Thursday, March 5, 2009

This is the letter I just sent to my Archbishop

Dear Archbishop XXXX,

My name is Jocelyn XXXX. I was baptized at St. Michael Catholic Church in XXXX. I received my First Communion at St. Joseph Catholic Church in XXXX. I was Confirmed at St. Philip Catholic Church in XXXX. In short, I am Catholic.

I have not always agreed with the Vatican on every issue, but I have always been proud to be Catholic. I have always been proud of my Church, the work that we do, and the members we claim. I have always believed us to be a strong and good-hearted group of people.

It is for this reason that I am so hurt by what has happened over the last few days in Brazil. As you are undoubtedly aware, a nine-year-old girl became pregnant by her step-father, who admitted that he had been sexually abusing her since she was six years old. Her doctors determined that continuing with the pregnancy would be very dangerous for an 80 pound 9-year-old, and so she got an abortion. The Catholic Church in Brazil then proceeded to raise all hell and excommunicated the girl's mother and the doctors who performed the abortion. As far as I know, the step-father is still a member of the Church.

I want to make it very clear that I believe giving this girl an abortion was absolutely the right thing to do. I believe it is morally reprehensible to ask a child that age to give birth, particularly when her health would be at risk in doing so. I believe the Catholic Church is absolutely wrong to deny membership to the girl's mother and these Doctors, who all took an oath vowing to "do no harm." Therefore, I believe it stands to reason that I should be excommunicated as well. If these people are murderers for saving this child's life, then I am a murderer for agreeing with them.

Thank you for your time. God bless you.

-Jocelyn XXXX
I encourage any other Catholics, however lapsed, who read this blog to send similar letters. Hell, just pretend you're all Catholic and send similar letters. Hopefully they'll get the message.

8 comments:

Joble said...

Obviously there's been some kind of mistake, I always thought Archbishop XXXX was vehemently pro-abortion, and lived in Australia.

Jocelyn said...

According to the racy video I watched last night, he's German.

Anonymous said...

I want to be excommunicated too. To that end I will go get communion (or as a friend calls communion; swallow the leader) and then tell the priest I am gay and that I just got done giving my boyfriend oral sex. I will tell him that my concern is that the host will desecrate my boyfriend's presence. If that doesn't work I will mock the holy spirit as I chew on the communion wafer.

Jocelyn said...

As hilarious as that would likely be, I doubt it would get anybody's point across in an effective way. It probably wouldn't get you excommunicated either.

Anonymous said...

Jocelyn, you forgot to mention that the one who should be excommunicated is the stepfather, if anybody. Personally, I don't get the whole ex-communication thing, but I'm not Catholic

Pastor Andrew said...

Yikes. Asking to be excommunicated is a bold step, for reals. I'm inclined to say "good luck with that," though I admit to having no idea what "good luck" would look like in this case. At any rate, thanks for standing up for your ideals. It makes me wonder whether or not I've been excommunicated yet. I'm guessing not, as I know how they like to keep their numbers up.

Jocelyn said...

I think the likelihood that they'll excommunicate me is pretty slim, but I'll be OK if they actually do. I could still attend hypothetical future weddings and stuff, I just wouldn't be able to take communion (or any of the other sacraments), which would be fine. I'm pretty much Anglican now anyway.

Anonymous said...

How about in edition to "Why aren't you excommunicating the step dad..." also make mention of the fact they don't need to excommunicate you because you're already leaving the church because a church who forces a child (or anyone) to give birth to their rapist's child doesn't represent the voice of GOD.

Another Anonymous Commenter

Design by Dzelque Blogger Templates 2008

WTF WOULD JESUS DO? - Design by Dzelque Blogger Templates 2008