Clarence Oddbody: A challenge for Christian Fundamentalists (or nearly so). Everyone else can ignore this one.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A challenge for Christian Fundamentalists (or nearly so). Everyone else can ignore this one.

A lot of Catholics are surprised upon receptively listening to a conservative Protestant message how similar it is to what they've heard all their lives.

A lot of Protestants are equally surprised by doing the reverse.

I was raised a Baptist and have long suspected this, but only recently put my half of that truism to the test by spending the last few months critically but openly listening to Catholic radio. I haven't attended a Catholic church, I just listened to Catholics talk to Catholics and non-Catholics about what it means to be Catholic.

I consume a lot of critical thought throughout the week, online and over the air, across a wide variety of subjects - progressive, humanist, atheist, scientific, and religious, both liberal and conservative.

If what I'm hearing on air is truly representative of the sensitivities and sensibilities in the pulpit and pew, I can honestly say I am far more impressed with what is coming out of the Catholic Church today than any other denomination.

The Challenge

I'd like any Christian fundamentalist that doubts me to try something: Listen to Fr. John Riccardo, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Plymouth, MI.

You can listen here 10-11am M-F on Holy Family Radio

The Holy Family Radio program guide is here.

If you get a chance to listen to Catholic Answers Live, I encourage that too.

I guarantee, if you listen with an open mind, you will find you are listening to brothers and sisters in Christ[1]. You don't have to listen for months; just a couple hours.

If you don't try, you'll never know.

(If you don't care, that's another matter, but what's an unexamined belief worth?)

Now, I disagree with a lot of Catholic theology, just as I do a lot of fundamentalist theology. But I agree with somewhat more than I disagree with, and much of it is commonly held by both Protestants and Catholics.
You don't need to agree with everything a group believes to align yourself with that group, whether or not that group welcomes you. You can’t believe everything someone else believes, and no one else can, either. But we can all tolerate our differences and celebrate what we share.

What's wrong with that.

And there's no question mark at the end of that sentence.

[1]
This is the language of the tradition I grew up in. If you recognize it, you understand what I mean. If you don't, that's okay.

There is no dearth of Christian programming in Grand Rapids. Unfortunately, there is no fundamentalist radio station or TV program or book to which I could comfortably send a Catholic to experience the same enlightenment; and there is only one church, the one I grew up in - Bethel Baptist Church in Erie, PA; they're the sweetest people I know, just don't tell them you're Catholic. (Labels divide us more deeply than theology.)

A long time ago, at Calvin College, I knew a fellow on my floor in Bolt Hall, a year older than me and filled with the most interesting combination of punk angst and piety. He had a roommate who was pre-sem. This roommate was a lot older than me and thinking and behaving on a level far above my freshman preoccupation with girls and grades; he was disenchanted with Calvinism and that year left Calvin for Notre Dame.

The punk said this of his pre-sem roommate: "I feel the pain of The Reformation."

At the time, I didn't understand. I do now, though I'm on the other side of that pain. And the word "pain" is not hyperbole; matters that divide us aren't noumenal nonsense that you can take or leave depending on what side of the bed you woke up on. They determine how we treat the weak, the poor, the feeble minded; how we respond to the misfortune of others; how we apologize for an offense, or forgive an offense; and everything else and in between we call manners and morals.