Opposite Corners’ religious debate: Catholic

Defending the Catholic Church is never an easy point of view to take.

I’ve tried to do this on several occasions but my desperate notions of getting my point across have been shot down by eye rolls and scornful laughs. We are now this supposed ‘tolerant’ nation, yet when it comes to Catholicism, it is easy to jump on the ‘Catholic bashing’ bandwagon, with many doing so in order to appear hip and rebellious. Often many of these people simply do not understand what they’re talking about - how can they if they have lapsed from their faith for several years, or have stopped believing altogether?

Now I’m not going to follow the easy track that journalists often take when discussing religion, the good old neutral tone, the “I’m not stating if I’m religious” track. I’m a Catholic and proud to be. Despite what many people have claimed rudely to my face, my religion is not forced on me. I was not brainwashed by my parents (as far as I know). Yes, I was born into this religion, but I decided many years ago when I was wise enough and mature enough that it was for me.

This is a concept that some fi nd impossible to comprehend. Some think that in Ireland today you are looked down upon if you don’t attend mass. Not true. Many of my friends and family have lapsed in their faith or have stopped believing for good and no one is casting judgment on them in an obvious outward fashion or otherwise. This perceived snobbery simply doesn’t exist in my generation of Irish Catholics.

Another great argument against the church is the whole saga about paedophilic priests. There is no way I can defend this and I would never try. While this issue has been swept beneath the rug for decades, it is now out in the open and is being dealt with accordingly. I hope that victims will get fully compensated, both financially and emotionally.

Nevertheless it must be said that disturbed people exist in every profession who simply do not get the same publicity when found out. We also must not forget that it was only a small minority of priests that caused this harm. A great number of priests do so much good work in their communities and are kind and selfless people. We should not tar all priests with the same brush.

However, despite all of this, I am totally pro-change regarding some aspects of the Church. I feel that the issues of women priests, sex and co-habitation before marriage, contraception and gay rights must be addressed. I truly believe that these issues will be dealt with during my lifetime, though it may take a while.

On this subject, I do not feel any less Catholic for saying these things, though perhaps some may ask how I can claim to be Catholic when I disagree with the church’s opinion. In response I would say that it comes to a point when we are answerable to no one – we simply know ourselves why we continue to believe in something or we don’t.

Religion is the cause of too much evil in the world, and I don’t just mean suicide bombers and wars. On a more basic level it can create tension between a parent and a teenager who doesn’t want to go to mass. It can cause an elderly couple to disown their son because he lives with his girlfriend. It can frustrate an aid worker desperately trying to encourage those in third world countries to use condoms to prevent the spreading of AIDS.

The church often uses the image of a candle burning as a metaphor, and perhaps it is time for us all to take a good hard look at this candle and see if it shines a light for us any longer. If so, we should continue with our faith and work to see it become modernised and more accepting. If not, we should stop the bashing of those who do believe, find some other bandwagon on which to jump, and move on.