Raised a Catholic, much of it still simmers quietly on some intellectual backburner in me.
If Justin can be an atheist Jew, well, dammit, I can be an atheist Catholic. :)
Recently, I had a lengthy discussion with a lovely woman about her Catholic heritage. She is still very married to the Church, though doesn't know a lot about it. I told her about the "left wing" of the Church, which seemed to surprise her. (My own family was rather left-wing, relative to the Church hierarchy.)
"Liberation Theology" -- controversial stuff, in the Catholic realm. I remember watching an episode of Yes, Prime Minister sometime in the 1980s and Jim Hacker or someone opined that Liberation Theology was just another word for Marxist Priests. I thought that was rather witty at the time.
There are many links to the notion online. Here's one summary:
The movement that came to be called "Liberation Theology"
began with the awareness that it is blasphemous to care for
people's souls while ignoring their needs for food, shelter
and human dignity. As Jesus participated in the suffering
of the poor, and proclaimed to them the good news of justice
and freedom, so must today's church engage in the struggle
for justice in this world.
My friend seemed interested in looking into it, because she was apparently finding her own development restricted by the strictures of the formal dogma.
Sometimes we leap into enlightenment (epiphany) sometimes we slouch towards it. Doesn't matter. The point is to keep moving.
Ken.
--
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear H ow the Chimney-sweepers cry E very blackning Church appalls, A nd the hapless Soldiers sigh R uns in blood down Palace walls
-- William Blake
"London"