There’s scene in the movie “Braveheart” with Mel Gibson, where his character William Wallace is betrayed by Robert the Bruce. The look on William’s face says it all: “Dude. Seriously? I thought we were like, you know, on the same team?”
Could you even imagine that? Thinking you’re on the same team, fighting the bad guys, standing together and stuff. And then, your fellow brother-in-arms stabs you in the back with a knife.
Now that’s what we call a serious “Hurts Donut.”
And that’s how it seems with a lot of Catholics nowadays. Here we are, all calling ourselves “Catholics” and then, some CINO (Catholic In Name Only) tears a dagger from his belt and WHAMMO… knife in the back.
How do you figure?
Well, we Catholics have something called ‘doctrine’ and ‘dogma,’ truths of the Catholic faith that must be believed by all Catholics.
Yet not a day goes by where you hear someone who claims to be a Catholic who says, “I don’t have to go to Confession, I’m a good person” or “Fast a couple times during Lent? Yea, that ain’t happening” or even “Who says you have to go to Mass every Sunday?”
That’s when you look over at them and say, “Uh, hello? I though we were on the same team?”
You’ll hear about Catholics who think using artificial birth control is okay or that living out a homosexual lifestyle is just fine. They’ll seem to fight tooth and nail against whatever the Church teaches because hey, you know, “I just follow my own conscience.”
It reminds me of professional football teams. A group of men who wear the same uniform, who play by the same rules, and who have the same goal in mind.
Could you imagine for a moment what would happen if one of those players decided to run onto the football field wearing a baseball cap, a pair of ice skates, and a tennis player’s outfit? Oh my goodness! He would be laughed off the field by the crowd and probably pulverized by his teammates (and probably a lot worse than a painful noogie).
When you sign up to be a professional football player, you agree to play by the rules, to show up when you’re supposed to show up, and become one with the team.
So how is it Catholics not only don’t want to play on “Team Catholic,” but heck, they don’t even want to suit up or even show up for the game?