Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Practicing Catholic

I have a growing dislike for the term "Practicing Catholic". It just seems to me that we either are Catholic or we are not Catholic. I myself am a Catholic and am striving to become stronger in my faith. Do I fall short? I sure do. All I can do is ask God to forgive my failings and try to do better. I guess that does mean I am practicing.

What bothers me is when I read how some people abuse the term. by tacking a "so called" in front of it. Take for example the Catholic politicians who support a woman's right to choose an abortion. They are often times referred to as "so-called practicing catholics" and I feel this is wrong. They are Catholic, and like me they have failings and need to reconcile them with God and community. We should be praying for them and their Bishops and Priests not tacking on some title that shows them as being some sub-standard Catholic.

I was listening to Catholic Answers Live podcast about the time that Dan Brown's book was being released as a movie when a caller asked why so much fuss was being made about the book. This caller stated she was a "practicing Catholic" and gave her opinion that the Davinci Code was entertaining and that she did not believe it was anything other than fiction. The fill-in host responded by lashing out at her and even questioned her status as a "practicing Catholic." This is the type of thing that always makes me hesitant to listen to apologists. Some of them need to learn how to respond in a charitable and loving manner. I've got no time for in your face apologists and I assumed that they are all like this one. I almost turned off the show. Fortunately, I did not stop listening to the show because I have found that not all apologists are like that.

We all have our sins and failures to struggle with, and if we all get to be labeled "so-called practicing Catholics" every time we fail then they Church will be a sad place. We are all practicing each and every day.

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