I will be frank.
There is a special quality about Catholics and ex-Catholics who were taught to revere the world (and the universe) as places where --- marvelously! inexplicably! miraculously! --- love, joy, beauty and the warm of embrace of community not only exist but are to be nourished and expanded - to be conceived, in Teilhard de Chardin's view, as The Divine Milieu.
Behind our magical mystery tour (where every new year comes with a "free trip around the sun"), is an enduring vision and constant reminder that we are here to love and to learn with curiosity, and wonder, and tenderness.
t has been my experience that wherever good, kind nuns and priests have guided the formation of young people, Life has (in the main) been splendid.
On the other side of this coin -- where bad, bitter, unkind clergy prevail -- there is an iron-clad "closing of the mind" and "enclosure of the spirit" that are worse than Procrustes' Bed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes
Procrustes was only interested in destroying the body which -- despite the horror of that aspiration -- did not come close to the pre-emptive, a priori passion to destroy the soul, or worse to deny the soul's manifestation and emergence, thus precluding a spirited spiritual life, even before one's spirit had opportunity to put down roots and - thus grounded - become aware of itself and its divine (or, if you prefer, its ineffably Mysterious) nature. (Of all the names given to God, Magnum Mysterium is my favorite.)
What I have written above rings true to me. It is consistent with my experience and with the resonance of my head, heart and intuition.
However, what I am about to say is not as well-expressed, but comes close.
Any religion -- or, for that matter, any attempt to impart core values -- which does not revere intellectual rigor, scientific investigation and the findings of careful research (even though those findings can be questioned, refined and sometimes even altered) is BAD RELIGION.
Obama’s 2006 Speech on Faith and Politics: Abraham Prepares To Kill And Immolate His Son
I should point out that "formal practice" is not always necessary, although for most people consistent practice is of great - and often indispensable - importance.
The Phenotypic Expression Of Religion Matters More Than Its Dogmatic Genotype
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspo
But back to Frank...
After 50 years "on the radio," starting at Jesuit-run Canisius College near his hometown of Buffalo, New York, Frank broadcast his last "live" show Wednesday November 25th from WUNC's NPR studio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
During Frank's farewell broadcast, he paid homage to his Jesuit mentors - members of The Society of Jesus whose intellectual, moral and spiritual integrity are on daily display in the papacy of Pope Francis, whom I consider the most important and "godly" actor on the World Stage. And by a wide measure.
During his "swan song," Frank wanted to be clear that the Jesuits who nourished him along the way did not hold a candle to the nuns who taught him in elementary school (or, "grammar school" as we used to say).
Frank had the great good fortune to be educated by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur whose motto is 'to make known God's goodness.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_of_Notre_Dame_de_Namur
For my part, I was blessed to be formed by the (Religious) Sisters of Mercy in Irondequoit, New York, 75 miles east of Frank Stasio's Catholic school. https://www.rsmofalma.org/our-history
My four siblings and I have always marveled at Catholics who say bad things about the nuns (presumably from other orders) who taught them.
The Mercy Sisters are great. https://www.rsmofalma.org/our-history
To give a sense of the mercy, love and compassion that characterized (and continues to characterize) the Sisters of Mercy, there is this remarkable and revealing vignette.
Less than 10 years after the end of World War II, the good nuns at St. Thomas the Apostle Grammar School in Irondequoit, New York, taught us that there was no Catholic teaching that any human soul ever "ended up" in Hell.
Rather, "We must pray for the salvation of all souls, including the soul of Adolf Hitler."
To be blunt...
If this view rankles you, it is at least possible (and I suspect likely) that you were formed by people who got steered wrong and passed along a misguided inheritance.
If any of my readers would fault Thomas Merton, please post your criticism.
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