If you are reading this and you are a religious person (mostly a catholic) it might make you a tad angry or shocked in what I am saying. I am not judging your personal religious values I am simply putting mine into context of what i have seen because I am a Cultural Catholic and I am happy to be one!
"True" Catholicism is nothing but an excuse to be able to say I live a catholic lifestyle. You don't. Either assimilate with us or go to Hell. That is a tad extreme, but to be honest it is very true. I am a catholic and the sermon (where the priest expands the gospel reading into everyday life for those who did not know) in one of the masses talked about how we, as catholics are either cultural or true "Roman" Catholics.
What is a true roman catholic you might add? Well, according to my priest, it is a catholic who follows ALL rules and blah blah blah. To sum things up, it is basically saying that you have to live a catholic LIFESTYLE. In other words, you obey the bible in everyway and live according to it in a Roman Catholic ideology. A cultural catholic, on the other hand, is someone who has religion for spiritual purposes instead of a lifestyle. They interpret the bible the way that they see it and they go to church for simple purpose of spiritual guidance. They do not always follow the bible and when they do, it is more of a tale of sorts. They look at the main idea and the moral instead of obeying it word by word.
These catholics are the ones frowned upon. They are always gettting bashed because "real" Catholics should follow ALL the verses as they are written. This is where Catholicism pretty much falls apart when you break things down. For instance, this idea of Cultural Catholics and "True" Catholics is hypocritical. For one thing the priest talks about the gospel IN HIS INTERPRETATION. He also addresses the MAIN IDEA and the MORAL. Moreover, he tells us that the bible is not subject for personal interpretation while he blabbers on about his view on it. Yes, we know the bible is the Holy word but God himself did not write it. PEOPLE wrote it which means those people interpreted their views of God differently. There are no Gospels of God. So we are telling Cultural Catholics to become "True" Catholics based off of personal interpretations found in the bible. However, isn't a true Catholic the ones who are like the followers of Jesus in the old times? The ones who interpreted God's and Jesus' word differently. If thats the case, aren't the Cultural Catholics the True Catholics anyway?
It is unjust to judge how people are religious and how they should live accordingly. That was in the old days. This is the 21st century!! Catholicism needs to stop judging its own people's faith and instead, be glad that most people have faith in the first place. The Catholic community is not to blame here. Catholicism itself is. It needs to stop being hypocritical and move up to modern ways of life. Stop judging your own people and instead let them be spiritual in their own way.
6 comments:
You bring up some really interesting points. I'm a Catholic and possess most of the qualities that you define to be part of a "Cultural Catholic," but I still consider myself Catholic. Over Christmas break, I had the extreme pleasure [insert sarcastic tone her] of discussing religion with my cousin's, let's call him "Agnostic," husband. The thing that I feel I got the most out of was when we talked about the differences between religious extremists and the moderates. Religious extremists are prevalent in practically every religion, most notably Islam and Christianity. Muslim extremists are the ones who commit acts of terrorism in the name of Allah, and Christian extremists are the ones who interpret the Bible word for word and live their lives to the exact framework of the writing. Living to these extreme standards of Christianity is not a socially acceptable way to live. During the sermons at my church, my priest clearly outlines the correlation between the written word and what it means to live like what is being taught in our own lives. After the sermons, I'm a Catechist and in our classes, we teach the application of the word and the meanings behind it more than living word for word with what the Bible says. I'm not completely convinced that every "true" Catholic frowns upon those who don't barter their teenage daughters into marriage to gain a few sheep, or bring their sons out to the desert to kill them. I truly believe even the most devout Catholics (which I am in no way claiming to be an expert on being a devout Catholic; I try my best) do not believe that in order to be considered a "true" Catholic, one must follow the Bible word for word.
All in all, I think you had a pretty good argument, though. I especially liked the last section talking about hypocrisy within the church because I do believe that is absolutely true.
Josh I really liked all of this. I'm not really religious, like in any way, shape or form. I guess if I had to pick one... I'd be Buddist. Though I can't really 'agree' with some of the things you said simply because I don't know about them, I do like your last paragraph. This is the 21st century and if there's anything I can say about all religions is that they should try to become more modern and stop living in the past. You're right about the Bible also, God didn't write it, other people did. The Bible is most definitely other people's interpretation of what happened. But all books are like that I believe, all authors want their book to have this main meaning that they're thinking of but people always interpret things differently. I think one of your strongest points is that religions should be glad and try to connect with the people they have that believe in their faith rather than judging other people or telling people that they aren't the 'right kind of Catholicism' or whatever religion. I always feel left out when people have religious discussion's because I feel like I'm missing out on everything! But I like what you wrote and this will help my idea of Catholicism. And for once it's something fairly positive, unlike what other people say about Catholicism, kinda like you pointed out.
Sara I like the way you think about it. I think this has a lot to do with my priest with what i said because he taught us to obey every teaching and follow every sermon (HYPOCRISY I TELL YOU!) in order to become a devout catholic. I think i might have generalized a bit much in this invective, and maybe expanding more on the last paragraph would make it more clear
I read this a few times, and was attempting to ask myself questions about the first few paragraphs just as you began including questions in your writing.
I still cannot say I have an adequate grasp on what you are talking about, other than referring to the title, which says it is an invective. I guess I can see the invective present in the writing, but the matter at hand is confusing to me...myself with no catholic upbringing perhaps relevant (I would need a decent grasp of the "True" vs. 'cultural' stands, which you appear to delve into, but I must guess that you are also partially including an encomium on 'cultural' catholoicism).
Anyway, my response is late, and this blog would need at least a few more reads from me to gain a more adequate grasp of the situation...I think.
I like how you distinguished between "true" and "cultural" catholics. I am not Catholic, but Christian, and from what I have heard they are pretty close. The "rules" set out are not necessarily good rules. People can follow the rules, and still not have good intentions. Or they can follow the "important" rules and totally ignore the ones that are not necessarily said.
I think that people are very judgmental towards any kind of religion. A whole lot of people are not accepting of anyone other than their specific group, or clique, or cult. And the real problem is that many people are not even aware of it. (I'm making HUGE generalizations here and I know that no one fits into the perfect stereotype.)
When it comes to your argument about religion though, I have to politely disagree. I think that the "cultural" catholic is the person saying that says they are religious just to say it. The "real" catholic, on the other hand, devotes time and effort to religion and goes to church for spiritual guidance.
I have to add, though, that because I am Christian I see things a little bit differently than you. These two religions are very similar, however, and I have certainly met and conversed with self proclaimed "cultural" Christians, and "real" (though that isn't exactly the word i wanted) Christians.
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