Well, since I guess I started this, I'll weigh in again. "I talk too loose / Again I talk too open and free". . . But then, I guess I'm in good company. ;-) Susan wrote: "[I was] surprised to see a thread in reference to one of my off-hand remarks!" Actually, some of the best threads around here get started in response to off-hand remarks! She also wrote: "I feel the very same way about my high school, however, my elementary school was the other side of the coin. I really was just sharing a light hearted memory. But I just can't keep my mouth shut! My Catholic elementary school was much different, it was racist, sexist, hypocritical and mean spirited. " In all seriousness now: Susan, I can't tell you how grieved I am that you endured this experience in elementary school, especially now knowing what Vince has shared with the list about the history of this particular school. I am glad you had the countervailing experience of Alvernia High School later on, which sounds like it showed you--as my Catholic high school showed me--the life-altering example of strong, committed, loving women affiliated with religious orders. The sins of the institutional Roman Catholic Church, and the faults of too many individuals acting at what they took to be its behest, are all too well-documented. I can't apologize for all the wrongs it has perpetrated, and all the pain it has undoubtedly inflicted, although apologies *should* be issued by those with the power and under the obligation to do so. I believe that the institution and individual perpetrators should be help responsible for the harm they have caused, up to and including with prison sentences, if appropriate. And I won't even try to second-guess the decision of anyone who felt the necessity of leaving the church to preserve his or her personal well-being. That's a step I have considered taking myself on several different occasions, and I well understand what could lead a person to that point, although my decision-making process had a different outcome than yours. But I do firmly believe that there is another side to the institution and its members, one that is not as well known or recognized in the off-hand remarks about "recovering Catholics" and nuns with rulers so often bandied about in our workplaces and at social gatherings. We hear all about those elementary school nuns, and yes, we *should* hear about them if they abused children. But do we also hear about Sr. Georgeanne at my high school who provided her social studies students with some of their first glimpses into the struggles of organized farm labor in the mid-1970's, and suggested taking the concrete action of boycotting certain products accordingly? The priests who took a visible and principled stand for civil rights for African Americans and members of other disenfranchised groups in the 1960's, and paid for it with jail terms? The dedicated lay employees who ran Marquette's campus ministry program, and coordinated long-term volunteer programs for students working in the inner city of Milwaukee, and short-term volunteer opportunities over spring break in Appalachia? Mother Beata, who comforted and supported MG from this list when she so desperately needed it? And last, but not least, do we hear about the individual active parishioners today who box items for shipping to members of a sister parish in Nicaragua, meet in one another's homes for Bible study and fellowship, analyze the structural basis of injustice in our society, work hard for church reform from within, and visit the sick on their own time, all motivated by their Catholic faith? I just think that if we're going to hear the story, we should hear the *whole* story of an institution that so often simply doesn't speak with one voice. Finally, Susan writes, "Besides that the Catholic church doesn't much like my life style." Susan, I don't know exactly what you're referring to, but I can guess. And it may be little consolation, but all I can say is: for what it's worth, *this* individual Catholic doesn't merely "tolerate," but firmly supports and accepts your life exactly as you lead it, and wishes you the greatest happiness. And I daresay there is more sentiment just like that in pews of Catholic churches all around the country. If the people lead, I am firmly convinced that eventually the leaders *have* to follow, no matter what they say (wishful thinking on their part?) about the church not being a democracy. Back to work now (and maybe, back to light-hearted memories), Mary. P.S. The opinions expressed above are solely my own.
