I suppose for many people, it makes sense that every time someone makes a caustic or critical remark about you or someone or something that is dear to your heart, you need to respond and set that person right. Some people and organizations find that in today's world, responding to criticisms can take up a lot of time. There is an army of haters out there today so if you are in the public eye and going to respond to the bait of hate mail/email, it's going to be labor intensive.
Many people hardly ever respond--I suppose they just kind of twitch nervously over it or I suppose they don't let it get to them.
On the Internet, you often find that the person who is making the caustic hateful remark is way past convincing anyway. My guess is that these people are living in some kind of weird state of abnormal and you are better off never engaging them whatsoever. Let them vent and then get out of the way may be the best approach in many cases.
There seems to be lot of hate that goes on with posting and stories on the Catholic Church and other Catholic organizations. If you look at responses to many Catholic stories or articles, often someone in the string of comments will make some statement about criminal Priests. The logic, if it can be called logic, is that anything the church says or anything anyone who is associated with the church says, is to be completely discounted because of the sins of Priests or former Priests.
Often when someone says something unjustly it is so far afield from the topic of the article itself. In other circumstances, someone either informally or formally makes a comment in defense of the church and then a full out debate occurs online on the relative merits and demerits of the church or those involved with the church. Many times the attacks on church personnel are by purported Catholics themselves--ones who say "leave the church" if you don't agree with me. The problem that occurs is that when the attacked person responds to these crazy attacks, it just heaps more attention to the baseless attack and the person who is making it.
Of course, one can also argue that without coming to the defense of the church, the attacks get all the publicity. I am not so sure. There is no easy answer. I do believe that the more solid positive articles about the church, the better. If hateful comments follow, I believe people often skim through a few comments and then ignore the rest.
We live in a world where authorities of all shapes and sizes can take advantage of those to whom they are intrusted to protect. Our world is so corrupt that people need to be mindful that sometimes there is danger from our protectors. Certainly, much has been written and said about abusive Priests--by the same token there are many instances recently of teachers and coaches involved in abuse as well. Often people who are closest to those injured are the ones who hurt the innocent. We are so used to parents doing awful things to their children, those kind of stories rarely get much attention except in celebrated cases with celebrities. We also have military men who come back home and use their weapons and training to hurt others. We have police who steal and injure others. We have a few fireman who start fires. We have fathers who hurt and abuse their children. We have mothers who do the same. Much of the store theft that plagues our retail businesses comes from employees. We have bankers and financial professionals who have stolen untold amounts of money from investors. In Illinois, we have a number of governors who have been convicted of crimes that have hurt citizens. All these people injure those who essentially they are sworn to protect.
But getting back to point of this post. When people who are in authority are criticized there is often little they can do to get a fair shake in our world today. I'd like to see a little less criticism myself and here are a few guidelines I think are worth following on Catholic issues:
1. Don't criticize Priests for the small stuff or perceived issues of doctrine. If you want to be the number one theologian in the Catholic church and the new defender of the faith--seek a proper education and go about it honestly.
2. The world does not need another self righteous critic who touts innumerable venomous thoughts-- either liberal or conservative on all things Catholic. If you want to vent, at least stick to your own blog rather than surf the net composting rubbish at every site that mentions anything Catholic.
3. The person one can most effectively change is the one who looks back at us in the mirror. Take a good look in the mirror before you want to start with others.
4. Don't drag the good with the bad, take the bad with the good. There is no reason to spend so much time trying to read between the lines when someone speaks about faith, especially if it's someone who has devoted his or her entire life to the church.
5. Pray for a better day all the way around.
Copyright 2012, Lawrence M. Norris
Many people hardly ever respond--I suppose they just kind of twitch nervously over it or I suppose they don't let it get to them.
On the Internet, you often find that the person who is making the caustic hateful remark is way past convincing anyway. My guess is that these people are living in some kind of weird state of abnormal and you are better off never engaging them whatsoever. Let them vent and then get out of the way may be the best approach in many cases.
There seems to be lot of hate that goes on with posting and stories on the Catholic Church and other Catholic organizations. If you look at responses to many Catholic stories or articles, often someone in the string of comments will make some statement about criminal Priests. The logic, if it can be called logic, is that anything the church says or anything anyone who is associated with the church says, is to be completely discounted because of the sins of Priests or former Priests.
Often when someone says something unjustly it is so far afield from the topic of the article itself. In other circumstances, someone either informally or formally makes a comment in defense of the church and then a full out debate occurs online on the relative merits and demerits of the church or those involved with the church. Many times the attacks on church personnel are by purported Catholics themselves--ones who say "leave the church" if you don't agree with me. The problem that occurs is that when the attacked person responds to these crazy attacks, it just heaps more attention to the baseless attack and the person who is making it.
Of course, one can also argue that without coming to the defense of the church, the attacks get all the publicity. I am not so sure. There is no easy answer. I do believe that the more solid positive articles about the church, the better. If hateful comments follow, I believe people often skim through a few comments and then ignore the rest.
We live in a world where authorities of all shapes and sizes can take advantage of those to whom they are intrusted to protect. Our world is so corrupt that people need to be mindful that sometimes there is danger from our protectors. Certainly, much has been written and said about abusive Priests--by the same token there are many instances recently of teachers and coaches involved in abuse as well. Often people who are closest to those injured are the ones who hurt the innocent. We are so used to parents doing awful things to their children, those kind of stories rarely get much attention except in celebrated cases with celebrities. We also have military men who come back home and use their weapons and training to hurt others. We have police who steal and injure others. We have a few fireman who start fires. We have fathers who hurt and abuse their children. We have mothers who do the same. Much of the store theft that plagues our retail businesses comes from employees. We have bankers and financial professionals who have stolen untold amounts of money from investors. In Illinois, we have a number of governors who have been convicted of crimes that have hurt citizens. All these people injure those who essentially they are sworn to protect.
But getting back to point of this post. When people who are in authority are criticized there is often little they can do to get a fair shake in our world today. I'd like to see a little less criticism myself and here are a few guidelines I think are worth following on Catholic issues:
1. Don't criticize Priests for the small stuff or perceived issues of doctrine. If you want to be the number one theologian in the Catholic church and the new defender of the faith--seek a proper education and go about it honestly.
2. The world does not need another self righteous critic who touts innumerable venomous thoughts-- either liberal or conservative on all things Catholic. If you want to vent, at least stick to your own blog rather than surf the net composting rubbish at every site that mentions anything Catholic.
3. The person one can most effectively change is the one who looks back at us in the mirror. Take a good look in the mirror before you want to start with others.
4. Don't drag the good with the bad, take the bad with the good. There is no reason to spend so much time trying to read between the lines when someone speaks about faith, especially if it's someone who has devoted his or her entire life to the church.
5. Pray for a better day all the way around.
Copyright 2012, Lawrence M. Norris
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