Ahem...

You know what I don't get? All the Catholic Bashing. I should know better than to read the belief.net blogs/forums. I mean, the Catholic Forums annoy me quite a bit of the time and Catholics are certainly capable of being narrow minded and intolerant, self-righteous and judgmental, but... why is there such animosity from non-Catholics toward Catholics. I think the belief.net forums are filled with some of the most vile, disparaging and anti-Catholic bigotry of them all.

I've never had any anti-Catholic bigotry slung directly at me in my life. I've also never really felt much prejudice toward me in my life either, but when I check boxes on surveys, I'm suddenly reminded that in other parts of this country, I am a minority. Not because I'm a woman, but because I'm a Hispanic Woman who apparently by being Catholic, is now a triple minority of sorts. (Again the bigotry also runs within my community. There was a time when I tried match.com and was told by a Hispanic guy that he was surprised at how "White" I looked. Needless to say, I didn't pursue that relationship.)

I grew up in an idyllic place where three cultures have thrived for generations, where the majority Christian religion was/is Catholicism and so until I grew up, went else where did I notice that things were different in other places. I never really noticed the anti-Catholic stuff until a year or so ago when I started my novel. I hadn't been in a church in years, last time was probably some relative's funeral. Until a year ago, there was a lot about my faith I didn't know and so I turned to Google to find places where I could find the answers. I found lots of good, resourceful places, plenty of bigoted and horribly anti-Catholic sites and lots of "Catholic" sites that have an agenda far from anything that is sane and rational. They're splintered groups, schismatic in nature, but not necessarily in schism, and some not in communion with Rome. Those sites actually tend to spew the most hatred toward Rome. Sometimes, the non-catholic sites seem innocuous compared to those former Catholics, who have an axe to grind. I mean, the whore of babylon and the vile Pastor John Hagee spews is laughable, but yet... he believes it and many others do too.

I guess it shows that bashing Catholics is still acceptable, which is my sad observation of the day. I'm sure the knife cuts both ways, but I don't think I've seen it cut so deeply in the opposite direction in recent history.