and child abuse in the West. In persona Christi capitis my ass.
Due to the Church hierarchy’s own actions, the current situation is becoming more and more unstable – the Church cannot maintain the status quo for long. At least two presidential candidates have declared their disagreement with Church policy on reproductive health, a position that would have been political poison a few years ago. More Catholics are speaking out, or voting with their feet. The Church is less and less seen as being infallible – increasingly its clay feet are showing.
In time, I hope an increasingly secular electorate will realize a few things about the Church and the civic sphere:
The Catholic hierarchy’s interests are not those of the community at large. Catholic interests cannot predominate in a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional community. A Muslim or Protestant mother must not be compelled to settle for government services tailored only to meet Catholic sensitivities, which is what happens when the Church is able to bully legislators into substituting the Catholic agenda for the government’s.
The Church can no longer impose its particular views onto a secular government. Bishops may have to settle for a conversation with equals, instead of expecting to have their own way every time. Catholic scholar David Hollenbach argues that Catholic involvement in the public sphere “must proceed according to a mode of dialogue and persuasion… faith and theology are seen as participants in a drama that involves numerous other actors. The church is not the producer or director of this drama.”
In real life, the usurpation of government decision-making by ecclesiastics has always ended up badly for everyone. The Church loses moral authority, government decision making powers are hobbled, and constituents end up being badly served by dogma-driven decisions.
I no longer consider myself a Catholic. I still remember my Catholic upbringing and influences with fondness, but so much of present Catholic doctrine treats truth and morality as if it can be decided by fiat (”Roma locuta est…”), and I simply cannot be a part of that.
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This man read my mind.
Personally, I still think that the Roman Catholic faith is beautiful, with simple, common-sense principles rooted in the universal concept of love. And I believe with all my heart that our Lord is a just and loving God. Unfortunately, the mechanisms of the Church are controlled by men, easily corrupted and victims of their own humanity.
Until this time, I get funny looks from people when they discover that I do not attend Sunday mass regularly. But we should live and let live. In the same way that I respect people who do make an effort to fulfill their Catholic obligations, I think I deserve some respect for my personal decisions. While I will gladly take opportunities to show people my belief in my Divine Writer, I refuse to "fulfill" my Sunday duties just because I want to keep appearances. Sorry to disappoint the Augustinian fathers, but I am a servant of the Divine Word, and not of that person who happens to preach from the pulpit.
Faith is defined as "allegiance to duty or a person, fidelity to one's promises, or sincerity of intentions." We should be guided by this definition, with the operative word being sincerity.
The role of the religious order should not be very different from our own parents. While they should uphold discipline, morality and purity of our faith, 1) they should walk the talk and be living examples of these ideals (instead of closing ranks), and 2) while the basic principles of our faith should remain unchanged, some facets need to be modernised to make its teachings less antiquated and, therefore, followed even more faithfully.
I could go on and on about this. Even as I voice out my opinion, my traditional Catholic school upbringing is already debunking some of my arguments. But, ultimately, I stand only by one thing: I would rather be a faithful personal friend to my Divine Writer who chooses to follow his teachings with eyes wide open, instead of a blind follower who keeps holy for one hour every Sunday and goes back to his old, sinful ways the moment he is out of the chapel's doorway.
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