After a great Homily from Father Michael the other day at morning Mass, I began to ponder. I probably just realized for the first time that I am a Minority.
I am a Catholic and I live in the United States, (not necessarily a Catholic Country). I not only live in the United States, but I live in California (Well, not so Catholic). I not only live in California, but I live in a small mostly protestant town in Northern California. (Well, I say small, 80,000 people, My North Dakota Cousin corrected me the other day and stated my small town would be their second largest city in their state. OK, It's all relative).
But, back to my point.
I live in an culture that is Christian (Baptist, Lutheran, Protestant, Evangelical, etc.).
On face value that would seem good. You know, they are "pretty much" like us. We are all Christians. Well, we do have very similar beliefs and I would like to focus on our similarities and live together in harmony and all that wonderful stuff.
But, there is also a difference.
I am Catholic, You know: the Sacraments (Eucharist, Penance, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick), not to mention The Saints, The Pope, and Mary.
It would be so easy for a typical catholic to listen to modern Protestant Christian music, attend Christian Concerts, attend Christian Bible study classes, let their kids go to those "fun" Christian youth groups, and feel that "oh well, we are pretty much the same."
But by doing so, what is really happening to the Catholics who allow the more prevalent Evangelical Christianity so much room in their lives? I will tell you: they are slowly assimilating into an protestant culture and loosing their Catholic Culture.
The above mentioned situation is not unlike a biblical teaching in the Book of Daniel, reduced to my paraphrasing:
The Babylonian King defeated the people of Israel in war. He could of very easily murdered the majority of the people of Israel, but he didn't, he didn't want to create martyrs. Creating a martyr mentality would raise a resistance and would nurture the culture for years. So what did he do? He took the young royalty, the brightest of the Israeli culture and brought them into his palace, he educated them, slowly indoctrinating them with the Babylonian culture. After he completed the assimilation into their new culture, guess what he did? He encouraged them to return to Israel and to rebuild their temple. So what happened? He wiped out their culture without the Israelites even knowing what had happened.
Could this be happening to our Catholic Culture?
By no means am I trying to instigate hatred toward our Christian brothers. Most of them are wonderful and loving people with strong faith and strong morals and values. But I am pointing out that we are also different. We can work together with service to the poor and completing acts of charity, have great conversations, live side by side, Bar-B-Q together, socialize, discuss politics, but I AM Catholic....
Being Catholic means a lot to me. It is who I am.
Assimilation is not always good when it means forgetting who you are.
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