From: cjdcosta@eos.ncsu.edu (CHRISTOPHER J DCOSTA)
Subject: Re: New sins
Originator: cjdcosta@zepplin.ece.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: cjdcosta@eos.ncsu.edu (CHRISTOPHER J DCOSTA)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 03:29:05 GMT


johnson@sleipnir.pb.wes.mot.com (Mark Johnson) writes:
>It actually gets better than that.  Here in the Chicago area, there is
>a large population of Irish Catholics.  This presented a problem when
>Good Friday landed square on St. Patrick's day.  How to reconcile the
>prohibition against eating meat on Good Friday with the venerable
>tradition of having (I think) corned beef on St. Pat's?  The archdiocese
>of Chicago solved the problem by offering a special dispensation for
>corned beef within the confines of Cook County.
>
>This immediately brought several questions to my mind.  What if you
>lived in Cook County, under the Chicago archdiocese, but were out of town
>on the day in question?  Can you still take advantage of the waiver?
>What if you're from one of the collar counties and drive in just for
>the sandwich?  Is that OK?  Or what if you're eating the sandwich in
>the car and drive out of the county?  Can you buy the sandwich in Cook
>County and take it home?

I think that everyone would probably be stuffed to the gills anyway, and 
confusion would be the least of their problems.

( Some general comments, not targetted at Mark Johnson....)
I can't believe there've been already eight posts on a non-issue like this.
If it was just for the entertainment value it'd be understandable, but just
a little while ago there was Eric denouncing the church as the root of all 
evil. And all that fuss about Galileo being "pardoned". Silly of the church?
Undeniably. And if I personally had a hand in it I'd have probably resolved
the issue decades ago. But I hadn't, and the church has been painfully slow. 
So what? Does it really matter?  Has the church ever been regarded as an
authority on celestial mechanics? Why do you care?  Let us poor misguided
Catholics live out our mindless existence, and you enlightened folk can go
on living yours. Many people are prisoners of traditions, habits and customs, 
and it's understandably difficult to divorce oneself from a comfort zone that 
has been built up over years. But these are problems of the individual, if 
they are problems at all. And then there's the abortion issue. I can't help 
getting the impression that the Church is a convenient target for society's 
collective frustrations: No one cares for what the average John and Jane Doe 
opines, but let the R.C church lean one way or the other and all of a sudden 
everyone's upset. The Church must make it's opinions known on issues, if only 
because for many Catholics, the opinions of people they regard well is a factor 
in deciding which way they choose to go. But that is all it is- one of many 
factors. There is no brainwashing, no enforcing of any particular mindset. 
The Church is a community, not a cult.
  
I think very few know anything about the church, save for what one reads in 
the tabloids- together with the "Woman has sex with Loch Ness monster" and 
"The President is an alien" scoops. Not that there aren't problems - and 
the church has it's fair share of scandals- but please remember that few 
organisations today are free from these, and that the church is above all 
human. Unfortunately, the image many conjure up of the church is straight out 
of the dark ages- and a lot has happened since then. The church advises, it 
doesn't command. There are indeed some rules that are less flexible but they 
have some far-reaching consequences, and are often reviewed for modification,
admittedly, sometimes not often enough. Take some time to maybe attend a 
Catholic Mass and talk to some Catholic friends, and maybe you'll find that 
most follow their consciences, and don't blindly accept rules determined in
Rome. And if they're satisfied with the status quo, maybe you should feel the 
same way too.

>
>Thank God I was born Protestant! 

Well at least God's Catholic, thank goodness for that.