A couple of months ago, I posted a comment on my Facebook wall to the effect of "I'm afraid that I'll have no choice but to tell people not to vote for President Obama this Fall." It was a really stupid thing to write, especially since I didn't have access to the internet for several days after in order to be able to clarify why I wrote what I wrote. I was trying to express frustration at the decision by the Obama administration to force all Catholic institutions to purchase insurance that would cover contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization (before they compromised by forcing all Catholic institutions to purchase insurance that would cover contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization). I was trying to say that, by taking this action, the administration was declaring open warfare on the Catholic Church. To be honest, the Church has major disagreements with virtually all political parties. I mean, let's be honest. When you support a person's right to life and an immigrant's right to live in the country that his wife and children live in, you're going to piss off pretty much everyone.
The difference that I was trying to highlight is that we've always had this understanding that we don't openly declare war on each other. Republicans hate us because of our stance on immigration but when one within their ranks tried to ban the church from providing food to illegal immigrants they stood in opposition and the law broke down. You'd expect that when the Obama administration declared open warfare on the church that Democrats would oppose him and rescind the law. And, that's pretty much what happened, except that instead of a compromise the law was rewritten to emphasize that the money will come from insurance companies, not the church. Of course, the fact that the church was the one who paid the insurance companies is just supposed to be something that we ignore.
In any case, none of this really is my point inasmuch as what happened after. I got an email from the Vicar General who told me that there was a complaint lodged against me asking that I be removed from priesthood. He very compassionately asked that I fix it. I quickly offered an apology on Facebook and told people that it was made in anger and that it was a mistake.
There was something that really spooked the heck out of me when this happened. Words almost cost me priesthood. Because of something I wrote on Facebook, someone was trying to get me removed from priesthood. I felt hated. It made me suspicious and distrustful. So, other than preaching, I've been really leery about putting stuff on here and posting anything on Facebook more controversial than, "I hate the Olympics." and "I wish a Capital Fourth would play more patriotic music."
Now, don't get me wrong. I know that my original post was incredibly stupid and that I should have thought about how I wanted to express it before I posted it. And please don't think that I'm looking for a thousand nice priest supporting people to write, "Don't let them get you down" and "Keep pissing them off." I knew it was controversial and I should have known better. It's just too bad that no one contacted me directly asking me to take the post down. Many people had strong opinions as to whether I was right or not but no one said that they felt I should take it down. On the off chance that the person is reading this post, I'd challenge you to read Matthew 18:15-17. It might help you in the future.
Nonetheless, there comes a point when you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again and I think I'm there. Please forgive the long absence and I hope this post clears up why it happened. Let's hope for a fresh start.
