HELP! MY WIFE'S (MINOR) MORAL DILEMMA

In a nutshell: A Professor of History on the faculty where my wife is teaching – Loyola Marymount, here in Los Angeles – has drafted what he is calling a Declaration of Censure against the Archdiocese of the United States. This is basically a 630-word accusation of hypocrisy – a formal condemnation of the Church for “sins and abominations against the God it is claiming to serve.” (Yadda, yadda, yadda)

So here is the dilemma: The author (also a bit of a friend of ours) has been circulating this document in the hope of collecting 500 signatures from the faculty and students before sending it on to the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.

My wife is no lover of organized religion, and she agrees with (nearly) everything in the guy’s Declaration, but feels that singling out ONLY the Church for censure is tantamount to discrimination, and that a similar letter ought to be sent to prominent figures associated with EVERY major religion in the U.S… or none at all.

Her colleague doesn’t feel like writing more than one Declaration right now (but says he might do more of them “someday” – but I think he's full of shit) so the question now arises…

Should my wife sign it?

Personally, I say Fuck Yeah. I am no lapsed Catholic, I am a lapsed Jew, but I still believe the Church has a LOT to answer for. My wife agrees, but is still waffling, and needs to make a decision on this pretty quickly.

So -- to sign, or not to sign, that is the question. Any ideas?

Especially since it is only 650 words long.

Hard to know whether she should or shouldn't sign it till it is possible to read it.

She says it isn't ours to "disseminate" -- whatever.

I will try to get the Prof's permission (I know him too -- a little bit) but he may get sore about the reason.

What the hell -- if he says No, I might go ahead and post it anyway (my wife and I are fighting right now, LOL!)

The doc isn't particularly well written, to tell you the truth (methinks), but the ideas are good, if familiar.

This man wants to have a Declaration out there, which attacks the Church, and yet your wife doesn't want it discussed on a message board!?!

Good thing you wife wasn't around when Martin Luther decided to post his tenets on the Church Door! "No, Martin! Don't do that! In addition to possibly being burned at the stake by the Good Church Fathers, people will see what you're thinking about!"

-- albeit reluctantly -- but she YELLED at me for quoting from it. I said I wasn't able to edit the goddamn post (heh heh -- she's not on DU - -thank God!)

On the other hand, our elfin friend (the Prof -- he's short) might fancy the Martin Luther comparison -- in fact he'd probably LOVE it -- although the fact that I am discussing it mainly because my wife is so ambivalent might be insulting to him.

-- and I would consider signing!

Then again, it is easy to have an opinion on the sidelines, which is where I am.

No, my wife's the scholar in the family (I married waaaay above my pay-grade!)

should be writing about if they feel the need to speak out.

Me, personally, I wouldn't sign - as a faculty member myself I often feel that activities like this are just drama and theater that detract from the true mission of the university.

But, if the 'singling out' aspect is the only thing that's stopping her, I'd say she should go ahead...

However I feel they are not the only ones that need to be called out.
He should attack them all at the same time.

I go back and forth about it.

Still... I'd probably sign it.

Maybe.

Fuck, I don't know.

-- more significant than yours, Durham.

Seriously, this is hardly a major deal to me. That being said, I do find it to be of -- pardon the pun -- considerable ACADEMIC interest.

And of course, whatever decision my wife comes to, I'd like her to be happy with. (Even though we are feuding right now, LOL!)

If I was your wife I would tell you to mind your own business since you don't have any skin in the game and apparently little understanding of the issue.

Given that you didn't post much info I assume the issue at hand is the recent US meeting of bishops in which they selected a new archbishop who is very conservative and old school.

U.S. Roman Catholics should be upset but everyone else should just observe and shut up.

-- and I honestly dont' know WHAT prompted our elfin friend to time things the way he did (maybe it was the meeting of bishops, maybe not) but you aren't wrong about my understanding of the issue -- which is almost nil.

And even though I am not a Catholic (lapsed or otherwise) will you STILL permit me to gnash my teeth -- just a little -- at the selection of the new "very conservative and old school" archbishop?

but if it would apply to others he could just add their names to cover more bases

-- certain improprieties that are mostly (if not exclusively) associated with the Diocese.

In other words, it is fairly specific to the Church.

above said.

Tell her how you feel, listen to her, let her talk it out,
then tell her you will love no matter what she decides.
I was told by a very smart woman once that women need to
talk it out and not necessarily to have someone solve it
for them. Just what I was told, because I tend to be a fixer.

-- we've gotten through far worse (we will be laughing about this come Friday), but I'd like her to be happy with her decision.

Dragons know these things

...and this letter is here.

Would you forgo doing one positive deed because you can't do them all?

I'd say sign it.

Also, she has a say in Catholocism because Loyola Marymount is the largest Roman Catholic university on the West Coast. The signatures of staff and students show closely related displeasure to the powers that be. Some imam or mega-church pastor could care less.

My 2 cents.

Whatever she decides is correct though. These sorts of things are matters of conscience.

She'll end up making the right choice (with or without my help, LOL!)

And who is the corresponding Archbishop?

-- I am a lapsed JEW, after all -- the letter is addressed to the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which my wife says is in Washington (I assume she means DC, but not sure)

nt

-- leaving "the Halls of Academe" next year. We shall see.

I don't understand that part. Who else should be included?

-- were about the exclusion of some other major religions (Judaism, Islam, etc).

But I think she is leaning toward signing it.

...the R.C. church does. Besides, she's not excluding them. They're just not the subject of that letter.

I wouldn't stir the shit pot if it could come back and hurt the tenure process.

As to the discrimination--hell, no. It is a Catholic University. That is the church they should be dealing with. If there were Loyola Marymount complaining about the Muslim church, I might suggest that is a little out of line (but not much), but they should feel free to discuss the church for which they "work."

-- so that is not a consideration.

She is probably leaving the faculty next Spring.

Is the school Catholic? So isn't this Declaration meant to be internally critical? And isn't it more powerful as internal criticism?

nt

The Catholic Church isn't going to do anything about "outsiders" trying to influence their doctrine or affairs. The Catholic Church is in many ways more interested in their money than saving souls. That's a common problem with many Christian churches, though, so it's really not fair to single them out from a very crowded field of contenders. A solid published critique of the Church is more likely to get attention than some kind of "Declaration of Censure". Why anyone would sign on to a fool's errand is beyond me.

I have plenty of issues with the Catholic Church. For the most part those issues have to do with their failure to comply with the very Scripture they are supposed to be teaching.

But they're the single largest Christian sect in existence. They promote themselves on a global level as being arbiters of morality. They single themselves out.