[Vision2020] What would Jesus do? Not stuff like this

[Art Deco]

www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-reimer-catholic-20120430,0,7341258.column
baltimoresun.com What would Jesus do? Not stuff like this Catholic Church
seems determined to wound and exclude

Susan Reimer

6:00 AM EDT, April 30, 2012
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  It is no fun being a Catholic woman these days. In fact, it is almost
embarrassing.

First, the church hierarchy reminded us that those birth control pills in
our medicine cabinets are forbidden. Then the bishops repeated their
opposition, in various state legislatures, to any legal standing for our
gay friends, family members, neighbors or co-workers, somehow casting their
opposition as a matter of religious liberty.

Now the Vatican is screwing the lid down on American nuns, who the church
thinks are spending too much time on social justice issues and not enough
time pounding home the message about birth control and abortion.

And finally, for good measure, the church is firing a teacher for seeking
infertility treatments and breaking the heart of a high school girl on the
eve of the prom.

Let's start with that last one, first.

Amanda Dougherty, a student at a Catholic high school outside Philadelphia,
had the dress, the shoes, the ticket and the guy for her junior prom. Until
the guy backed out.

She was determined to pin a smile on her face and go anyway, to have fun
with her friends. That is, until the school and the archdiocese told her
that she couldn't go without a date.

"For them to say that we're not good enough to go unless we have a guy
standing next to us, it's just kind of sickening," Amanda told a CBS
reporter.

In a statement, Catholic school officials said there were plenty of high
school events a student could attend without a date, "but we view the prom
as a special social event where a date is required to attend."

(Just guessing here, but I assume that would not include a date of the same
sex.)

And an Indiana teacher at a Catholic school found that her contract had not
been renewed after she asked for some time off to pursue a second in vitro
fertilization.

When Emily Herx of Fort Wayne pointed out that her supervisor not only knew
of her first attempt but was praying for its success, and that no embryos
were destroyed or frozen, the monsignor in the parish told her she was a
"grave, immoral sinner" anyway.

This is probably as good a time as any to ask, "What would Jesus do?"
Probably, none of the above.

When my children were preparing for their confirmation in the Catholic
Church — under the more benevolent reign of Pope John Paul II — they were
frustrated and angry over the fact that just about every minute of class
time was spent talking about the evils of abortion and the sin of
contraception and almost none on the Sermon on the Mount.

These were 13-year-old kids looking for a way to deal with the first
disappointments of life — the death of a friend's parent, mean girls, a
divorce, the pain of trying to fit in at a new school, getting cut from a
team. Where was the church when they needed it most?

I would ask the same now.

Why is the Catholic Church tightening the screws of doctrine in a world
already awash in religious extremists? Why would it handcuff the good
sisters, who live only to serve the weakest among us and be their voice for
justice?

Why would it wound the faithful at their most vulnerable moments? Why does
it exclude, when it could embrace?

When my children had their first crisis of faith years ago, I said with
conviction, "Whatever you think of the Catholic Church, remember this:
Jesus didn't have any bad ideas. Try to live as he would want you to live."

That is still my prayer for them. But it has become nearly impossible for
me to whisper it inside a Catholic Church.

*Susan Reimer <http://bio.tribune.com/SusanReimer>'s column appears
Mondays. Her email is susan.reimer at baltsun.com.*

-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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