Skewer until well-done

Any Way Saturday
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Where will it end? Or, will it ever end? The links below tell quite a story. There is a current raging movement of Christianophobia: Irrational fear or hatred of Christians.

• Canadian Catholic magazine faces 'Human Rights Commission' for opposing homosexuals
• British Court Rules Airline can Censor Cross worn by Employees
• Amendment to protect free speech of British Christians defeated

Even a spokesman for the Vatican conceded this to be the case. Vatican officials, including Archbishop Dominique Mamberti of the Vatican Secretariat of State, have supported the recognition of the term and acknowledge the phenomenon.
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We are all walking around with a collection of concentric circles on our back - we are targets for everybody. Even National Public Radio (NPR) got in on the act.
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dateline
SALT LAKE CITY (CNA) - A January 7 public radio skit that made disparaging remarks about the Eucharist while attacking Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. In the radio skit, a man’s voice then says:

“Tired of bland unsatisfying Eucharists? Try this Huckabee family favorite. Deep-Fried Body of Christ--boring holy wafers no more. Take one Eucharist. Preferably post transubstantiation. Deep-fry in fat, not vegetable oil, ladies, until crispy. Serve piping hot. Mike likes to top his Christ with whipped cream and sprinkles. But his wife Janet and the boys like theirs with heavy gravy and cream puffs. It goes great with red wine.”

After the outrage among Catholic listeners became apparent, an official from Public Radio International, the parent organization that carries the radio show, contacted the Catholic League. The official said that the offensive skit was pulled from the company’s website and that an on-air apology was given.

Get that? AFTER the skit aired and people complained, they said they were 'sorry'.
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Why are Catholics so thin-skinned anyways?
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Yesterday, I had a conversation with a construction consultant at a local 'big-box' DIY store regarding materials costs for a project in which I may be involved in the near future. As conversations sometimes go, this one drifted off topic. He began telling me of some church mission experiences in which he has been involved over the years. I tried to be a polite listener, finding his tales interesting, and we were standing in a very public space at a counter in the store. Most of the efforts had been in various Caribbean Island locations.

I mentioned I had recently met a Catholic priest from Haiti who was now in the USA doing graduate work at a University here. His response wasn't one of interest, though. His response was almost hateful. He responded that the Catholic Church was the biggest obstacle the groups he missioned with had to face in the various islands. "They're a bunch of idolaters!" he stated. "And they go around trying to get other Christians to worship statues of Mary with them. It is really confusing to the people, who are so poor and in need of our assistance. Mary needed salvation just like the rest of us; she was human, and they want to make some kind of god out of her."

I commented that Catholics don't worship statues. He insisted he knew otherwise, because he had talked to a number of these superstitious ignorant Catholics while he was there. They had told him that they prayed to Mary, embodied in the statue. I think there was something lost in the translation.

Before we got into a verbal tete-a-tete, he quickly decided to get back on topic and talk about the project again. I left wondering how many people are infected by some ignorant view of Catholicism they got from some ignorant Protestant pastor, or some ignorant Catholic.
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"asc" Story from Fr. V.

Far, far more interesting than my own second chance stories are the ones that I get to experience as a priest. Almost every day I will come across somebody carrying a heavy load from under which they think they will never escape. They come and dump black, vile, putrid tar at my feet and walk away, perhaps with a limp, but with a new lease on life.

This happens mostly in confession. (Anybody who decrees this a silly Catholic thing has never invested in it.) It is one thing to go out into the woods and tell God through a tree that you are sorry for your sins, it is another to tell it to another member of the Body of Christ who has more of a reaction than an oak, take responsibility for it, and ask for forgiveness. If that was all there was to it, it would be a fabulous experience. But it is so much more than that! It is also knowing that you are forgiven by the promise and power of Christ and His Church and being given a second chance to be a loyal son or daughter of the Father. To have your darkest secrets revealed and know that you are still loved; that is powerful!

Or to receive the Catholic who fell away from the faith shortly after their baptism and is now on fire for the Lord and coming back to receive the rest of his sacraments with great enthusiasm; devouring everything he can about God and His Church. He has been given a second chance at sainthood.

There are those whom I anoint and are given quite literally a second chance at life, returning to the pew they had always occupied, no longer willing to accept being a cultural Catholic but now wants to make a difference.

There are hundreds of hurt, weak, sinful, lost, angry, lustful, addicted people who everyday transform into powerful saints. I don’t have to do a thing. Christ does it all. I am just a front row spectator and it keeps me on my toes. Looking out at the congregation from the pulpit there are dormant seeds that burst open into spectacular blossom all the time. That is one of the true joys of the priesthood, to simply be witness and identifier of second, third, and fourth chances.

What a blessing.