Many of those I love believe that I have excommunicated myself from the Catholic Church.
On Sept 18, 2008, after careful consideration, I gave $50 to Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency of the United States of America. That same day, I joined the Catholic Democrats. I made these decisions after carefully weighing the policies, actions, and characters of those involved. I am a regular reader of NCR on line, I subscribe to America Commonweal and Sojourners magazines, I read regularly at usccb.org vatican.va and my own diocese website regularly. I made my decision after reviewing Canon Law, prayerful consideration, and examination of conscience. I think I made the right decision, and will vote early next week.
I am a Roman Catholic, baptized as an infant and educated through 8th grade in Catholic schools. I left the Church completely from roughly 1976 to 1985, living as an agnostic secular humanist. When I left, everything I could hear the Church saying and all that I could see the Church doing contradicted most conclusions of own life experience.
My return to the Church started when when I was given a second chance to live at all. I experienced a frightening, sudden illness, and then an unlikely chain of events started that has led me closer and closer to God. I was reconciled to the Catholic Church very suddenly: shortly after moving in with the man who would be my husband, while driving home from work I was called to walk into a the local parish church. A priest was standing there in the vestibule as if he were waiting for me to come home. I did.
I've tried to do as I'm told ever since, and have been guided and reassured always that I am doing as I should. When I have stumbled, I have confessed and learned. When I have done what I should, I have endured the spit of some and the gratitude of others. Few know who I am; fewer know what I do and this really suits me since I value my privacy so much. Now, I'm writing publicly and I know that things will get much worse. We all must do the best we can, and then accept the consequences as we must.
My family has been greatly blessed, and I am particularly grateful to the intercession of Sts Therese & Teresa, Joseph & Joseph Cardinal Bernadin, and of Sts. Anthony of the Desert and of Padua who are patrons of both my mother's family and my father's. I try to be obedient, including giving up everyone and everything I know to come to the strange Paradise that is Naples, FL.
The Lord has had need for a widow with two orphan boys, and I have tried to be mindful of His will. I've seen the works of His hand: MIGHTY ARE HIS DEEDS! May the Lord grant me the courage and humility to serve Him in words now as well as actions.
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