Catholic and Loving it!

It was confirmation group the other evening, I went along as a helper but to be honest Fr Massie has it all well in hand. After the meeting I ended up talking with a parishoner (who can remain anonymous) when Fr Massie brought up the issue of... the Blog. Much of the following doesn't relate very precisely to what he/she said, but it relates to other things that other's have said.

Our new Bishop Terrence Drainey once wrote: "older people do not necessarily have all the answers, and probably need to listen much more and much more effectively" and also "it is wise neither to idealise nor to demonise the younger generation, and to be generous in interpreting their apparent attitudes, which are often completely misread."

I would like to suggest that my apparent attitude has been misread.

Some Important Points

Firstly and most importantly I must begin with an apology. I want to say that I have not set out to hurt anybody on purpose. I have set out to hurt certain points of view. There are certain theological ideas that I see it as my moral duty to ridicule until they are seen as foolish as a flat earth because they are as foolish. However. There is a fine line between laughing at a belief and laughing at the person who holds the belief and I have crossed that line. I offer my sincerest apologies.

Secondly and also vitally important. I must stress: Fr Massie does not write this blog. I have no idea how such an idea could come about. I do know that a copy of a book review I wrote was shown to an old school teacher of mine (I don't know which one) and they said "James couldn't have written this, the English is too good". I did write it. I know this sounds like one of those flat earth theories I just referred too but perhaps a person can improve their English after they leave school. Fr Massie has as much influence over my opinions as anyone else capable of presenting reasonable arguments based on logic and facts. When Fr Massie teaches in union with the Bishops and the Pope I listen, when he tells me that using a digital hymnal during mass is a good idea I say he is a fruitcake. (There I go laughing at the person again...)

How to Disagree with Priests?

There are certain situations nobody ever teaches you about. What to do when you disagree with a priest is one of them. Some say you must never disagree with a priest, others say you can disagree but you must never say so, other's say you may say you disagree but only in private. Perhaps the fact that these things only ever happen in private is the reason I haven't had much in the way of examples.

One example I have had is Fr Pat Day. I don't agree with everything that Fr Pat says and does but what nobody can deny is that he has courage in his convictions. If Fr Pat believes something to be true, Fr Pat lives as though it is. Theres a line in the book of revelation where God says: "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth". You can accuse Fr Pat of a lot of things, but lukewarmness is not one of them. He stands at the pulpit and he says what he thinks and he says "I don't care if you tell the Bishop or the Pope".

On the 30th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood he was interviewed by the Hull Daily Mail. In that interview he said:

"A priest told me that once you become a priest, you can no longer be yourself," he says. "I never believed that. If you are trying to be someone you’re not, it’s telling a lie. In me, this is what you get."

Fr Pat's example was one I took to heart. As he stood up in public on the day of Benedicts ordination and said something along the lines of "I don't think the Holy Spirit was there at all" I thought... if a Priest can stand up in public to disagree with a Pope, why shouldn't a layperson stand up in public to disagree with a Priest?

So that is what I have been doing. Fr Pat lampoons the Pope, I lampoon Fr Pat. It's all fair.

Only apparently it isn't. Apparently he's a plucky rebel that everyone loves and I'm a bastard.

Forgive me if I haven't worked that one out yet.

I offer my sincere apologies to Fr Pat if I have offended him. It has not been my intention to attack him personally in any way (reports of my doing so have been greatly exaggerated). If I have done this then I apologise.

I do not apologise, however, for disagreeing with him. I do not believe he would want me to do so.