I left the catholic church , the bishops openly hostile attitude towards guns and carry was a piece of it, the closing of the local church and the 30 minute drive each way played in , the changing of Sunday school to 2 week nights half my kids would go one night half the other night adding 2 more hours of driving and 2 more nights with supper on the run. the church for all its members lacked much in fellowship we drove to church had mass and people scurried out the door as quickly as they could in spite of several efforts to introduce a coffee hour and after church gathering.
, it was the bishops and popes condemnation of the nuns that they should stop trying to help people and get back to pushing dogma , it was the bishops tone it seemed like he was always scolding us for not dressing up enough for church , not being reverent enough, it all seemed like it was beginning to be just about how showy everything could be and not about being the salt of the earth , it very much felt like the church that feeds the most , cloths the most and gives care to the most people world wide was doing it completely in spite of of it's leadership
very much like being and American we have some of the best workers , best products , safest streets and we seem to do it all inspite of our leadership , that what makes this country go round is good people who want to get up every morning and educate their kids and work build the best product they can and enjoy themselves when they are not working, that makes our country a great place to live , an why it is worth fighting for
the catholic church is a 2000 year old institution repeatedly plagued by the sin of man and the lust for power , that has put itself in bed with unjust rulers many times thru the centuries.
i commend the many who stayed to try and fix it from the inside I hope they will some day , i really thought things were headed in the right direction under Pope John Paul II.
the last Sunday I attended was the Sunday they took the Wine from us , the bishop sent down his decry that wine was supposed to be only for special occasions and feast days , the priest he was a good guy was visibly upset and turning bright red with anger as he obediently read what the bishop had written
it all felt like a punishment sent down because we were supporting local food banks and doing outreach work with our time and talents and not supporting his never ending drive to get a new cathedral built , we didn't need a new building , there were already many churches sitting vacant because he merged and closed them.
I was never any good at blind obedience
in addition to all this my wife who was raised in the church had grown increasingly uncomfortable with it
we found a new church less than a mile from home where the focus is on community outreach and making our community and world a better place to live and celebrating the gifts of god and not about how wicked we are and how repentant we should be constantly , It is close enough that we can participate more and help with their many community outreach programs , including food bank distribution and projects with the homeless
it is not posted , although i have learned that they thought about posting it but decided not to , are they pro gun , no not really the minster and i agree to disagree on that and I am not restricted from carrying
We are Libertarians , our political views don't line up completely with many , it is an extreme view of the world for most. probably not so much for most of you.
