Losing my religion...

I was listening to NPR on my way home from work the other day, and I heard some talk about the American Council of Catholic Bishops and their discussions of Catholics and voting.

At first, I agreed with them. They said that Catholics need to think about their moral stance when they vote, and that both parties have things that agree with, and disagree with Catholic teaching.

I've always voted based on my morals, and my faith. When I look at candidates, I look at how they treat the poor and less fortunate. I look at their polices dealing with low-income families and children. I think about how they treat the environment, because I believe God gave us the earth, and made us stewards over the animals and land. I look at their stance on the death penalty (if they are in a position to affect policy), because my faith tells me we don't have a right to kill people. It shows a disrespect for life.

The Council of Catholic Bishops did discuss some of these issues, but they focused on two they felt were the most important- abortion and same-sex marriage.

I do believe abortion is wrong. I don't think there is anyone who has been in a nicu and seen babies born that were only in the womb 27 weeks, struggling to survive, could say that life hasn't begun. But it isn't a voting issue to me. It's something to be discussed, but there is little a politician can or should do.

On the issue of same sex marriage, the church and I simply disagree. To me, being opposed to same-sex marriage is no different than being opposed to a bi-racial marriage. It's not our place to tell people who to love, and it shouldn't be our place to tell them who to marry.

I know the Catholic Church disagrees with me about same sex marriage, and I still go to church every week. Why? Because I see a church as an institution, trying its best to know what is right, but sometimes tripping along the way. Faith and prayer are unfailing.

I'm proud I'm Catholic, even though I don't always agree with my church's stances. It's the community that taught me how to be a good person, how to pray and how to live. It isn't the occasional discussion that makes up the church. It's 2,000 years of tradition and, more importantly, it's God. It's comforting to know that when I'm praying at Mass, there are millions of others around the world, praying in the same way.

And, at the end of the day, members and leaders of the church will still be debating issues like gay marriage and women priests, just like they were debating whether or not the world was round earlier in the church's history. But they won't be debating the important things.

And, God-willing, they will never debate the most important thing:
"And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."