The working of apathy...

As I've mentioned before, the wife became Catholic this past Easter. She successfully completed RCIA (she needed some moral support from her favorite Roman friar after discovering that RCIA can be an insult to the intelligence) and took the Eucharist during the Vigil Mass.

What occasioned this swim across the Tiber was discovering that the governing documents of her original denomination (Methodist) cited full blown endorsement of a woman's "reproductive rights". Since she's adamantly anti-abortion this killed her future membership.

Not knowing all the tenets of Methodism is nothing to jeer at, there are plenty of Catholics wandering around without a clue (sometime I'll post about the basic Catechism questions I witnessed many Knights of Columbus fail.)

Even her former pastor didn't know about the official position of his church. Since he wasn't a fully ordained minister (the size of the congregation didn't warrant that level of qualification), it MIGHT be understandable. But the kicker in his particular case was the absolute, firm avowal that Methodists were against abortion, this statement made to myself in the course of a discussion prior to the opposite truth coming to light.

Where's this post going? Well when she left, the wife sent emails to everyone who might care. She explained very specifically why she was leaving and the regret she felt. The emails went to the pastor & his wife, the choir director, several active members my wife had worked with extensively while at that church.

The responses ranged from (here I'm paraphrasing a bit); "Even though we don't agree, I wish you luck." to complete silence. The pastor's response was, "I'll get back to you" (no, she isn't still waiting).

Put it to most of these folks and they'd firmly state their personal aversion to abortion. Some would mention a desire to work within the church to change things (though there is absolutely NO pro life ministry there), some would cautiously state "we should be careful not to judge others too harshly". Noted.

What do they all have in common? IMO they're variations of urinating while wearing a dark suit. It'll make you feel good and nobody notices anything.

In the meantime, the problem of abortion continues.

So in thinking about the situation these past few days, I'm of a mind that apathy just requires zero concern about anything beyond the immediate. That in order to be concerned about issues not presently in one's life requires intellectual effort and concern. When that effort isn't expended nobody is going to notice or criticize, life will go on and probably be that much more pleasant from ignoring a problem.

To emphasize the point I'm trying to make, every one of the folk the wife communicated with are really nice people. They're concerned for one another, strongly support their church, etc. As an example, there was a Christmas Eve celebration my mother-in-law was involved in. Since she lives thirty odd miles away and the weather was bad, the pastor took it on himself to rent her a room for the night at a local motel. Like I said, nice people.

They're just don't give a flip about anything that might not rock their personal boat at any particular moment.

And thats how apathy works and thats how evil flourishes in this life.

Part of the trick in dealing with it comes in finding it in oneself, especially after writing a post like this. That'll be material for the future.

Thanks for listening.