Not Apple Pie...

Because, hello?!  Apples aren't really in season yet.  Blackberries are, though.  And Tammie and Fiona and Chris have a blackberry monster in their yard and they're compelled to share ; )  Lucky me.

 

We're spending the afternoon with in-laws and watching fireworks tonight.  How about you?

 

I'm slacking off and using store bought crust and a crumble top.  It won't matter, though.  They won't last long.

And even though it's a holiday, I've had something of a teal dear (tldr:  too long didn't read) post brewing.  Bear with me or not, as you see fit.  It's tangential as far as the holiday is concerned and occurred to me as a kind of salve to a niggling issue I face more often than I'd like.

For me, being Roman Catholic is kind of like being an American.  

For instance, if you're born and raised here in the U.S. of A. you have a certain world view and a set of experiences, whether you like it or not.  You have a certain set of expectations as far as your person, your family, your property, and your rights are concerned.  You have a degree of common education and experience with your contrymen.   Thats' not to say that experiences aren't individual.  They are, but for good or bad, you'd be hard pressed to, say, go live in France and just be French all of a sudden.  Or China for that matter.  Oh, you could learn the language and see the commonalities of human experience.  You could get used to and even love the food and the culture, but at heart, your expectations and your essence would be that of a United States citizen I think.  You'd always be an American abroad.

Catholicism works the same way for me.  I'm what they call a cradle Catholic and I'd be hardpressed to be anything else.  Raised in this Church, I have a certain world view and it's set.  I can go to another denomination's service and enjoy it, but the Mass is home.  And when we had other leadership in our Church here in St. Louis, I got asked by my non-Catholic friends how on earth I could still be one... how could a thinking person practice his or her religion under that leadership?  Hmmm...  I didn't stop being an American under the last president either.  I am what I am.

The United States is something of an international force.  For the good of us all or to our detriment, much of the world views us with some mixture of distain, anger, awe, envy, love, or  aprobation.   We step into cases of disaster and lend aid in some cases, and cause the need for it in others.  A great deal of popular culture around the world is derivative of ours.  The thing is?  For many Americans, at least, that is of no consequence.  We don't much care that kids in Russia wear t-shirts touting our fast food and our cartoons.  

I think that the Catholic Church behaves in much the same way, internationally and even throughout history.  We have a past that is both full of glory and steeped in ignominy.  That said, our history has formed our present.  This charitable organization now feeds, houses, and schools more people across the planet than any other single organization.  And like it or not, Protestantism is derivative -- if only in that it comes into being in part in response to the Roman church.  And I think that modern Catholics in general are willing to let that be the water under the bridge that it s.  

My local parish, just like my neighborhood, is where I choose to be.  It's home.  Nationally and internationally, there may be things about both my religion and my nationality with which I find fault.  Some mildy, some vehemently.  Does that make me any less an American?  Any less a Roman Catholic? I think not.

All this said, I wish a happy 4th to you and yours.   Be safe and eat pie...  ; )

Comments

[Bridgett]

Ok...I need some back plot here...

[Lucia]

I don't know the back plot, but my guess would be that it has something to do with the resurgence of the sex-abuse scandal and its connection with the Pope. I don't know -- my husband was a cradle Republican, so to speak, and at a certain point he looked around and said "this is not my party" and left. He was also a cradle Methodist, and he no longer believes in God. I can imagine circumstances in which I'd no longer identify or wish to be identified as American -- some of them not much of a stretch from the most heinous behavior of the previous administration.

It's very hard to imagine how I would react to the sex-abuse scandal if I were Catholic, but I think I'd have a lot of trouble with it and a lot of trouble believing that a merciful God would put men who swept the abuse under the rug in charge of the whole shooting match. But, not being Catholic, I'm only guessing.