The Nut vs. the Priest

In my earlier blog I discussed the idea of fog being paradoxical. I wanted to add this little tidbit. I was visiting my father-in-law last Saturday. He's 93 going 94 (really going on 16). He's an amazing guy. I think he subscribes to every major magazine out there. He saves his issues and stacks them everywhere but mostly on the kitchen table. He asked me if I wanted to take any of them home with me. I told him yes just to get rid of them. I don't read magazines. No real surprise there. The internet has so many outlets for news that most of the articles are outdated by the time you read them in print (and oh yea there is a subscription to pay too) The other reason is that the media is so biased in many ways and of course anti Christian and anti Catholic. I was scanning the December 8th issue of Newsweek when I came across an article about the movie "Doubt". The title of the article is "The Nun vs. the Priest" They interview Meryl Streep who plays the nun , Viola Davis who plays the mother of the alleged abused boy and John Patrick Shanley the writer-director.. Isn't it so refreshing to see these great Catholics being portrayed in the media. Priests are always murderers or sex crazed offenders. Nuns have some secret sex life and are always victimized by the evil Father Tom. I haven't watched any trailers on this movie but I betcha the priest did it. What intrigued me about this article was the interviews. Ms Davis says: "For me, Catholicism was such a sense of community and belonging and identity. We were the first black family in our Rhode Island town. We were on the periphery. And to see all my friends in their white little first communion dresses, looking so cute and going to catechism -it was fabulous to me." John Patrick Shanley the writer director adds " I think the great attraction that Viola is feeling, to be presumptuous, is community - she needs community, and I think that is one of the great deficits in modern life. Now the Catholic Church has its faults, but these diocese, these church schools, these centers, provided a gravity which kept people from flying off into outer space. And we haven't really yet come up with a great substitute. The best we have is the Internet, that's the new community. I mean Meryl do you suffer from a lack of community yet"? Streep: "I don't know" Davis says "Or is it just that you don't care." Streep says " No I mean I guess I'm in awe of what I don't know. All the uncertainties that are embedded in doctrines - I understand the solace they provide, but in a way, they also for me form a kind of fence that divides us from each other. I am pulled towards the ineffable and I am trying to conceive why we exist and is there a greater purpose. But I'm a mother, and I have a purpose, and I have a place, and I deeply resent the idea that if you're not a member of a church, temple, ashram, synagogue or- what else is there? - that you are somehow denying your children the meaning of life. I have a deep reverence for life. I feel I'm a deeply moral person. But often religion is a club of which people are excluded." Do you realize how retarded her arguments are? She is what 60 years old and she's trying conceive why we exist and is there a greater purpose... ok, so aren't a lot of people. She says she's in awe of what she doesn't know (which was the most intelligent thing she said) but suddenly abandons that thought to proudly proclaim that she's a mother and "I have a purpose". The Catholic Church applauds your motherhood, Meryl. She also resents that any organized religion (please notice the conspicuous absence of a Mosque, cannot offend the Muslims that would not be politically correct or as we see in many cases dangerous to your health) would force themselves on her. And I'm sorry but I don't get the part about denying your children the meaning of life - you are 60 years old and haven't discovered it yet and I'm dam sure Hollywood isn't contributing to the cause. Meryl please get to know the Catholic Church. We don't build fences, we don't exclude people, and we do have a reverence for life, so much so we respect all life even the unborn. We are against abortion unlike yourself. You sound like a person who doesn't care. I know you are intelligent and a darn good actress but would this church work for you?