Cooky Catholics

The Catholic church has done a lot of wrong, and I mean a hell of a lot of wrong, but I am Catholic. Now this can lead two possible assumptions. One, I am actively choosing to be a part of an inherently evil institution because of my personal desire to be a part of what os very possibly the most corrupt organization in all of human history. Two, I am choosing to acknowledge the imperfections of any human run community but there is positive aspects in the participation in a global community with goals that are aimed at a greater good even though their means have gone very far astray in the past.

Dogma shows the Catholic Church for many of the evils it has previously and actively committed in the name of god, jesus, eternal damnation, and an assortment of other mind boggling concepts that in truth no human can ever truly understand. Many of the claims that Dogma makes against the Catholic church are true. The bishop is a great example of the Catholic church distancing itself from what religion should be used for. The bishop blessing his clubs to better his golf game, which eventually helps to defeat Asreel, is an great example of the Church acting with selfish desires and no concern for greater good or faith of the people. I would not doubt that Bishops have blessed golf clubs, but the truth is that most Bishops allocate more of their blessings to the sick, to chuches, to children, to school, and to volunteer projects- sadly this didn't quite make the cut for Dogma- not a revolutionary and probably wouldn't have sold as many tickets.

People look at the portrayal of the Catholic church in Dogma and say, “Ya that's so right.” Zeitgeist portrays the Catholic church as a means of controlling people through a story that is basically a combination of several other religions and had no factual basis. The Catholic Church was a political body exempt of taxation which corrupts people through fear of a damning God. So, people watch Zeitgeist and say, “Oh my lord, this Catholic church is totally out of hand.” Then people read a newspaper and watch coverage of the recent sexual abuse scandal. They see priests committing crimes and all of a sudden every priest is abusing children. People say “Catholics have lost it.”

The church isn't perfect. Catholics aren't perfect. Priests aren't perfect. The problem is not what happens within the church or whats done by the priest or is done by Catholics. The problem is that people want to be able to expect more from the Catholic church, from the priests, and from the people. People want to hold people who have taken religious commitments to a higher standard but the fact is that they are still just as fallible as the rest of us. They are trying to be better but just like everyone else who tries to do something some people will fail.

The church is kind of like an English teacher. It is trying to help and to do some good but to do that there needs to be rules and regulations. No one likes to be told your wrong or your doing this wrong or I know better than you. It breaks down your self esteem and overall makes you pretty Now imagine your teacher slips on the ice. You point. You laugh. You are having a good old time now. The person who was telling you what to do just screwed up- who is she? She is trying to help but it is hard to see that now because oh my god she just slipped there is snow on her butt and she can't find her glasses. Karma? This is over simplified but I think the analogy has a lot of value when it is closely analyzed. Your teacher wants you to be a good writer. The church wants you to be a good person. Your teacher doesn't know what a perfect writer is but she thinks she knows better than you do. The church wants you to be a better person. It doesn't know what a perfect person is but it thinks it knows a better than you do. So the teacher sets up some basic guidelines. At the end of a sentence, you should put a period but curve ball can't you put a comma at the end of the sentence. Does the teacher really know what she is talking about? The church says you can not kill, but curve ball what if the person your killing is trying to kill you? What now church? Nothing is perfect but motives need to be recognized.

The truth is the Catholic church isn't evil. It can be. The Catholic church isn't perfect. It can't be.