Ok. So I don't go to church very often. I go when I'm in my parents house because they go. I go because I like to sing and have sung with the choir there since birth. I go to see old friends and to catch up with friends of the family. I am not a religious person. I am baptized, communed, and confirmed in the catholic faith but I have for a very long time considered myself unaffiliated. I am not an atheist, I am not agnostic, I am not anything. I don't have a club I belong to. I am not anti-religion, I like a lot of religions. I am friendly with some very religious people who aren't assholes at all. So although I don't label myself as a practicing catholic, I have been educated in the ways of Cathol. I paid plenty of attention in Sunday school. And I spend a lot of time talking about God stuff in my current line of work. I'm only saying this because I'm about to have a catholic rant and I want to be upfront and honest about my credentials.
Every once in a while, somebody dressed in white up in the altar area will say something that makes me uncomfortable. It's usually during the Homily or in closing announcements. Today it was the former. The parish director called everyone's attention to a potential commercial for superbowl sunday. She told us the basic gist of the piece and felt that as it was obviously tasteless and offensive to Catholics that everyone should write a negative review in the comments section of the website where it can be viewed.
Here's my problems with that:
1. It was meant to be funny. It might have been a bad joke, or a thoughtless one. But please, you don't need to ban it from tv. Just don't watch it, or don't laugh when you do watch it. It's really that simple. I don't like to have very much in common with people who can't laugh at themselves.
2. The solution the priests come up with to get more people to come to church....would work. Yes it's a tasteless and sacrilegious solution, but it would work. So if we're so keen on not laughing, why not make this an opportunity to look at what this commercial is trying to say socially about the state of organized religion in America. In the modern world for that matter. Don't burn the book, talk about why the book is offensive, there's probably a truth in there somewhere that needs talking about.
3. This issue should have been presented in an open dialogue situation where people could take in one side and then share their own views on the situation. You don't get to do that during closing announcements. The person in white talks, we listen, and then look around to decide how to react to whatever ridiculous thing just got said. That's not an appropriate venue. Get a blog.
4. If turning the other cheek when someone makes a lame joke about doritos at communion is the worst kind of persecution they have to endure, then catholics need a reality check. A serious one.
If you wanna have a look at it yourself, please do. It's dumb, but it's not horrible. And it certainly doesn't deserve to be the whipping boy in a debate about religion. As Cutty Ranks once said: LEAVE IT ALONE!
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/gallery?video=5384
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