Content in Ignorance?

Recently, I felt compelled to respond to a post on a website that had published a link to an online class being given to high school students to learn about various approaches to the Bible and different religious charism, if -you -will.

I was astounded and shocked (and saddened) to see that instead of listing "Catholic" as a subtopic, our Faith had been labeled as "Romanism".

Initially, I responded to the writer of the post to let her know that this is considered a highly derogatory and offensive term; and, as such, is defined as just that in many dictionaries.  I suggested she look up the word in an online dictionary where she will most likely find a definition similar to: Romanism ~ An offensive term used to describe Catholicism.

The incident grew more troubling in nature, when I downloaded the suggest online class and proceeded to find page five (the section on "Romanism") to be wrought with inaccuracies and falsehoods about Catholic beliefs and teachings.

All was written with intermittent grains of truth, thereby skewing the underlying falsehoods unless a trained and observant reader (such as a devout Catholic or one who has studied the Catholic faith at-length) would be able to pick up on them.

I ended up writing a post on my personal blog, Benmakesten, and you can visit there if you'd like to read more about that particular story...but what I'd like to discuss here in our new Catholic Community is this:

Why is it that many people seem so "content in their ignorance"?  Here are some questions that I'd like you to share your thoughts about, please:

1) Why are so many so inadequately educated about Catholic belief? Is it because they were raised and taught falsehood? Is it because our Church has done a poor job in explaining Her beliefs to the world at large? Is it because people would rather assume an explanation than take the time to do some leg work and really research a topic...or simply ASK a reliable source?


2) Is it just me, or do others notice that it seems to be more prominent (misconceptions, false assumptions, inaccurate teaching) with regard to the Catholic Faith more than other faith backgrounds?


3) Are we not responsible, as Christians (no matter what our specific affiliation might be) to make sure that when we are teaching others or writing in a public forum, that we have our facts straight?


4) Finally, how can we help to correct this seemingly growing problem?  I can't get the high school students who have taken this class out of my mind...I wish I could contact each one of them (which probably numbers in the hundreds if not thousands) to let them know that they have been taught incorrectly regarding Catholic belief.


I am so thankful for this blog and the community of believers who visit and write here. I look forward to reading your replies to this post:)

Interview

Hello, fellow Catholic Bloggers!

Recently, I had the pleasure and honor of being interviewed for an interesting blog entitled, "You, Me, & Religion". The author attempts to forge bridges amongst a diverse group of people from various faith backgrounds by allowing her blog to be used as an ecumenical sounding board via the interview process.

I was very happy that, as a guest, I was free to express my thoughts and opinions without sensor and my interview was published exactly as I submitted it.

I hope you will take a moment and stop by the following link to read it:

http://youmereligion.blogspot.com/2011/07/judy-dudich.html



Peace and joy to each and all of you as we strive to share the Faith with the world by means of "blogging"!

Pizza.

The preacher was telling the congregation about the evils of drink. “To drink is to follow satan. Drink is bad for you. It will lead you to damnation”.

To demonstrate his point he put two glasses on the pulpit. One contained water and one contained whisky. He then produced a small box containing two worms which he had dug from the garden before the service began.

He placed a worm in the glass of water and it floated about merrily. He then put the second worm in the glass of whisky and after wriggling for a few seconds it died.

“What does this tell you?” he asked.

A member of the congregation replied, “If you have worms drink whisky”.

There’s a message in this joke for us Christians. How often, whilst well-meaning, we try to tell others about our beliefs and end up confusing them and perhaps, un-wittingly, driving them away from God rather than towards Him.

It is worth remembering that not everyone is at the same stage of knowing God as perhaps we are.

You wouldn’t feed a new-born baby pizza or French fries; would you? So let’s go easy with new Christians or people who have yet to know the Lord as we do.

The best way to teach Christianity is by living it as Jesus would want us to.

“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” St Francis of Assisi.