Catholic fear

Guilt, I have often said, is something that Catholics would have invented if the Jews hadn't beaten us to it. We thrive on guilt. It is a central tenet of our faith. Unlike many Protestant denominations, we believe that we must continuously seek forgiveness for our sins - and that absolution can only come from the duly authorized representatives of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

Catholics are an odd lot. We trace the founding of our church not to some guy who wanted a divorce, or some guy who nailed a list of complaints to a door, but to this Jesus fellow who founded the church with a pun: "Peter, you are the Rock, and upon this Rock I shall build my church." (You see, "Peter" is from the same root as the Latin - or is it Greek? - for "rock", found in words like petrify, petroleum, and...um...petrolatum, petrochemistry, and not much else.) Once you accept that statement as true, pretty much everything else about the Catholic Church follows. You get a succession (more or less) of Earthly representatives of Christ in the Papacy, and the power is spread in a feudal sort of way across the whole hierarchy of the Catholic Church. And a lot of it is built on the statement that followed the pun, loosely quoted as "Whoever's sins you forgive on Earth are forgiven in Heaven; whoever's sins you decide not to forgive on Earth are not forgiven in Heaven."

Pretty heavy stuff to lay on the shoulders of mere mortals, which is probably why you got to corruption and selling of indulgences and all that other reform-worthy stuff in fairly short order, which led to a bevy of followers of Christ who decided that they could pretty much disregard his specific instructions and go off and make up their own churches.

John F. Kennedy's opponents fanned the flames of anti-Catholic fear by suggesting that, if elected, a Catholic president would answer to the Vatican first, and would do the bidding of the Pope, not the American people. Kennedy told the people who were saying these things that they were full of crap, and went on to get elected and serve for nearly 3 years before someone put a bullet through his brain.

Catholic fear is another tool of the Republicans in their fight to keep John Kerry out of the White House. They are taking a two-pronged approach:

1. In non-Catholic voters, instill the fear that a Catholic President will strictly obey the declarations of the Catholic Church in all things, regardless of the will of the American people

2. In Catholic voters, instill the fear that because Kerry is not obedient to the declarations of the Catholic Church in all things, voting for him is a sin and may result in exclusion from Communion, the celebration of the Eucharist that is central to the Catholic Mass - and possibly excommunication from the Church itself

The second prong is particularly insidious because U.S. Catholic bishops are echoing these statements and becoming, knowingly or unwittingly, the tools of the Republican political machine. Some Catholic Republicans have embraced this concept and are declaring that anyone who supports Kerry is not really a Catholic.

It is difficult to stand up to the church hierarchy and tell them that they are being used as pawns in a game being played by Republican strategists, especially when anyone with the temerity to actually criticize a bishop stands a fairly good chance of being cast out of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and having his sins bound for all time. I suppose the same sort of thing goes on in countries ruled by warlords (like Afghanistan) that try to hold democratic elections. You're free to vote for any candidate you like, but if your whole village votes against the local warlord or his candidate...well, they might just strike you (and your village) off their Christmas Card list. Permanently.

I hope that Catholics and non-Catholics see the Catholic Fear ploy for what it is. Voting for Kerry is not a sin. And real Catholics can vote for Kerry. I am a Catholic, I am voting for John Kerry, and I do it with a clear conscience.