At this time of the year (end) we start seeing litanies of well-known personalities who have passed to their eternal rewards. This year is no different. What truly befuddles me, though, is how otherwise intelligent Catholics join in on the wailing and gnashing of teeth. It is one thing to pray for their eternal repose, as we would pray for the souls of all who departed this life in 2016 (and earlier). But why is more attention paid to these "famous" people that others - including those who were part of our own lives?
Even more baffling is the tone taken by otherwise faithful Catholics as they join in this caterwalling. Take, for example, the recent deaths of George Michael and Carrie Fisher. When these Catholics mourn the passing of the musician Michael but don't utter a prayer that he repented of his sodomy before his end (he was gay, and died of AIDS), one can wonder what really occupies the minds of these Catholics. In a facebook page I broached that topic and was mocked as being judgmental for doing so. I could understand such a reaction from the page of a non-Christian, but find it troubling from a page of someone who is ostenstibly aiming for heaven and God.
Then, as a form of tribute to Carrie Fisher, other Catholics, instead of praying for her soul, type "may the force be with you"! What??!?! Since when do faithful Catholics ever let new age garbage out of their mouths - or keyboards as the case may be? Are these Catholics suffering from a weird kind of schizophrenia? Do they not allow Jesus Christ to guide how they view the "famous" as opposed to the "ordinary"? Perhaps they should study closely the Letter of James; he had some things to say about toadying to the worldly well-placed.
Does anyone else find all this kvetching over these deaths bizarre?
Now Do Illinois
5 hours ago
