My chickens are coming home to roost. Various lifestyle choinces I have made over the course of my life are converging in a way that is probably going to be painful. I'm seriously contemplating that many friends who I love and respect are going to simply write me off.
In college, I hung out with and made friends with conservative, evangelical Christians and Catholics of a similar political and moral bent. At the same time, I have never really bought in to the "family values" espoused by my friends nor their interpretation of the Christian faith. I'm no fundamentalist - Catholic or otherwise. However, I sang in a choir an went to Mass on Sunday (sometimes) and made friends with conservative Christians of many denomintations and confessions.
On the other hand, I have a completely different take on the Christian faith these days and have integrated my values and my faith into my character in a much more authentic way. In other words, I no longer feel guilty when my lifestyle choices are in conflict with conservative, traditional, or fundamentalistic interpretations of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, or doctrine and dogma.
No, these days I feel guilty about portaying myself as someone I am not for the purposes of holding a job, maintaining friendships and maintaining a false peace in relationships. Consequently, I feel I need to come clean with those people I love about who I really am, even if it costs me their friendship, trust and respect. The occasion for all of this is, of course, my upcoming wedding.
Let me be clear: I do not want to sever these relationships. I love my friends. I understand where they might be coming from. I want them to come to my wedding if they can. I want them to celebrate my joy with me.
On the other hand, I need to be honest with them. I don't want any of them showing up and saying, "I didn't know that! I've been duped! I never would have come if I'd known!" So I need to tell them, one at a time if I have to, that I've been living with my fiancee for two years now and we're going to have a baby in April. Being honest about this with my employer already cost me my job, being honest about this with my family has cost me their idyllic conceptions about "the good Catholic boy" they thought they had (which fulfilled all my super-egotistical desires for approval and praise), and being honest about this with some of my friends may very well cost me their friendship.
I pray this is not the case. In my heart, I hope my friends will accept me for who I really am and forgive me for appearing to be someone I am not for so long. But I'm realistic. And I know that some of them will use this as justification to break off what little remains of a friendship that meant something once upon a time.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Happy Elvis Death Day
Thirty years ago, the king of rock and roll keeled over in his bathroom and died at the age of 42. I am a huge fan of Elvis. Elvis lives in my CD player and all over my iPod. So I was pretty happy to find this in my local paper this morning: On 30th anniversary of Elvis' death, nun recalls their films.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Free Doggie!
I need a favor!
My neighbor has a puppy he's giving away (FREE)!
It's a Dachshund, it's housbroken and it's great with kids. He's giving it away because his wife says the dog "stares" at her when she is undressing, and that it gives her the "heebie jeebies." I think she is just weird. If you're interested or know someone who is, let me know!
Here's a picture of the dog (below).
My neighbor has a puppy he's giving away (FREE)!
It's a Dachshund, it's housbroken and it's great with kids. He's giving it away because his wife says the dog "stares" at her when she is undressing, and that it gives her the "heebie jeebies." I think she is just weird. If you're interested or know someone who is, let me know!
Here's a picture of the dog (below).
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
August Arrived Too Early
As far as my job is concerned, the month of July was awesome. I took kids to a poor town in New York where we painted and repaired the homes of the poverty-stricken residents of Hoosick Falls, NY. The next week, I was in Boston for a conference that was a nice working break. I had a good time, but the work was tough too. The past couple weeks, I have enjoyed the office to myself as I followed up with the kids I took to NY and work on arranging a fun day trip to one of those obnoxious "uber-Catholic" youth rally things in the next town down the highway with as many kids as want to go. Work was good in July.
Now it is August.
Now I have to deal with the fact that everything is ramping up all over again and even though I spent the last couple weeks getting caught up I am already falling behind. Now I have to deal with the fact that all the big plans I made for this year over the summer are actually going to take a whole lot of work. I am one day into August and I am already dreading the direction things are going.
Gah. This is me just feeling stressed out after a month of things being pretty dang awesome. Don't take me too seriously. The problem is that this is really two or three jobs rolled into one, and I only enjoy one of the three. In July, I only really had to worry about that one. Now I have the other two pressing down on me too. August. Bleh.
Now it is August.
Now I have to deal with the fact that everything is ramping up all over again and even though I spent the last couple weeks getting caught up I am already falling behind. Now I have to deal with the fact that all the big plans I made for this year over the summer are actually going to take a whole lot of work. I am one day into August and I am already dreading the direction things are going.
Gah. This is me just feeling stressed out after a month of things being pretty dang awesome. Don't take me too seriously. The problem is that this is really two or three jobs rolled into one, and I only enjoy one of the three. In July, I only really had to worry about that one. Now I have the other two pressing down on me too. August. Bleh.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Harry Potter and Christianity
POTENTIAL SPOILERS INCLUDED
(if you are well-versed in Christian themes in literature)
I'm just wondering if some of the right-wing Christians who have been so vehemently opposed to Harry Potter for the past 10 years will lighten up after reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Christian themes are all over this book. Here's the just one example: A verse from scripture plays a pretty significant role in the story. I'll give you the verse. You can look it up yourself.
1 Corinthians 15:26
For those of you who don't own a Bible or are just feeling a little lazy, go here.
So now we can uncritically embrace Harry Potter, right? Not quite. While the basic Christian message is played out in the story, there are some subtle details we have to be aware of first. I can't go into much detail, because I don't want to just give away the whole thing to those of you who haven't read the book yet, but suffice to say, I think Rowling has at least a passing knowledge of the Gospel of Judas and a basic understanding of Gnosticism, a heresy which has plagued the Church on and off since the first century. If you want me to go into more detail on this, just ask (most of you have my email address).
Does the fact that J.K. Rowling has given us a Gnostic Christian interpretation diminish the Christian themes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? I think it does - but just a little. Like I said, the most important Christian themes and ideas are still there, and the story can be easily employed by ministers, preachers and teachers to underscore Christian themes like service, selflessness, and love.
I'm sure there will be some obstinate people in whose eyes J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter will never be acceptable. But Christ gives us a principle which we can use to judge their acceptability: "Whoever is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:40). Given the strength of the images and the clear connection to Gospel values, I believe that J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series are definitely "for us."
(if you are well-versed in Christian themes in literature)
I'm just wondering if some of the right-wing Christians who have been so vehemently opposed to Harry Potter for the past 10 years will lighten up after reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Christian themes are all over this book. Here's the just one example: A verse from scripture plays a pretty significant role in the story. I'll give you the verse. You can look it up yourself.
1 Corinthians 15:26
For those of you who don't own a Bible or are just feeling a little lazy, go here.
So now we can uncritically embrace Harry Potter, right? Not quite. While the basic Christian message is played out in the story, there are some subtle details we have to be aware of first. I can't go into much detail, because I don't want to just give away the whole thing to those of you who haven't read the book yet, but suffice to say, I think Rowling has at least a passing knowledge of the Gospel of Judas and a basic understanding of Gnosticism, a heresy which has plagued the Church on and off since the first century. If you want me to go into more detail on this, just ask (most of you have my email address).
Does the fact that J.K. Rowling has given us a Gnostic Christian interpretation diminish the Christian themes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? I think it does - but just a little. Like I said, the most important Christian themes and ideas are still there, and the story can be easily employed by ministers, preachers and teachers to underscore Christian themes like service, selflessness, and love.
I'm sure there will be some obstinate people in whose eyes J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter will never be acceptable. But Christ gives us a principle which we can use to judge their acceptability: "Whoever is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:40). Given the strength of the images and the clear connection to Gospel values, I believe that J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series are definitely "for us."
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