AMERICANS & SUBMISSION

Sometimes my best writing is done spur-of-the-moment. Sometimes not. But in this instance I think I was on to something, and perhaps should take the time to expand upon it. This was a reply to a very good Catholic friend of mine from Michigan. We were discussing Dan Brown and The DaVinci Code. She wrote the line in boldface, and my reply follows:

Being a Catholic is hard - being a good one anyway, lots of rules, lots of morals, etc.

Bingo! That is EXACTLY why the Catholic Church is under constant relentless attack by so many people. To have to submit ourselves to rules or guidelines of any sort is offensive to so many...and I think this especially true forAmericans. We have taken the rights and freedoms won in 1781 to dizzying heights. Submission has become an un-American concept. By rejecting submission, we end up with:

• Higher and easier divorce rates (no submission to spouse, oaths, etc.)
• Higher abortion rates (no submission to parenthood or personhood of the new life)
• Low church attendance (no submission worship or adoration of God)
• High crime/murder rates (no submission to Ten Commandments)
• Corruption, unethical business practices, exploitation of cheap labor, cheating...even cheating in sports...it all stems from this.
  

And who is the largest group with a moral voice who champions submission to God and His laws? Catholics. Precisely why that moral voice was damaged and attacked so viciously when the priest scandals broke. The fact that liberal Catholics opening the door to feminists and homosexuals in seminaries which led to these scandals doesn't matter to anti-Catholics. That would be self-defeating. No...attack the result...not the cause. Which they did in spades.

It's easier to see "gray" area everywhere and not live our lives by black and white definitions. It's hilarious to me how we are ridiculed as easily-lead simple-minded sheep because we don't see all the "nuances" involved in things, yet our way of life is rejected because it IS in fact "too hard to live up to."

Kind of a disconnect there somewhere, isn't there?

Sometimes I think on my feet pretty good. Other times? Not so much. Am I perfect and able to adhere to this all of the time? Flatly and plainly "No." But isn't it better to have a standard in life that we are aspiring to?