The "Bible Belt." The phrase evokes so much for me here at Auburn: the First Baptist Church of Opelika; friends' Bible studies; Campus Crusade.
That Belt's buckle is emblazoned with a distinctly Protestant inscription, and it hasn't always allowed for Roman Catholics such as me to feel welcomed. Even dear friends of mine have made misguided comments about the church over the years. Some people I've met at Auburn have even scoffed at St. Michael's and implied that Catholics are not Christians. Certainly not all Protestants believe this, though; just ask my boyfriend.
As I watched last week's vice presidential debate, my heart fluttered when Catholicism and its (i.e., Jesus's) influence on the men's political views was brought up. I thought of my Protestant friends, and I hoped the candidates wouldn't do a disservice to the faith. Whether one of those men proved to be an unprincipled, willfully ignorant "Catholic" is neither here nor there, though. That can stay in D.C. (just hopefully not for another four years).
Indeed, the nation's capital isn't the only backdrop for Christianity. A cursory glance at the microcosm that is Auburn reveals that the world's largest Christian denomination, the Catholic Church, is not nearly as proportional here, but there are a multitude of other denominations. And, unlike sexism, racism and any other -ism you can call to mind, steely anti-Catholic sentiment has been proven to be socially acceptable here.
Since the church has inadvertently become part of the national political discussion this year, I'd like to use that as an opportunity to address some of the more common concerns and accusations I've heard from non-Catholics.
First, Catholics don't believe the pope is all-knowing or perfect. He is sinful, just like the rest of humanity. Papal infallibility refers to the handful of times in the history of Christianity that a pope has declared official, infallible Church doctrine, such as when Pope Innocent X declared Jansenism heretical in the 17th century.
The Virgin Mary and the saints are part of another common misconception. Catholics do not worship Mary or the saints. A "prayer to a saint" is an arguably clumsy way of describing the heavenly version of asking your friends, pastors or even strangers to keep you or someone else in their prayers. If Mary and the saints are in heaven and can hear us, as Revelation 5:8 tells us they can, then why would we not ask for their prayers?
Protestants may not harp on the matter, but the church and its history with science is an exciting topic for atheists, one filled with misinterpretation at that. According to the Catechism, "there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason." That's a disarmingly pragmatic position for an institution that's anti-science. The fact that a Belgian priest developed the Big Bang Theory may also prove vexing, and Franciscan friar Roger Bacon's propagation of the scientific method is sure to be dismissed by hardened opponents of the faith.
There are other false presumptions about Catholics, but the most frustrating is the charge that Catholics aren't Christian. Truth be told, statements like that really do hurt. It's been tempting to respond to that sort of bigotry with complacency or feelings of superiority, but I know that's not what Christian love is.
The renowned Southern Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor must have had it right when she said smugness was "the great Catholic sin." Out of all those presumptions out there, it's one I can verify.
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