Living With Imperfection

Halloween is a little over a week away.

Folks with a flair for outdoor decor set out artistically altered pumpkins, like the vegetable R2D2 someone showed on Google+. Villafane Studios takes jack-o-lantern carving to a whole new level; and, in one arboretum, folks can visit a patch of glass pumpkins.

Our catacorner neighbors have inflatable holiday decorations out again this year: including an improbably balanced pile of jack-o-lanterns and a huge purple spider.

Values: Halloween DVD, Addams Family, and Otherwise

Halloween-related discussions I've seen online this year have been fairly tame. One post showed a store's display of "Halloween DVD Values," questioning "...what kind of values a Halloween DVD has...."

The fellow who shared that may have been enjoying a play on words. I've done the same sort of thing, in somewhat snarkier tone:

• "Family Values: Addams and Otherwise"
  (July 12, 2011)

What I haven't seen, yet, is a rant about the Satanic horrors of pumpkins, black cats, and kids asking for candy.

Engaging the Culture?

Maybe that's because I've found niches in online communities where most of the folks aren't particularly rabid. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough to "engage the present-day culture:"

• "Disciples Called to Witness / The New Evangelization"
  Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, USCCB (2012)
  (from www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/upload/Disciples-Called-To-Witness-The-New-Evangelization.pdf (October 20, 2012))

Or maybe it's not close enough to Halloween yet.

The Usual Complaints

On the other hand, some online discussion did include folks with the usual complaints about the Catholic Church:

1. Priests molested kids
2. The Church
   • Is against women's right to chose
   • Isn't against the death penalty
3. We're hypocrites

There's some truth behind those attitudes:

1. Priests molested kids
   • Some, yes
   • Most, no
     • One would have been too many
   • Denial didn't work
   • The mess is being sorted out by
     • The Vatican
     • Bishops currently assigned to those dioceses
   • I've been over this before
     • "Pedophile Priests, Ephebophilia, and Facing Facts"
2. The Church
   • Is against women's right to chose
     • When it's the right to kill an innocent person
   • Isn't against the death penalty
     • Almost
     • I've been over this before
     • " 'A Consistent Ethic of Life,' Reality Checks About Religion, and a New Widget"
       (April 27, 2012)
     • "Capital Punishment: Killing Those Who Deserve to Die"
       (October 2, 2008)
3. We're hypocrites
   • Yes and no
     • I'll get back to that
   • Related posts:
     • "Having Good Judgment isn't Being Judgmental"
       (October 12, 2011)
     • "Loving Neighbors: Even the One Who Stole Our Gospel Book"
       (September 4, 2011)
     • "Jessica Logan, Sexting, Suicide, What Guys Want, and Malignant Virtue"
       (December 8, 2009)
       Particularly
       • Malignant Virtue and "Hypocrisy,"
         Real and Imagined

Hypocrisy: Not Approved

A dictionary says hypocrisy is:

• An expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction
• Insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
  (Princeton's WordNet)

The Catholic Church says we should be "living in truth." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2465-2470) The idea is to be truthful - which is inconsistent with practicing hypocrisy:

"Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness, sincerity, or candor. Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and in guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy."
(Catechism, 2468)

So, does this mean that all Catholics are perfect people, unsullied by naughty thoughts and nasty deeds? Hardly. I've posted about original sin before. (July 25, 2012)

I'm one of the billion or so living Catholics who could say 'God's not done with me yet.' Which isn't the same as hating myself, or putting on a show of being 'a great sinner who is now SAVED, and that's another topic. Topics. (October 26, 2011, August 8, 2010)

Life: Sacred

Like I've said before, life is sacred. (Catechism, 2258) Since I'm a practicing Catholic, I can't let that be a lovely thought and nothing more. I have to act as if it's true. Yet more topics.

Change Happens

I didn't expect the 21st century to be quite like this: but I didn't expect it to be just like 1950s America, either. This post was going to be about change, stress, and all that: but it got out of hand. I'll settle for linking to sort-of-related posts:

• Dealing with change
  • "Becoming Something New"
    (October 14, 2012)
  • "Freedom, Fear, and the Internet"
    (September 28, 2012)
  • "A 'Traditional' Catholic? Yes and No"
    (July 31, 2010)
  • "Rebellious Youth, Protests, and The Establishment: in 2010"
    (January 26, 2010)
  • "Are You a Boy, or Are You a Girl?"
    (September 26, 2009)
    Particularly
    • Change Happens: Deal With It
• Life issues
  • "An Ancient Brain, Politics, and Searching for Life on Mars"
    (October 12, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Legal, Yes: Right, No
  • "Treating Human Beings Like People, and an Impending Election"
    (October 5, 2012)
  • "Authentic Development, Kids, and the Hypothetical Case of Yougaria"
    (August 15, 2012)
    Particularly
    • No Kids, No Worries: For a While
  • "Murder at a Sikh Temple: Why I Care"
    (August 9, 2012)
  • " 'A Consistent Ethic of Life,' Reality Checks About Religion, and a New Widget"
    (April 27, 2012)
• Just war
  • "9/11, Just War, and 'Death to Mickey Mouse' "
    (September 11, 2011)
  • "Curing the Sick, Helping the Poor; Yes:
    Killing the Innocent; No"
    (June 24, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Human Life is Sacred: All Human Life
  • "World Youth Day Madrid, 9/11, and an Imperfect World"
    (August 21, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Pacifists, Warmongers, and Catholics
    • Elections, Ethics, and Decisions
  • "Oh, For the Days of Yore?"
    (March 22, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Elections, Evil Rulers, and Rules
  • " 'Just War:' Unpleasant, but Not a Contradiction in Terms"
    (March 22, 2011)
• Science
  • "Alpha Centauri, Freedom, and Me"
    (October 19, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Alpha Centauri, Planets, and Life
  • "9/11, Religion, and Assumptions"
    (September 11, 2012)
  • "Principles, Politics, Parkas, and a Robot on Mars"
    (August 17, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Messages from Mars
  • "Taking Life a Thousand Years at a Time"
    (June 10, 2012)
  • " 'In a State of Journeying' "
    (January 18, 2012)
• Holidays
  • "New Year's Day, 2012: Flannel Tongue Optional"
    (January 1, 2012)
  • "Facts, Frustration, and Fear"
    (January 28, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Holiday Stress and Murder
  • "Why I Don't Go Ballistic Over Xmas"
    (December 23, 2010)
  • "Halloween, Emperor Palpatine, Electric Eyeballs, and Getting a Grip"
    (October 29, 2010)
  • "Halloween's Coming: Why aren't I Ranting?"
    (October 29, 2009)