Hello I'm Rich Brown and this is my personal website and blog. I'm just your simple, average, down to earth, professional, out gay man and aspiring circuit boy, living in Phoenix, Arizona with a few things to say while trying to find my place among all the scary, conservative, religious nuts in this sick and twisted world.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Gay, Catholic & Remembrance of Pope John Paul II
@HOME. One last post before I head off to bed. In amidst of all the fun and partying I've done this weekend, I managed to catch much of the documentary of the death of Pope John Paul II. I worked from home on Friday, so I watched as his health prognosis worsened. I caught some more news in the morning on Saturday before we headed out to the parade. I returned home to find out that he had passed away. I watched some of the documentary of his life before going out again on Saturday night. I can't say that I'm not saddened by his death, however I feel that he can finally rest.
Now, I really could write much here about my opinion of the Catholic Church, but out of respect for the late Pope, I'm going to save that for another day. As much as I have felt that Pope John Paul II has fostered intolerance and hatred with is anti-gay remarks, and how much he's torn apart the Catholic community with his conservative views on just about every topic including condoms, birth control, and how a 'good' Catholic should live their life, I do realize how much of an impact he has had on the world and politics in general.
Yes, I am gay and I am a Catholic. I may no longer choose to attend church, however I was raised Catholic, I was an Alter Boy in my Church growing up, and I believed in much of what the Catholic faith taught me. As I've grown older and had the opportunity to learn more and see the world, I was able to come up with my own conclusions regarding faith and spirituality. I now see religion as a personal issue. I would still consider myself to be a Catholic, perhaps not the type of Catholic 'the Church' would prefer or expect, but as I already said it's a personal issue to me and me alone. No one else has the right to tell me how to live my life because in the end I will be the only person responsible to answer for the choices and decisions I have made.
I do feel compelled and genuinely interested in watching the news coverage on the life of Pope John Paul II. As a child I remember him becoming Pope and what a joyous time it was for those in my family and my church, being that I came from a predominately Czech, Slovak and Polish family and parish. I do think he has done this world much good. I am not so narrow minded to see beyond my own wishes for respect, tolerance and acceptance to know that even through his discriminatory remarks, he has been a positive influence for many and has spent his life doing what he thought was best for the Catholic church. With all that said, I hope he can finally rest in peace.
Very well put Rich. I'm not Catholic but I understand the desire for many years of a lot of Catholics for the church to reform it's stand on issues like birth control, gay marriages, married priests and female ordination. I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said. I think he was a great, compassionate man and a spiritual leader for the entire human race in many other ways.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Jude @ Monday, April 04, 2005 6:44:00 AM
Hi Rich. I also disagreed with a lot of the Pope's views but in the end he was only doing what he thought was best so he should be respected for that if nothing else. Good Post.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Charlie @ Monday, April 04, 2005 11:05:00 PM
Good post Rich, and I can say that you are a better person than me, but then I have felt compelled to become an ex-catholic. I think being a catholic in Sweden differs much from other countries, and the gap between practice in Sweden and preach in Rome puts more of the conservatism on the line. The catholic church and the congregations here has a higher level of tolerance. Though the first time our gay catholic group organized the church coffee, I think we stretched it a bit. All the ladies loved us though :)
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Sven @ Wednesday, April 06, 2005 12:39:00 PM
Hey how you doing Rich? Still waiting on the "Potty Humour", LOL
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Jude @ Sunday, April 10, 2005 5:26:00 PM
