As if I Needed Another Reason...

...to not be a Catholic.

Let me say, as I have said time and time again, that I do not have a problem with Catholics in general. I know many and am friends with some good Catholics. Our Vice President is Catholic--And he is a good and kind man, as far as I know. Most Catholics, as far as I can tell, are kind, honest, decent people. Not all that different from most people of other faiths.

What I cannot tolerate, however, is the rigid intolerance of the leaders of that faith, as graphically displayed in the story linked to above.

Figures of authority in any given organized religion by their very nature hold tremendous sway over their congregation. They have the power to declare what is right and wrong, with the full power of the faith supposedly behind them.

However, in this day and age, when narrow minds hold such power, they are beginning more and more to find themselves on the wrong sides of an issue.

I am a heterosexual. Personally, I find the idea of homosexuality repellent (except in certain cases of hot lesbian porn--but let's not go there!). But that's my opinion, and--most of the time anyway--I keep it to myself. If, however, I were a teacher at the school referenced in the news story, and I were assigned to teach the student in question, I would have no problem with it.

The job of a school is to provide a quality education for every student who wants it. It should not and can not matter who any student's parents are. And, in the case of a private school, it should by no means deny the quality education it can provide to any student whose parents can afford to provide it. On the contrary--any parents that want to provide quality private education for their child(ren) should be applauded, not forbidden due to vagaries of faith!

Catholics as a whole need to step back and take a good look at what they are being told by their leaders, both locally and from The Vatican. The current doctrine of the Catholic church was laid down in medieval times, and little has changed since. Such dogma simply cannot thrive in this day and age.