O.K., so how did I get started on the BCCC board anyway?

Back in April, my pastor, for only the 2nd time in the 8 years he has been at our church, was starting a talk on sexual morality. I sat upright in my seat thinking I was really going to hear an interesting homily that week.

Oh boy and did I!! He started vaguely talking about the different levels of the hierarchy, the Canadian bishops (huh???) and infallibility, forming a conscience etc. and then said something about praying before deciding to use birth control…. I was stunned.

I knew I had to confront him after mass, and with a quick prayer to Catherine of Sienna, I met him at the back of the church when he was done visiting, and I told him what I thought of his sermon. Oh boy, did we go at it. It seemed like it was just the two of us in this huge church and that time had stood still. He would come at me with some points and then back away when I started to counter. What really broke the camel’s back though was when I pointed out that the birth control pill can be abortifacient and he said we couldn’t be really sure when life began… you don’t tell a mom who buried her 23-week-gestation baby 5 months previously that life begins at any time other than conception!!

We finally had to end our “discussion”because the church was starting to fill for the next mass… which I stuck around for… and which he gave a variation of the same sermon…

So I came home and wanted to do some research. I discovered that the his reference to the Canadian Bishops was really a reference to their dissident infamous “Winnipeg Statement” issued after Humanae Vitae.

It was during this time of research that I stumbled upon the Birth Control and the Catholic Church board by plugging those exact words into a Google Search. This was in April.

My husband and I did eventually have a meeting with our pastor. He was adamant that HV was not infallible, but I seriously doubt that he will EVER bring it up again in a homily. One couple we knew left over that sermon, but we decided to stay and try to be a positive influence. We are on pleasant speaking terms with our pastor today although he knows exactly how we feel.

I also stuck around at the BCCC board. The level of debate there was more sophisticated than the AOL boards I was accustomed too… but it was also very, very closed to the truth and all pro-church posters eventually get banned. I’ve been on and off since April, the first time I left of my own volition because the editor would not stop one poster from being abusive (she since deleted those posts). Once I was kicked off because Lilly posted an article by Father Andrew Greeley where he points out that contraception leads to divorce (not the point she was going for), once for pointing out that their acclaimed authority is anonymous, and this last time because I posted two links calling Patricia Crawley pro-abortion. I was never banned for name calling or ridiculing – although I had both directed at me.

But hey, I have no hard feelings. As long as I can speak my mind about some of those issues here, I can let the personality crap drop.