How I Remain Catholic

Diversity Dimension: Religion

Inspired by my friends who are nuns and priests, I wrote last month about why I remain Catholic. How I remain Catholic is another story.

I read with great interest and connecting energy, Maureen Dowd's column in the New York Times this Sunday. If you have not read it, it is definitely worth a read--even if you are not Catholic because the message touches all of our lives in so manys.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/opinion/25dowd.html

Women Religious across the United States have been the catalyst for government taking responsibility for social services, having done the lion's share of the work long before civic agencies took notice. Many of these dedicated, committed women are also responsible for providing the best of the best education, especially to poor students who were often students of color. These students are now leading physicians, attorneys, journalists, etertainers, senators and congressmen.

When I read about the outreach being done to conservative Anglicans I felt uncomfortable--not because I do not believe that we should not make every attempt to achieve the goal Jesus set out for us, "that they all may be one," but that this interpretation only included certain "ones". Maureen Dowd's article articulated the source of my discomfort. So how do I remain Catholic?

This week the exhibit, Choosing to Participate, sponsored by Facing History and Ourselves organization, opened at Cleveland's Western Reserve Historical Society. The multimedia exhibit encourages people of all ages to consider the conseqences of their everyday choices. It inspires us to make the essential connection between history and the moral choices that confront our lives. A companion exhibit to the four pods that chronicles the history of the Little Rock Nine; Arn Chorn Pond, a Cambodian refugee; the Billings Montana hate crime response; and an Hispanic journalist, is an exhibit of protraits and profiles of community Upstanders. Upstanders are described as ordinary people who are capable of doing extraordinary things. Upstanders take a positive stand and act on behalf of others. Please visit my latest blog on Huffington Post to read more about this exhibit.

There is a connection to this work and how I remain Catholic. I do so by staying joined to others who imagine a truly universal church, who work to make the dream of inclusion a reality and who create the kind of world where everyone(not just those of a certain mindset or gender or sexual orientation) matters. I am disappointed that American nuns--Upstanders in their own right--are not being afforded the respect they deserve.