March 10th MH article

March 10, 2008
Vonda Tedford-Keon


I’ve started and stopped and deleted this article several times and it has to do with my
mindset. My family, or rather my daughters and I, has recently been the target of some
rather hate filled and threatening comments and e-mail because we are Catholic. The
anonymous person or persons that have made the threats and comments, are very close
minded individuals. I suspect they will be in for a rather unpleasant surprise when they
leave the confines of their sheltered lives here in rural Calhoun County and enter the
hallowed halls of liberal arts education at Ole Miss or MSU or any other place of higher
learning. They will find themselves going to classes and living and eating with people of
other races and other nationalities. They will experience different cultures and find out
that Gays and Lesbians are not all flamboyant and in your face. Their professors will be
Asian or Arab, Christian or Jewish and quite possibly Atheist. The days of intolerance
should be long gone but unfortunately there are those in every generation that still
pass on ‘ism’s.

I have decided to use my column as a venue to try and dispel any of the myths
about my Catholic faith. The image most people have of Catholics come from movies
and television and books or the urban legend of your friend who had an aunt who had a
friend that knew someone that used to be married to someone whose mother they thought
was a catholic. They are always in the mafia, or a drunk Irish cop, or a singing nun
wearing a habit, or the priest doing an exorcism. Well, you can’t judge a Catholic by the
cover.

Here is the least you need to know about Catholics. #1. The Catholic Church is
the largest single denomination of the Christian faiths. #2. Catholics are Christians.
#3. Catholics do have Bibles and yes we do read them and the Bible is preached and
taught from at each service. #4. There is much diversity of thought within the Catholic
religion. #5. Outreach, Charity and Social Justice are central to Catholicism.

The word catholic was first used by Ignatius of Antioch around the year 110AD.
It means universal or whole. Ignatius was suggesting that the Christian church should be
one body just as it was when Christ walked on earth and his followers were one. Then
Augustine, a church theologian in the 400’s used the word Catholic to mean all
membership, everywhere as one church. Today the term Catholic refers to the fact that
this religion/denomination teaches the same doctrine everywhere and it includes all
classes of all people. The Catholic Church includes many nationalities and exists in
almost every country of the world. There is no such thing as a typical Catholic. We are a
cultural mixing bowl of color, music, art, dance, and tradition. Nearly one in five people
inhabiting the earth are Catholic.

Catholics daily find nourishment and strength from the Bible. The Catholic Bible
contains both the Hebrew Scriptures (or Old Testament) as well as the Christian
Scriptures (or the New Testament) as one book. The sacred Scriptures are the inspired
word of God. God is Author of the Bible because he inspired the human authors. There
are 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament in the Catholic
Bible. The four Gospels occupy a central place in the Bible because Christ is their focus.
The unity of the two testaments reveals the whole of God’s plan for man. We believe
that Jesus is our Lord and Savior just as do our Protestant brothers and sisters.

I hope that the day will come when people can sit and talk with each other and
not have to face prejudice because of what religion they happen to follow. I pray for the
day when people of all faiths can actually work together for the common good and
help each other instead of holding back because of a difference of worship style. I pray
the day will arrive when people will care enough to find out that among the Christian
denominations, we all may have different ways of prayer and worship but we ALL share
the common thread that is Jesus Christ is our Savior.

To Be Continued……….