My daughter came home from college overnight. She’s leaving again today. Today she told me I was “post modern”. I said, “What does that mean?” She said, it’s a period of time that began about 1970. According to her most post-moderns are obsessed with death and they don’t trust the government.
I love my daughter, but I don’t like being “pigeon holed”. I’m conservative in some things, progressive on others, libertarian on others. I’m orthodox about somethings and unorthodox about others. I don’t really think that I’m much different from most of the other folks on this earth. I’m opposed to capital punishment and inclined to pacifism. I’m pro-choice. I’m neither Republican or Democrat though I once was a member of the Republican National Committee and was once a registered Democrat. I don’t think it’s a sin to be gay. I believe in hard work. I’m a member of a labor union but I’m not an apologist for unions. I’m pro-business and pro-family even if both spouses are gay. I’m slightly xenophobic. I’m a mystic and contemplative and an unorthodox Roman Catholic. I love God and I try to love my neighbor. I don’t agree with President Bush most of the time, but I think he’d be a great guy to get to know. I think his wife is very pretty. I wish we saw and heard more of her and what she’s trying to accomplish. I hope our next president is a woman. I think that would be good for our country. Women presidents are long overdue.
I’m deeply religious and very profane. I read Thomas Merton and love George Carlin. I don’t think there is a “war on Christmas”. I think we should have a “war on bullshit.” I think the Christian Right is actually the Christian Wrong. I love animals. I don’t hunt. I live on the edge of the “hundred acre wood.” I love to visit monasteries and stay in quiet places. I like Gregorian Chant and I like Jimi Hendrix. I love my wife and family and I miss our children being away at work and college. I’ve enjoyed being a blogger this year. Next Friday I’ll be celebrating the 36th anniversary of my 18th birthday. December 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Mary holds a special place in my heart. Blue is one of my favorite colors and though I carry a Rosary frequently I only pray it occasionally.
Am I postmodern? I don’t know, you’ll have to decide that. Last weekend I watched two movies and enjoyed both of them, “Inconvenient Truth” and “Glory Road”. The next book I’d like to read is Bob Sutton’s, “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t.” I’ve worked with a lot of assholes and maybe Mr. Sutton has some ideas worth sharing. The title alone is worth a read.
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postmodern, contemplative, mystic, humor
I like Gregorian Chant and I like Jimi Hendrix.
And I thought maybe I was the only one!
I don’t know if I’d necessarily call you (or me for that matter) post-modern, although I’ve seen a lot of people on the web who would.
What I see is a faithful man with an open mind and an open heart. A man who cares about injustice, but doesn’t hate the world.
Thank you for affirming me. I need that. Peace.
I don’t think people *can* be all one thing or another. That’s not how we’re made, mostly. Humans are generalists, not carnivores, mostly not strict herbivores. We adapt to grasslands, forests, tundras, rainforests, deserts, even sailing across the sea or into the heavens.
We’re complex, searching for certainties in a world that’s uncertain. The creature with self will, created in the Image, and capable of creating Hells on Earth.
Some days, I want to raise the black flag and commence a war on stupidity, except that it doesn’t work that way. *sigh*
Happy birthday.
Thanks for the candor and for sharing a little about who you are. My husband, too, was wonderfully profane, and devout but never pious. Chant and Jimi Hendrix are a GREAT combination. I too believe we’re all full of contradictions and complications.
I do have a question, though. As a new Catholic, and one who is very interested in some day becoming a Secular Franciscan, I wonder about publicly saying things that go against the teachings of the Church. Privately, I feel the same way, but how does that work? I hope you’re not offended, but doesn’t the vow of obedience come into play here?
They are free to “drum me out” at any time. I didn’t take a vow of obedience. I did profess to follow the gospel. The gospel and doctrine are sometimes at a variance. Peace.
Sorry, the Gospel and Church doctrine are NEVER at a “variance”.
Never?! I think the Roman Catholic Church most closely approximates the Gospel of any of the Western Christian Churches. Show me where in the Gospel there is the doctrine of celibacy and all male leadership. Where are women priests forbidden? Where is celibacy mentioned? Which beatitude blesses “just war”? Where in the Gospel is the doctrine of papal infallibility? Maybe those aren’t doctrines. Maybe they are just established practices, but I find no connection with the Gospel in any of those positions.
As for pointing out Truth in the Gospel, the following verse from Luke sums up the position of our Lord and should therefore be our final word on the matter, as well.
Christ himself said in speaking to the apostles (read: apostolic authority) that, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
– Luke 10:16 (RSV)
Christ gave authority to His Church led by Peter and his direct successors. If the Church calls masturbation, artificial birth control and abortion grave evils, it is indeed so – because the Church speaks “in persona Christi”, in the person of Christ. If the Church calls for priestly celibacy, it is Christ Himself who calls for priestly celibacy.
As Catholics, we do not accept the erroneous Protestant teaching of sola scriptura, a.k.a. “the Bible alone”. Our authority is Trinitarian just as God is…we have as our authority and guide these three: sacred Scripture, sacred Tradition and the Magisterial teaching of the Church – no one of which can subsist without the other.
In love, my brother in Christ, I beg you to consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Let us pray for one another.
As Rhett Butler once said, “Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.” You legalists strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. 🙂