The episode was about a young girl who had never been baptized by her biological parents, and those genetic donors now want her to be baptized in the Catholic Church. Her current parents, the adorable (seriously adorable) gay couple who adopted her, are against the baptism because of the Catholic Church’s ancient stance on homosexuality as well as their rigidity in other political issues.
In a meeting with the priest before the baptism, the girl who is about to be baptized is told by the priest that she must publicly renounce everything that the Church deems un-holy, and state that she believes everything that the Church believes in. These are presumably trying to mirror our baptismal promises.
I was ready to jump down the throats of the writers at this point, because we renew our baptismal promises every Easter and nowhere in there are we forced to call gay people “sinners” or publicly state that we “hate all forms of contraception.” I was ready to be super mad, to hate the show and hate the writers that are involved with such an old and outdated persona like that of the Catholic Church.
Later in the episode, one of the parents says, “This is what I feel like the Catholic Church gets REALLY right… forgiveness.” Which is true, as well as quite nice to say to the church, “See? Catholicism is okay… sometimes.”
Primed from that experience, I read an article from Cosmopolitan Magazine regarding Christian help centers for pregnant women. It was very critical of these centers saying that they are emotionally invasive. “People prayed over me and asked me to invite them to my baby shower,” said one woman who went into the center hoping for options like adoption or even more strongly: abortion.
This time, I was worried I was being too harsh, so I continued reading. Unfortunately, it only got worse from there. It cited these CHRISTIAN pregnancy help centers to be archaic in their beliefs and that they are detrimental to a culture of women who are in crisis. It seemed to say that Christianity was the problem.
To me, there is so much to pull apart there politically and spiritually. But in reflecting upon these two very recent incidences where my faith came into pop culture, I realized that there is a bigger issue: the Catholic Image.
I wondered: Can someone remain Catholic as well as a person of this century? Or does our Catholicism outdate us?
I have gay friends that go to mass more regularly than some deacons. I have met women who have had abortions, then went on to be catechists for religious education. Of course you can be a Catholic without believing in every single teaching of the church. Of course you can stray away from the stigma and still be part of something more.
The media perceives Catholicism as stingy and behind the times. But does that still reign true? A pastor of a parish in Wrigleyville is not gay-shaming, he is “inviting everyone to the table.” The Arch Bishop is concerning himself more with the needy people of the community, and not with changing the teachings or the image of privately owned pregnancy crisis centers. The Pope himself is teaching revolutionary ideals in regards to accepting everyone into our parish communities and providing unconditional forgiveness. Catholics have been granted a bit of “wiggle room” in regards to our beliefs and our political alliances.
Maybe the world needs to start re-evaluating the stereotype of Catholics. Catholics aren’t just the old married couples with a million kids. The young black guy who is going to school to be a chef, also volunteers as a reader at mass. The gay couple, raising their little kids, spends time in various ministries. Catholics vote democrat AND republican. Catholics march at the Gay Pride parade in Chicago and also at the Pro-Life Rally in D.C. True Catholics aren’t the ones wielding crosses and scattering ancient doctrine everywhere they go... they are the people who make every choice in the interest of what they think is right. As the cornerstone of the Catholic faith, isn’t that what Jesus taught us? To make choices to help and accept one another?
It would be great if the media would stop throwing shade the way of Catholicism. Catholics are human: they aren’t perfect and neither is the institution (which is made up of, again, imperfect people) itself. However, just as not every mustached man is Adolf Hitler, not every Catholic or even every Catholic CHURCH, is as conservative as pop culture has made it out to be. So go forth my 21st century, hip, Catholic friends; keep being you and let’s keep Catholicism Cool.