{"id":1396,"date":"2015-02-14T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-14T15:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/02\/sex-drugs-and-catholicism.html"},"modified":"2015-02-14T15:09:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-14T15:09:00","slug":"sex-drugs-and-catholicism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/02\/sex-drugs-and-catholicism.html","title":{"rendered":"Sex, drugs and Catholicism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So, it looks like 50 Shades of Grey<\/i> has made quite a stir across that strange landscape known as Catholic apologetics, and more specifically the Catholic blogosphere. \u00a0This is somewhat funny to me. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Well, here\u2019s the thing. \u00a0I once posted this<\/a>. \u00a0I noticed that the Catholic world of apologetics had no problem cheering all the worst elements of the sex, drugs and even abortion culture \u2013 as long as there isn\u2019t actual abortions or sex. <\/p>\n

So John Stewart, Andy Warhol, Roger Ebert, and any number of champions of the post-Christian secular Left also receive much praise and adoration from multiple sources in modern Catholic circles. \u00a0In addition, you have that ages old tendency that I\u2019ve found Catholics live up to quite nicely. \u00a0In college, it was always assumed that if you wanted to learn about that God and Jesus stuff, it was the Protestants you wanted to hang with. \u00a0If you wanted to get wild and party, then you went Catholic. \u00a0Most Catholics I knew growing up \u2013 most, mind you \u2013 lived up to that.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve been Catholic, I\u2019ve noticed little to change that stereotype. \u00a0Copious amounts of cussing, F-bombs, dirty jokes, vulgar humor, drinking, smoking, even advocating for drugs are all what one can find in abundance throughout the Catholic world in America. \u00a0And you don\u2019t even have to go to a bar or party to find it. \u00a0The Sanctuary or the Church can be just the place.<\/p>\n

I know, I know. \u00a0There\u2019s nothing wrong with cussing per se. Though the Bible does seem to prefer restraint of speech, we don\u2019t want to go puritanical legalism, and we recognize that language is a fluid thing, something Catholic advocates of speech in a manner that would make George Carlin blush are often quick to point out. \u00a0After all, Shakespeare! \u00a0Chaucer! \u00a0Even St. Paul and Jesus! \u00a0Why people in the Middle Ages said shit! \u00a0They cussed. \u00a0Sex and bathroom humor!<\/p>\n

As one who fought against Evangelical obsessions with such things, arguing that a glass of beer or even an odd cuss word is not the end of the world, I\u2019ve met my match as a Catholic. \u00a0I attended a Knights of Columbus training for the Lenten Fish Fry Fridays in the parish\u2019s school cafeteria, and was able to hear a litany of vulgarities and sex jokes and cussing the likes of which I\u2019ve not heard since being in a high school locker room during track practice.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the thing. \u00a0I call it \u2018dry-porn\u2019. \u00a0That is, no Catholic actually condones online pornography, or sleeping with your secretary, or actually doing the things they joke about. \u00a0They just joke about it, and wallow in and enjoy the culture that produces it. \u00a0They mock those who have problems with it. \u00a0Until, you guessed it, something actually goes the next step and there is real snorting of cocaine or real penetration involved. \u00a0And then it\u2019s Katy bar the door.<\/p>\n

Which once more illustrates that weird, strange world of Catholic living that one sees in so many places across the Catholic culture. \u00a0That idea that we can accept the premise of the latest, hippest. \u00a0We just must reject the logical conclusions. We can so mock and deride something like puritanism that we becomes cheerleaders for the opposite extreme, imagining that this is the clear and obvious solution. \u00a0Instead of fleeing from the near occasion of sin, we can slide up right next to it and cheer it on, yucking it up along the way. <\/p>\n

So when some Catholics were bothered a few years ago about pictures that came about from a worldwide Youth celebration in Europe, showing teens sleeping together in their undies in tents far removed from adults, those expressing concern were lambasted (puritans!), since, you know, there was no actual penetration involved.<\/p>\n

But now, that it\u2019s gone the next logical level, Catholics<\/a>\u00a0everywhere<\/a>\u00a0are<\/a>\u00a0now<\/a>\u00a0weighing<\/a>\u00a0in<\/a>. \u00a0You see, one time years ago, I was warned about my preaching. \u00a0While doing a guest stint in northern Kentucky, I mentioned that it isn\u2019t a sin to drink alcohol. \u00a0In moderation of course. \u00a0A fellow who was a mentor told me, \u201cDave, those folks in Kentucky might be brewing their moonshine, but they don\u2019t want to hear it\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Same here. \u00a0Something about much of the modern Catholic culture seems to love the sex, drugs and rock n\u2019 roll era and everything that comes with it. \u00a0They just don\u2019t want the actual porn and penetration and snorting that goes with the next step. \u00a0And for my money, they are no better than what was being said about those Kentuckian evangelicals when it came to alcohol. \u00a0 Long and short, they were being accused of hypocrisy in the highest degree.<\/p>\n

And furthermore, and this is just MHO, I find it hard to believe that one can be authentically pro-life in an age of AIDS and still take lightly, or even indulge in, the whole sex and drugs culture that to my mind is directly related to the pandemic that has killed more than Hitler or Stalin in their worst of days. \u00a0But that\u2019s for another post. <\/p>\n

Bonus point: Commenter in one of the above links points to Medieval practices to suggest 50 Shades isn\u2019t all that bad! \u00a0I love it when bad arguments are turned back on those who love to use them without realizing how bad they are. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, it looks like 50 Shades of Grey has made quite a stir across that strange landscape known as Catholic apologetics, and more specifically the Catholic blogosphere. \u00a0This is somewhat funny to me. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Well, here\u2019s the thing. \u00a0I once posted this. \u00a0I noticed that the Catholic world of apologetics had no problem cheering all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSex, drugs and Catholicism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So, it looks like 50 Shades of Grey has made quite a stir across that strange landscape known as Catholic apologetics, and more specifically the Catholic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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