The most beautiful thing

This morning, as I was walking to my car, I saw the beginning of daffodils... just the leaves out of the ground, but between that and the warm weather, it is probably one of the most beautiful things I have seen in a while. I am excited to see the city as it comes to life this spring, including the beginning of street cleaning! Happy early spring!

I Thought We Were Supposed to Support our Neighbors

I was driving home last night and listening to my local NPR station give a report on the Catholic Charities of Washington DC, who have suspended all spousal benefits because Washington DC just approved gay marriage. And as we all know, according to the Catholic Church, being Gay is wrong.

I guess in this case, it also means that you don't deserve equal rights. I wasn't alive in the 60's when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington DC and gave his amazing "I Have a Dream" speech, but I would equate this blatant inequality as the same thing.

Being raised Catholic, it became clear to me when I was about 13 that I would never be able to commit to an organized religion that didn't do two things: 1. Treat people equally (women and men, gay people and straight people) 2. Respect my right as a human to make choices that they may not agree with, but instead of condemning me, respect that I have made the choices I made for a reason and that I am not inherently evil.

I am continually discouraged by the Catholic Church and its inability to see the forest through the trees. What did Jesus teach? He certainly didn't teach turning your back on someone because they were an outcast.

The Catholic Church will soon find themselves an outcast, and I wonder if they will find solace in the arms of the people they have oppressed because those people know what it is like and instead chose to follow the real word of God and love thy neighbors as they themselves would like to be loved.