By Erica Rohde
Staff Writer

I needed courage to speak up about the faith I believe in. I have determined that I am now courageous enough, and I am going to take my chances.

On April 14, 1995 I was born into a Catholic family. I was then baptized Catholic and raised Catholic, and have made a well-thought decision to remain Catholic. But taking that transition from a newborn cradle-Catholic to a blossomed and genuine faithful person took time. This faith is now permanently engraved in my heart, and has been there to guide me through the roughest times of my life.

On my journey I questioned. I argued. I skipped church. People were telling me how to think and what to believe in. I did not understand what they meant when they talked about controversial issues. As a Catholic I thought Catholics looked down on everyone. I did not think love was the main ingredient.

Over time I grasped a new meaning of love; the love of humanity, the type of love that gives unconditionally. And over time I was taught how to apply this love to where the world actually lies, where it matters; classrooms, workplaces, outings with friends and family. I went to my parish and put on my thinking cap. The videos play and the talks we make for our teen program sent shivers down my spine.  My church is becoming the world step by step. But that is not to say that I will be perfect with it.

I have made it a life goal to somehow change the world; make it better, more peaceful. But because I am catholic, I can’t do that as easily with misconceptions about how I perceive others flying around from state to state, from country to country. This applies to all religions. But I want to address the problems I have seen with my own church, as others can do the same.

This faith is like any that can be misread or even misrepresented, even by fellow Catholics, even by priests. None of us are perfect with it. We are human, we are fallible, and we are not godlike. Many of us have human difficulties with sympathy, understanding, and learning to love. Though give us some credit. We are trying.

Church teachings and the way that the faith is transacted is not always going to be crystal clear. But it should be completely obvious that any discrimination goes against what Jesus stood for in the beginning. At least that should have been obvious.

But for some people it is not. Religion drives us mad because we do not take the time to understand one another. Wars and havoc rage along country borders. We bomb for peace and are shamefully showing the same spirit in the land of the free. Like the public attacks during a recent quarrel between Americans and former Republican Presidential candidate and Catholic Rick Santorum.

Santorum is openly opposed to contraception, premarital sex, homosexual marriage and abortion as part of the Catholic doctrine. As putting any religious beliefs on the podium, it did get a negative response by activists of homosexual rights.

Santorum was slandered by people calling him homophobic, a large issue at places as local as public schools. The phrase ‘I am Catholic unless you’re gay’ comes into play.

It saddens me to feel this sense of hurt and confusion and anger directed towards the church by homosexual people who feel targeted. They are my friends, and my brothers and sisters in God. But we are helpless to such interpretations. Catholics do not condemn homosexuals. Maybe we disagree with their desires, but we do not love them any less for it. And maybe Santorum was a Catholic running for President, but that does not mean he is devoid of these feelings. He is by no means homophobic because he is Catholic.

I agree with the Pope when he says that churches need to be a better job of explaining in all areas of Christianity, not just among Catholic churches. There was a priest in Austria who did not interpret the Catholic message correctly.

A parish was determining the men and women that would be admitted to its counsel.  Florian Stangl, who lives in a domestic partnership stepped in and asked for a position. After one of the priests rejected his request, Cardinal Christophe Schoenborn of Austria stepped in and overruled the priest, believing the man was right for the position, and not because he was homosexual and they not just to make a statement.

The Catholic Church does not get technical with the causes of homosexuality. We just do not have a dog in that fight. The church just is not into the business of diagnosing; that is not in it’s expertise.

Differences between all Christian denominations have also sparked difficulties. My Methodist family members typically do not understand why Catholics have so many rituals. I also have friends who believe that we do these rituals because we think these are the requirements for salvation.

If this were true, then how condemning the Catholic Church would be to say that anyone who is not Catholic will not be saved.  That is silly to me.

It is nothing about earning, or doing good acts in return for blessings; communion, reconciliation and serving the poor. It is not about making God love you. God already loves you infinitely and never stops loving you. It is about cooperating with his grace, which never forces itself on you. He is knocking on the other side of the door. But the trick is, your side is the only one with the knob.

There is a famous picture of this scene inside my parish. The building is beautiful, and it is big. Statuettes of saint Paul and Francis of Assisi, large pillars, a large dome mural, and then in a small and pretty garden stands a life-size statuette of Mother Mary, where the kids go for a Rosary Prayer.

I can see why non-Catholics would find this a little strange or gaudy for a church. But all of these things, big and small, are not worshipped, but are used as a way to dive deeper into our faith.

What I love about the Catholic Church is that it has put so much thought into recognizing who we are as humans, recognizing that we are ritualistic. A husband saying I love you to his wife every day knows that he is saying it for a purpose of something deeper, or taking her to the place where they met. That setting reminds them of their love.

Catholicism has tapped into something that is deeply human. We like things that are tangible; something we can hold. Or something we can do that helps us focus. For us it was prayers on a rope, which is also shared by other worldly religions. That is why in mass, we are up, we are down, we are kneeling, we are singing.

Yes, sometimes these rituals can become hollow, but that does not mean there is nothing to it. It is where your heart is at that saves you, not the repetition.

But in all when I look at Catholicism, it is simple. If it does not have anything to do with love, or who Jesus was, then we are not doing our job.

It is detailed. But I think what people do not understand is that we break through tough barriers thinking that our faith is complicated, but it reveals God to be a something that won’t be one day, when we are not dealing with our aging skin and our deteriorating but beautiful earth.