“I don’t wear my own faith on my sleeve.”

John Kerry said at the convention Thursday night, “I don’t wear my own faith on my sleeve.”

That is a play on words coming from the expression, to wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve. That means to expose one’s feelings or intentions. To be frank.

So to take that a step further, to wear one’s faith on one’s sleeve, for a Catholic would be to be identifiably Catholic. That reminds me of a saying I heard once. If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Are Catholic Christians called to be covert? To hide their faith? To blend in and get along? To be not any more different on the outside than the rest of the population?

I don’t believe that was the teaching of Jesus Christ. I believe we are called to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in our words, in our thoughts, in our actions. Our very beings should enthusiastically identify us as Christians, and even more,by our rich Catholic Traditions we should be readily identifiable by the little things we do… wearing religious medals, making the sign of the cross, grace before meals, morning offerings. This should ooze out in our public life because it is just who we are!! Our homes too should make a statement and so should our reading material. But especially our actions.

John Kerry has not chosen the contemplative life. He has chosen a public one but it is also very clear to me that he doesn’t have a clue how to live his Catholic life fully and openly. So instead he compartmentalizes it as something to come out on Sunday apparently and not touch to deeply on the other days of the week. And with his speech on Thursday, he confirmed that.

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