About – myReligion
November 16, 2007
I was raised a Roman Catholic. I attended Catholic schools my entire educational life. I have been taught by Benedictine nuns, Marist brothers, and Jesuit priests.
I consider myself fortunate that I was required to study Theology and Philosophy. It is sad to realize that the vast majority of college graduates today are not required to do so. “Teach people to think for corporations and not for themselves”, seems an apt portrayal of modern educational programming.
In some of my poems I criticize organized religion in general and Catholicism in particular. I focus on Catholic because that is what I know best. I hope insiders of other faiths continue to criticize the incongruence and extremism in theirs.
qazse 
November 16, 2007 at 4:35 pm
We have quite similar backgrounds. I went to school at a Benedictine School in South America. I agree that Catholicismm is more on the defensive nowadays, and prehaps those of us who were privileged to be part of it must search for ways and languages to bringing to the fore. The work OF Charles Taylor is particularly important.
Andrés
November 16, 2007 at 5:32 pm
“I hope insiders of others faiths continue to criticize the incongruence and extremism in theirs.”
Well said. I couldn’t agree more with this hope. I’m a Christian, though not of the Catholic variety, and I find a lot of traction in your comments on religion and spirituality (two separate things, in most cases).
It’s sad that, despite the exhortations to pluck the beams out of our own eyes before going after the splinters in others’ eyes, so many of us have no grasp of what it means to look in a mirror. In several of the churches and religious settings I’ve inhabited, internal criticism has been frowned upon, at the least.
I wish more people shared your disposition on this.
November 16, 2007 at 9:56 pm
I really read Judas Priest instead of Jesuit Priests…
November 17, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Andres – Thank you for your comment. Which Charles Taylor are you referring to?
(PS: I apologize for not using the accent over your name. Is there a way to do so on a standard keyboard?)
howard – yes, “frowned upon” at the very least.
Tangentially related, soon we will hear the indignataries bombasting against the use of the salutation “happy holidays” rather than “merry Christmas”. They will get their shorts all twisted up over it and never say a peep about the rampant and blatant materialism of their precious “Christmas”. It seems that much of the practice of religion is posing.
birdsword – that is funny. No, I was not educated by that particular band of teachers. However, we did have Faster Pussycat as a sub now and then.