Tag: Catholic

Posted on

The Things I learn

I have a confession to make, every morning while I am getting ready for work I watch old episodes of the Andy Griffith show. I have always loved that show, especially the older ones, the ones in black and white. I appreciate the gentle humor, a story told in 30 minutes, a lesson learned. There is always a lesson to learn, whether Andy is getting his hat handed to him by the women of the town or watching him parent Opie and admitting to a little boy when he, the parent, has made a mistake and must own up to it.

One can learn a lot from watching this classic television show, I think, in today’s hectic society, that this show is exactly what people need. A chance to see life in a slower pace, appreciating those around you and taking the time to interact with others.

With the advent of smart phones, tablets, computers everywhere, we are losing our ability to interact in a personal way. This is my belief, I find myself being drawn in, I carry my smart phone with me, ever connected to the world at large, but not interacting in person. Alex tells me he hates the computer, I am beginning to agree with him, he rarely texts me, instead he calls. We talk person to person and I like it, you can convey so much more voice to voice than you can in text messaging.

Elizabeth also calls me, now she and I text a lot, but that is because for 11 hours a day, 4 days a week, I am at work and not able to take calls. So she and I communicate a lot via text and twitter.  Jeffrey is more of a face-to-face kind of child, he prefers communicating in person. I enjoy that as well.

I am going to preface the next thought with I am not Catholic, however, it is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Typically, if one is Catholic, they give something up for Lent, for 40 days they sacrifice something they love. At least this was my understanding, until I asked my BBFF about it, going the route of what are you giving up. He said nothing, he hadn’t practiced this in years, I said I was very disappointed as he was my go to Catholic. This was his response:

“Actually, giving up stuff for Lent has been out of favor for a decade or so. It is the THOUGHT behind the giving up, namely sacrificing to prepare yourself for the Death of Jesus, that is important. While giving up is not bad, doing a more “positive” sacrifice is better.”

I thought this was a perfect response and gave me a better understanding of his belief system. Yes even after all of these years I can still learn something about my BBFF. You see we never stop learning about others, there is always something new to learn, something to discover.

So, here is my challenge to you, go out and have an actual conversation with someone, face to face, voice to voice. Learn something about someone you have known for years. Please report back.

Posted on

Inspired by @MrsScottBaio

So the other day on twitter Scott Baio tweeted a picture of a table and said something to the effect that his wife had done a good job with a luncheon she was having. Then someone tweeted back, was this after mass, to which @MrsScottBaio (Renee Baio) tweeted she was Christian not Catholic, I really think she meant Baptist in the place of Christian, but it was thrown out there in twitterverse and the beating began. One woman actually tweeted that because they were not married in the Catholic church their marriage wasn’t valid. People were just brutal, one man said he would have thought Scotty would prefer Catholic girls dressed in little school girl outfits, I stared at that for a while. Does this man not realize Scott Baio is a grown man and prefers a woman as opposed to a girl, and he is saying this to the mother of Scott’s child, and his wife. It was really crazy and yes, Mrs Baio did come back and say she didn’t mean to imply that Catholics were not Christians and that she was a Baptist Southern girl so obviously Scott preferred her over the Catholic schoolgirls.
I am a Baptist Southern girl myself, a FreeWill Baptist Southern girl, I believe that Catholicism is not a different religion, it is a different denomination. I cannot believe the beating that was rained down on Renee Baio for not being Catholic, I have a lot of Catholic friends, in fact my BBFF, aka Jess, is Catholic. He, nor any of my friends, have ever tried to tell me I was not a Christian due to my beliefs, and in turn I have not done that to them. In fact, Jess and I have had many philosophical and theological conversations, I can’t really call them debates as we end up agreeing with each other.
Here is the real point, if we as Christians cannot recognize that if a person believes Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, died to save us, then rose three days later to ascend to heaven, how can we respect anyones beliefs?
I had a wonderful Sunday School teacher in Owasso, Oklahoma, Mrs Hall, who told us in order to understand why we believe the way we do we needed to study other religions and denominations. She brought books to us, of course I was about the only one that read them, but I understood. I had a better view of the world after those lessons and a better understanding of the people around me.
I would like everyone to remember that Catholicism was the only Christian religion on earth until Martin Luther began the reformation. Please pick up a history book people, we are all Christians trying to make a better life for our children and the people around us. We should all be lifting each other up and not trying to tear each other down. If we do not have respect for each other how can we expect people of truly different religions to respect us as a whole.

Oh and FYI my first husband was Catholic and the man I am engaged to currently, The Irishman, is also Catholic. Therefore we can conclude Catholic men like Baptist women.

So, hats off to you @MrsScottBaio for standing up for what you believe in and not taking any of the insults hurled your way personally.