My Short Unfortunate Church Story

So I'm not a big fan of religion nor do I believe in it. I was born and raised a Catholic, going through the motions of receiving my sacraments because my parents told me so. As a child it's not like you have much of a say while your parents impose their beliefs on you. I remember attending religion classes and the hassle of going to church every week. As I got older, I started to believe less and less and somehow detached myself from God. Some reasons for doing so would be:

  • The Religious Hypocrites- These were the people that preached the word of the Lord but were the greatest sinners of all. They did drugs, had sex before marriage, did not attend church, and so on. But somehow, they felt inferior because God forgave them, therefore, they were allowed to do these things and still receive the golden ticket to heaven.
  • The Money Baskets- I always felt that it was about money. I remember seeing my priest driving a nice Mercedes, and there I was thinking, "My dollar went to that?!" Plus, the Catholic churches are very extravagant with beautiful artistic artifacts and gold being the primary color. It seemed luxurious and rich, very insincere and artificial- bourgeois.
  • Loss of Faith- I just didn't fall for this God-ly figure. Majority of the people who attended Church believed God would light the way, or that God will save them. They just sat around waiting for God! But I felt that if you wanted to get stuff done, you needed to go out there and do it yourself.
So my decision was final and if I 'had' to put a label, I suppose it would be Atheist (although, I choose to just be nothing). My parents didn't seem to care because they were not practicing Catholics.

A couple of days ago I was walking past a church. I don't really pay attention to churches, they mix in with the other buildings so it's not like I stop and say, "Oh, look, a church!" But for some reason there was a litter of cats sitting around the steps. Now, I am a huge animal lover so it broke my heart to see them. My reaction to these cats went something like this:
HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!
You would have thought I was preaching the word of the Lord with the way I executed those 3 "Holy Shit's." As I stood pointing at the cats, my cousin stood in complete shock, knowing that I'm screaming this in front of the church. I didn't understand why she wasn't reacting the same way, so I was looking at her like she was the crazy one. It was like I was some Satanic figure screaming at the top of my lungs, as if not a care in the world. I somehow managed to mix "Holy" which was appropriate with "Shit" which was inappropriate. But that was my reaction and I couldn't help but laugh at the irony afterword.

Sadly, these starving cats will stay outside the church doors with lack of food and shelter, and I couldn't help but imagine the good ol' priest driving home in his Mercedes with the money basket filled to the brim, possibly also screaming happily, HOLY SHIT!

{Image by Jim Hutchison}

3 comments:

  1. Love the picture at the top. So funny, and true. Your post reminded of these lines from William Blake's "Auguries Of Innocence":

    "A starving dog at the gate/Predicts the ruin of the State."

    I understand perfectly your reaction to that litter of cats. Behind that holy facade lies a deep-rooted hypocrisy and lack of compassion.

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