The Radical, Counter-Cultural Role of Serious Catholics in the Public Square

Tonight I had to give a class on Catholic Social Teaching to a mixed group of High School students and adults. Although I always take time to prepare well in advance of the class, when it comes down to it, I talk about the major principles of CST and tailor what I cover in accordance with the issues that must be brought up at that time. Clearly, the emphasis changes a little with each class.

Given that the election is less than a month away, tonight I spent a little time emphasizing the role of Catholics in society, and our obligation to live our faith and bring our faith to every aspect of society, especially in politics and law.

I directly pointed out tonight that we often hear political candidates or Catholics approaching the voting booth that they "believe this" but refuse to vote in accordance with our Faith. Why? Well, they say, "I don't feel I should impose my belief on all of society."

Naturally, I have a few things to say about that ridiculous philosophy! 

First of all, tonight when I spoke about this (without naming any names), I pointed out that according to Catholic Social Teaching, it is our right and obligation - yes, obligation - to bring our Catholic beliefs into the public sphere, and YES, to "impose it on society."  We're talking about the common good here!

When I made this very direct proclamation, I saw a few raised eyebrows and surprised, maybe confused expressions in the crowd. Being a Catholic is radical business, y'all, and quite counter-cultural. Never is this so revealed than during election season. At no other time, in the eyes of society, are the sheep so obviously separated from the goats, and the wheat from the chaff.

Tonight, I asked the class about what happens if we stand down and remain silent, keeping our beliefs to ourselves. Is anyone ELSE doing that? NO! They're not! They're imposing THEIR views upon us, and making laws that actively oppress our free practice of our religion, so why are we supposed to stand down? The HHS Mandate is one of the points in question in that matter. Our religious freedoms are being whittled away because Catholics are taking the very un-Catholic perspective that we can't or shouldn't "impose our beliefs upon others."

For the love of God, we aren't imposing our core teachings and trying to force people to be Catholic! We are imposing the very beautiful teachings of our faith that uphold the sanctity of life, bring justice to the impoverished, respect to the worker, support participation of the marginalized stewardship for creation, reminding people of their rights and duties as citizens of this society, recognize the role and limits of government and empower the people.

This is a very simple concept: we cannot be silent!

We cannot take the cop-out view that we for some reason aren't allowed to impose our beliefs. All that would mean is that the beliefs of others will be imposed upon us instead. That has already happened, and unless we find our tongues and a bit of spine, it's only going to get worse.

In comboxes, in news articles, in Facebook Memes, I continually see people trying to "shout down" Catholics and our other Christian brothers and sisters when they gently bring up their faith in relation to societal issues. I continually see people demand that we Christians "keep our religion to ourselves."

I did not bring this up in the class tonight, but in the recent Vice Presidential debate, Vice President Biden said, "My faith is my life", then went on to cancel that out by saying he simply doesn't believe he should "impose it on the rest of society."

VP Biden does not understand his Faith, he does not understand Catholic Social Teaching, and revealed that he really does not have faith. If you do not publicly live your faith, and if in a position to do so, speak it clearly, then it is not "your life."  It is rendered a bauble to be taken out when it is convenient, but otherwise placed away like a dirty secret unacceptable in mixed company.

That is a completely unacceptable attitude in a Republic founded upon, in part, the freedom of religion.

If we are not free to vote in accordance with our Faith, if we are not free to speak our religious beliefs in the public square, if we are not free to use our religious and faithful values and morals to shape society, then we are not free at all. 

Think about it. 

Veterinary Adventures

For a few years now I've been volunteering with an animal rescue and have done different things such as completing home visits and fostering dogs. This summer, though, I began volunteering with a low-cost veterinary clinic associated with the Rescue.

I made it very clear when I began that I didn't know anything, am not a veterinary technician but was there to help where they needed me. Because of my lack of knowledge in this area, I expected that I'd be cleaning up poo, folding laundry, and in general, doing things that couldn't possibly involve canine "patient care."

Much to my surprise, my first job was to play "recovery nurse" to dogs coming out of surgery. And, in fact, that very first day since my charge was still on the table, I was able to come right into the surgery room and observe the neuter taking place.

The second time I went in to volunteer, they taught me how to take the animal's temperature and where to record it, among a few other things.

Each time I've gone in, the veterinarians and the technicians have taught me more, although sometimes planned lessons are interrupted by surgical needs or emergencies. For example, today I was learning about the surgical instruments and how to prep them to be packed and sterilized, but there were some complications with the dog on the OR table, so the vet tech had to run. I also ended up there, but was given another task; a lesson that in fact had been offered previously but was, as usual, interrupted by the work at hand.

Today

Maybe it would be best if I just explained how today went, whilst it's still fresh in my mind.

This morning I arrived around 11 am, greeted the receptionist with "I'm not from the government but I am here to help", walked to the back room and dropped off my backpack containing a few random things, including an extra set of scrubs in case a change would be needed. (Whether human or animal, in any area of  medical care, without warning one can become covered with unmentionable fluids. It's best to be prepared and assume that's going to happen at some point.)

As it was a surgery day, I headed to the surgery room (or OR for short for purposes of this blog) to see who was there and say hello, announcing my presence and ability to do their bidding. Now that I've been there a few times, they remembered my name and a little banter took place.

The lead tech asked if  Vet Tech D. wanted to show me how to put together a [surgical] pack and if I'd like to learn. Sure! So we went into the back room which holds a table, chairs, and the various kennels containing the often quite noisy patients of the day. One puppy in particular was exceptionally adorable with his exceptionally high-pitched cries so I confess I missed most of D's instructions but tried to follow visually, at least.

One of the waiting pups in particular got my heart, however. She had the German Shepherd face and ears and looked like a mix, maybe White GSD? Maybe American Eskimo? In any case, I was drawn to her and confessed to my preceptor for the moment that I was "in love with her.".

He was already chuckling. "You haven't even been here 10 minutes and you're already in love?"

Yup. That's how I roll. You'd never notice that I love dogs.

D. continued with his instructions/demonstration amidst all the noise and love going on, but  was interrupted by the veterinarian (let's call her Dr. V. for "Veterninarian), to please come to the OR. He came back in a little while explaining that the dog in question was having some heart rate problems and apologized. I worked on keeping the kenneled dogs quiet as none of the rooms are sound-proofed and the surgical team needed to be able to hear.

As it was, I ended up in the OR, too, and since the lead VT had to be there to focus on monitoring vitals,  she offered to teach me how to fold surgical drapes for the surg. packs.  Sure! I was a bit clumsy and even after an example, had to go back and fix my work as I'd folded it wrong. The VT was awesome, though, and told me that she'd folded them wrong for MONTHS and the Vet who owned the clinic never said a word about it.

That took some of the pressure off; knowing that what I was doing was part of prepping for surgery, I knew it was important to get it right, but the other side of the coin, revealing that mistakes in this task weren't vital, really helped me to keep focus and not make stupid mistakes that tend to arise from just being nervous.

While folding the surgical drapes, Dr. V. was exclaiming over some unusual things she was seeing in this particular surgery. The dog was bleeding more heavily than most, the fat tissue seemed to "just keep going on" (the dog was a mama and had only recently stopped nursing), and as was observed, the tissue being removed was just "falling apart".  The good doc explained a few things she'd witnessed with similar surgeries, other oddities and because she'd nicked an ovary, she discovered a few other things with this particular dog. In fact, what might have been considered to be a "mistake" to the untrained observer (ahem...me), actually ended up saving this dog's life. Dr. V. discovered the beginning of an infection that, if the spay wasn't being done that day, might have meant some very serious things for this poor girl down the road.

As a bit of an aside, I'm a little disturbed that I am so willing to respond to the "look at this!" while the surgeon is pulling out innards, but well...maybe we're all a bit weird in some way. Perhaps it's more important that as a clinic volunteer there is interest as opposed to, say....fainting.

But wait! There's more to this convoluted day, and it wasn't just a strange uterus and infected ovaries! 

First, there was a leak in the autoclave (which sterilizes the surg. packs). D. thought it might be a seal that needed to be replaced as he could see steam coming out.

When the first dog had been closed, finally, the lead VT showed me how to clean bloody instruments, and this was a task being given to me. No problem. As it was, though, I never got to them as the 1st dog's recovery was taking far longer than usual. She couldn't be ex-tubated and taken to a kennel for observation yet, so I remained with her so the staff could take a break and eat lunch. Then she had to run to the administrative offices for some other task. I remained with the patient, after Dr. V. came in to make sure I remembered the signs of the dog waking up (blinking eye when stimulated, swallowing), and because I'm still not sure of canine vitals, I made sure from VT. D. that I would know when the Pulse Rate was problematic. I also keep an eye on O2 sats.

As it was, Dr. V. was nearly done with her break but I had to yell for her as the PR (pulse rate) fell to 70 and below and I knew we couldn't wait. She came in to intervene, asked me to take a temp and determined that although we'd been working to warm the dog, had to remove the warmth to help her wake up.  We also needed to be able to continue with other scheduled surgeries.

I was prepping to leave as I had several errands to run, especially in relation to a foster dog coming to me tomorrow evening and prep for work tomorrow morning. I let Dr. V. know my exit time, and that's pretty much when all hell broke loose.

First, VT D. went to refill the Isoflurane, aka "Iso" the anesthetic used during surgery (inhaled). Well, the fluid was leaking and although he was quick to mop it up, much escaped into the air. I'd been with the recovering dog for a time and was actually coming into the OR to say goodbye while someone else went to sit with recovering animals, and ended up assisting with intubating the next patient.

That's when the leak happened, when they realized he wasn't "down" enough and had to use the "Iso" first. The spilled happened, they recognized, suddenly, that the O2 was almost empty and went to find a new tank...and there wasn't one. So while we waited in a room filed with airborne evaporating anesthetic,  Dr. V. had to leave to get an Advil for a sudden crushing headache.

I waited with the pup, holding him to keep him calm, and after awhile Dr. V. told me to vacate the OR with him as they'd realized the spill was worse than they'd thought. I went to the back room while fans were set up to vent the entire clinic, and in the meantime, managed to pop off the cap to the pup's catheter. Immediately, while watching it roll away, I found one of the staff to re-cap it. It was odd that it wasn't just gushing blood but it was decided to cap and wrap it until it could be handled. For the moment, all surgeries were in a holding pattern.

That's also when we realized two emergencies were coming in, one with a very sad, sad story. Although I'd planned to leave, I agreed to stay, but have to say the staff was hesitant to ask me to do so, as a volunteer.  I assured them that I could stay, no one depending on me, and remained to assist in peripheral ways with the incoming emergencies.

As it turned out, maybe it was a good thing that I remained. While I didn't get a headache, I did go through a very "sleepy" stage and had a bit of a medicinal taste in my mouth. It probably was the effect of the spilled Iso, which I'd inhaled freely in the OR until directed to leave with the puppy.

 While the staff  focused on what they needed to do, I remained with the recovering animals, ran an errand for the clinic for what was incoming (don't worry, was fine to drive), and finally, when all settled down, asked if it was OK to leave while giving the status of an animal of concern.

Summation

I learned a lot today, in spite of the fact that perhaps I didn't learn what was in the informal-on-the-spot lesson plan. I didn't actually clean the surgical instruments, and I didn't actually learn how to pack the ones that were clean. But I got to assist a dog in recovery, re-attach oxygen to an intubated dog, monitor vitals and in short...did a whole bunch of things I never thought I'd do.

And you know what? It's all completely un-glamorous life-and-death serious but I LOVED it and can't wait to go back, maybe next week. While I get my puppy-cuddle therapy, I also know that there is value to the work, that we are helping animals AND their people, and I can't wait to learn even more so that I can do more to assist the Veterinarians and Techs in their work.

Now please excuse me while I go over and hug my Tikaani, who spent a good 5 minutes sniffing me in my scrubs when I came home this evening. She's feeling a bit neglected and it benefits neither of us to spend my time with other people's pets if I'm ignoring my own!

Unpopular

I'm going to talk about something now that is going to be REALLY unpopular, but you know what? I don't care. I've been silent on this long enough and the media hype on this has confused me for a very long time.

Here's the thing:  currently it's very popular to be "Anti-bullying" and of course, as I was bullied as a child, all the way through school, I firmly agree with developing a peer culture that recognizes and turns the tables on bullies. And because I believe that, I also believe that marrying (no pun intended) the whole "gay" thing to bullying does a great disservice to kids who are ACTUALLY bullied and not just using that media-driven popular political  platform as an excuse for what truly is a mental and emotional disorder.

There. I said it.  Yes I did. I went there. Shut up. It's my turn to speak. 

So hear me out, because I'm not NEARLY done.

When I was growing up, I was the bullied kid, even from kindergarten. Mostly because I was shy (and that is still very much a part of my temperament/ personality) in social situations. God help me, I was born an introvert and no one ever understood me, especially my peers. As a result, I was often bullied and no, I didn't fight back. Why? Because I hadn't the strength, hadn't the will to engage the bully, and figured that if I just put my head down and kept going, maybe the rocks being flung at me would finally stop. (And this isn't a metaphor: rocks really were involved in more than a few bus-stop incidents, and they were quite literally aimed directly at my head.)

I wasn't bullied because I was "gay".  For the love Our Lord and His Mother, I was 6! And in our culture, we have pre-adolescent kids "coming out" as "gay" when they don't even know what sex is about! Is anyone else smelling the bullshit? Seriously? Has the entire country gone MAD????

Now, fast-forward to my Jr. High years, where a new girl and I struck up a friendship. I didn't have a lot of friends due to my own social awkwardness, although I was pretty well adjusted even considering that. I had friends, a social life and was fine around them but seemed to "lose my voice" around the popular kids. Everyone knows that Jr. High is brutal, worse than any boot camp the military of any nation ever created, falling just short of the type of treatment Hitler provided as "hospitality" to concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust that bastard masterminded and orchestrated.

[I'm pretty sure that Middle School/ Jr. High culture is pattered after the philosophy of  Mein Kampf, but that's neither here nor there for the purposes of this blog.} 

In my 7th or 8th grade year, a particular girl in my class who had always had a mean streak, and with whom I'd been friendly previously, suddenly decided, apparently, that I must be eliminated. She had a super-group of friends my older, High-School cousin dubbed "The Mob".  This particular girl did everything she could to make my life miserable, and I did everything I could to avoid her. One day I got caught in traffic in a hallway between classes and she and her friends cornered me. I had no hands with which to defend myself as she approached, a stolen paint brush from the art room in hand. She had emerged from the bathroom, making a beeline for me as her Guidos giggled and blocked any possible path for escape. Wordlessly, this girl drew  the soaked paintbrush against each of my cheeks, grinning madly, staring into my eyes. I looked back mildly; I was already broken and just glad they were only dragging this piss-soaked brush against my face as opposed to trying to drown me in a backed-up toilet.

As I didn't react, the Godmother, her Consigliere and their minions disbursed just as the hall traffic finally burst in the way it tends to do 30 seconds before class begins.

My tears helped to wash away the unspeakable fluid from my face. And WHY were they all doing this?

Because, they said that I was "leszing" with my new friend. I honestly didn't even know what that meant. Over time and context, that year, I finally figured out they were accusing me and my friend, who was also being bullied, of being "gay".

They knew we WEREN'T, but it was a point of attack and they thought it was fun. Some people do tend to spend their Middle School years as a hobby, making life miserable for people they consider "less than" themselves. They don't care about WHAT subject matter they use to "bully"; they just pick something and run with it because to them, it's FUN!

Getting back to the point, because there is one:

I just don't buy the "all gays are being bullied" crap that's being pushed upon us. 

The media and many misled people are perpetuating the myth of "bullied gays" using homosexual identity as a platform to condemn bullying, and this is key; it is as if ONLY alleged "gays" are being bullied! 

I have a serious problem with this. Yes, after all I've revealed here, I have a major problem with this platform because it denies the reality of the average bulled person...who is NOT gay, even if they are being bullied using "gayness" as a "trigger" for it on the part of the bashers from Hell. 

In fact, in my Jr. High/ High school, I have learned that the vast majority of the "popular kids" in those years are actually, THEMSELVES....now active homosexuals. 

Yes, really. You can't just make this stuff up. 

And many of those popular but apparently homosexual bullies were actually the biggest jerkwads in the school. They were NEVER persecuted to the degree I was; in fact, they were ADORED. Many were JOCKS, even!  REALLY! 

Now, I'm not advocating the idea that every professed gay was Homecoming Queen in his school or Homecoming Queen in hers.  In fact, I have also reconnected with other friends from that time who were bullied as much as I was, or even more, and they ARE gay, but among all of us, I was the only one accused of that particular "crime" at that time, and I do not have same sex attraction. Friends, you're welcome. I took that bullet for you. (And in looking back, am glad I did. You had enough on your plate and didn't need what I suffered for your sexual identity issues as you also had way too much to deal with back then. Am glad I ran interference for you and if I could go back in time, even knowing what I know, I'd do the same thing. I'd just be more vocal about the bullies and would probably be dead now.)  

Oh, sure, this is MN and when we first moved here, I learned the term "Queer" or the phrase "That's GAY!" and had no idea what it meant. I also learned that the terms were learned from the culture, not from true maliciousness, and so it makes sense to me that now, in this ultra-liberal state that any "slander" against those who actually ARE "queer" or 'gay" are punishable by death or will be shortly. Why? Because the biggest bullies are now the lawmakers who will silence all in order to squash their own transgressions against the new religion, defined and invented by themselves: The Church of Tolerance. 

This is the reason for the "bullying" legislation and "hate crime" crap that excludes the ability of Catholics, Christians, and other general normal people  to oppose abortion and the re-definition of marriage here. 

The Adult Years and Friends

As an adult, I once had a roommate quite submersed in the "gay culture" as most of her friends, both men and women, were same-sex attracted, even though she herself was a heterosexual. I loved her friends and we all would go out to dinner, for drinks, dancing...whatever. One day she hosted a birthday party for one who was turning 30, so she and I were the only two women (and heterosexuals) in the house. I fully admit that I had a blast! 

I LOVED these guys! They were animated, engaging, fun, respected my own status, and, quite honestly, it was nice to attend a party and not be hit on by losers. (I've always been a loser-magnet. Friends always laughed at the show.)  

But at one point, some weeks later, the friend for whom the party was being thrown heard a particular story of mine in which (regarding a past male-dominated job) I'd been slighted because I was a woman. 

Condescendingly, in a tone to which I'd become accustomed from guys like him, he commented, "Oh, so you've been discriminated against."  He said this with a disdainful sniff, (think Adam Corolla sniff) as though to dismiss my experience because I couldn't POSSIBLY know what it was like for REAL.  (Mind you...this was a popular guy and had always been so with his own peers.)  

I was a bit taken aback by his attitude for I was truly distressed by what had happened to me. I bit back my anger, for I wanted to say, "What, because you're gay you think you have a corner on the discrimination racket?" 

Instead, as usual, I was silent and just walked away.  I'd probably do the same thing now, actually. Pearls before swine. 

Then, come fall, another of my roommate's friends came over so she could help him dress in drag for Halloween. Terry wasn't a fan of drag and was amazed at himself for doing it, but was going along with some crazy friends (his words) and so my roomie was going to help him with makeup and fitting. I made a few suggestions of my own to him and gave a few makeup tips (like putting loose powder under the eyes so that the eyeliner won't run).  

While we were doing Terry's makeup, he spoke about how much he hated that people didn't agree with him and that his recipe for "happiness" was to just cut anyone out of his life who didn't 100% agree with his actions. 

I recall being shocked at the time, but have found this to be the attitude of many active  homosexual friends (male and female), throughout the years. It saddened me, and still does. I find that this attitude permeates and spreads to others, and the IDEA of that, the IMPLICATIONS of that philosophy are never truly explored. 

To be honest, I lost  nearly all respect for Terry on that day, and I also have respect for anyone else who holds such a terrible, unforgiving, intolerant philosophy. They are not open to anyone; they are not open to new ideas, they are not open to anyone but their own self-defined bubble of "happiness", and as a result, become the most miserable people on earth.  

To this date, most of the self-described active gays I've met are wildly popular and wildly supported by their peers, from Elementary school on up to ripe old death, for those who don't die of HIV, addictions, suicide relating to some mental illness such as bipolar, chronic depression, cancer caused by HPV....all the stuff that also kills promiscuous heterosexuals and people from all walks of life, in fact. And bullying of "gays" is NOT the cause of the majority of it. 

Any time we act in a way contrary to Natural Law, we are miserable and wallow in it until we finally cooperate with those laws. Advice from a sinner. ;-) 

Summary and Conclusion

So it is that I don't buy the package being sold out there to teens and gullible adults: that the reason for the high rate of suicide, addictions, and mental illness among persons identifying as homosexual is the result of "not being accepted." In my experience, bullying in schools has absolutely NOTHING to do with gender identity or attraction, but entirely to do with teenage idiots running rampant and you're never going to truly quash that because bullies have always been around  and now some of them just have more to lord over others because their own abnormal condition is being supported as untouchable. Now if a gay tortures a straight kid (as I was), the straight kid is given punishment for being "intolerant".  

Yeah, I have a problem with that; I've been there, and was for many years.  

As for the "bullying" that allegedly causes "suicide, depression, and addiction" among gay adults, well, let's face it: it's not there. Maybe for SOME, but then again, as a Catholic I can't even go onto Facebook without being assaulted by attacks upon my faith and my fellow Pro-Lifers are getting the crap beat out of them,. or killed by people who disagree with them, all  in the name of "Choice.", whether it be the subject of abortion or redefining Marriage.  

I'm done. Bring on the flames. Cool thing is..."delete" really works and I'll NEVER be bullied again. So think before you comment. I did, and decided this hill is worth dying upon as I've already been martyred upon it for years, over and over again. One more time means nothing to me, even if it makes you feel better.