RELIGION
by Bill Denneen
My grandfather, son of an Irish immigrant, was "removed" (excommunicated?) from the Catholic Church when he married my grandmother who was not catholic. I wondered about this when I was growing up but was afraid to ask why all his other relatives were Catholic.
When I joined the Navy at 18 my best buddy was Catholic. I learned a lot about his church from him and often went to his services. He told me the Pope was "infallible". This made me question the validity of the "church"----how could any human be "infallible" ? Even writing this article has not been easy as I feel the "taboo" about saying anything negative about the Catholic Church (CC). The fear of the "inquisition" is still in the air.
What got me started here was an article in the Tribune with a title: "Pope says atheism promotes a "world without hope"". My first question is what is an "atheist"------anyone not believing in the Catholic Church?-------anyone not believing in the Jesus story. I do not consider myself an atheist as my "god" is Mother Nature-----the natural world is my Church with Point Sal my "Cathedral", an old oak tree and the sun as sacred.
A knarled, old oak is one of my sacred places. It symbolizes the oak-woodland habitat that once covered Nipomo Mesa. It is in a natural area which was once proposed for more houses. I led in the protection of this 15 acres which became "Nipomo Native Garden". I love it & go there often. My community designated the largest, most twisted, oldest oak with a plaque which reads: The Bill Denneen COAST LIVE OAK "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately....." H.D.Thoreau I hug my oak often.
Each day when the sun shines I stop, feel its warmth and give thanks for its presence ---much like the Maya & Aztec cultures before the invasion from Europe (my ancestors). It could be said I worship the SUN, an ancient Oak, the natural world like Point Sal. Does the Catholic Church thus call me an atheist??
Pope Benedict XVI in his second encyclical which is the highest papal teaching and is 76 pages long states:" A world without God is world without hope". Does his reference to "God" include my "Mother Nature" or the SUN or a tree or Point Sal ---- doubt it. I would guess his "God" relates to the Bible & Jesus which to me are interesting but not part of my belief system.
Another area of conflict between the Pope and I is with the current "population explosion". I feel the Catholic Church is a major cause of this explosion. We have added 5,000,000,000 more people to our small crowded planet since I was born. Ignoring this problem will not make it go away. The Pope has no objection to keeping people alive as long as possible and with our medical advances this has caused the average life expectancy to double in the past century. This is the basic cause of the "population explosion". If everyone died at 40 (on average) like they did in 1900 instead of living to be 80 (on average) there would be no "population explosion". The Pope is opposed to reducing the birth rate with contraception-----condoms, IUD's, Plan B, the pill, emergency contraception, vasectomies, tubal ligation, diaphram etc..
Europe has a birth rate equal to the death rate. Even Italy which is 97% Catholic has a birth rate so low they are not even replacing themselves and the government will give women a bonus to have a second child. What are Italians doing to achieve such a low birth rate-------abstinence only?------doubt it.
It took Homo sapiens 2 million of years of evolution to reach our first billion in about 1800 but only about a century to add the second billion in 1927 (about the time I was born). We have now "exploded" to almost 7 billion. The Catholic Church does not object to prolonging life but objects to contraception. An example of this is the group of about 15 that pray across the street from Planned Parenthood in Santa Maria on abortion days----they are opposed to not only abortion (I am too) but are opposed to contraception & vasectomies as well. . All local hospitals are Catholic.
Contraception was against the law prior to the activism of (saint) Margaret Sanger starting in 1927. She was arrested innumerable times and was constantly harassed. She did the ground work that established Planned Parenthood Federation with clinics throughout America. This gave women control over their reproduction resulting in equal status to the male. The average age of first intercourse in America is about 17. How old were you?
The goal of Planned Parenthood (and mine) is for every baby to be born wanted, planned and loved. It is tragic that over half the all pregnancies in the US are unintended (accidents). My favorite bumper-sticker is: MAKE LOVE NOT BABIES.
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Newspapers seem to be on their way out. The Nipomo Library no longer even carries the SBNewspress. Computers seem to have taken over. The program "60 Minutes" recently carried a segment with the future "computer wars" -----very disturbing. This newsletter is my attempt to participate in the "computer" generation. EldrBill (Denneen, 1040 Cielo Lane, Nipomo, 93444 929-3647)
