"The greatest persecution of the Church does not come from external enemies, but is born of sin within the church"-Pope Benedict xvi

Sunday 24 August 2014

Dawkins the Evangelist

Dear Mr Professor Dawkins,
Perversely, perhaps, I'd like to thank you for your recent comments about the morality of aborting children with Down's syndrome.
As you are no doubt a regular reader of my esteemed blog, you will know that I have a son with Down's syndrome. (Don't worry, I'm not about to ask you to babysit him!)
You will also know of course that I am a member of that pesky sect known as the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Why would I like to thank you? Good question Richard!
Surprisingly, rather than hearing sermons devoted to pulpit-thumping,talk of the Four last things, Humanae Vitae etc etc, most sermons I get are about "being nice" and donating to the Parish fete, with the words "God" and "Jesus" thrown in here and there to remind us all that we are in a church, and not in the local old ladies tea and knitting club.
If you could walk into a Catholic church on a typical Sunday (without giving out an unearthly howl and vapourising into a pile of dust in the narthex), you might notice a Liturgy that appears to look like old ladies walking about a lot, and talking. Dark rituals and brainwashing are far from the agenda.
Back to my point.
You see, Rick, what I'm trying to say is, I never hear about things that are important. It's all fluffy sentiment and vague stuff, most of the time at least. After hearing the eighty-sixth inane waffle-sermon in a row, followed by the gather-and -share "special bread" ceremony, you begin to wonder if God might indeed be found in your local pub instead and understand why it seems most Western Catholics are ex-Catholics.
How is it in your brief Godless twitter diatribe there is more truth and wisdom than you know.
Here's what you taught me.
The Devil is real.
The Devil hates the Catholic Church, therefore
The Catholic Church is One Holy and Apostolic.
The Devil has a particular hatred of people with Down's Syndrome (look at that abortion rate) therefore..
God has a particular love and a particular plan for these people, even when I can't always see it.
(If my whole family was to be vaporised this next minute, I'm pretty sure my Son would go straight to Heaven.I cannot say this with the same certainty about any other family member, particularly myself, although we can but hope and pray. This must irk the devil,no?)

Your hatred of Priests too. That they are so vilely attacked only proves to me how Special they are to God. They can administer Sacraments which can snatch you from the very gates of Hell. That's got to piss the Devil right off. And helps us laity when we don't necessarily see Holy Priests that often.

At least I know now that most likely that nice Mr Dawkins probably won't be invited around for tea and baby sitting. We'll probably skip past your name on the list of potential respite carers for my son if that's ok.
But your honesty, while wicked is refreshing. I'm sure many people feel the same way as you do, they just don't voice it. You are of course, no different in many cases from the friendly community midwife, your smiling GP or professional OBGYN consultant. You are no different from a couple of my son's former teachers, except their hatred of him is covered in plastic smiles, edu-speak and rhetoric.

So thank you Professor Dawkins. I'll pray for you, which you'll hate, and all who wander through the world for the ruin of souls, spreading their despair and hopelessness.

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