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{"id":2025,"date":"2013-03-07T20:21:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T20:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/03\/am-i-a-bad-catholic-for-not-caring-that-hugo-chavez-is-dead.html"},"modified":"2013-03-07T20:21:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T20:21:00","slug":"am-i-a-bad-catholic-for-not-caring-that-hugo-chavez-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/03\/am-i-a-bad-catholic-for-not-caring-that-hugo-chavez-is-dead.html","title":{"rendered":"Am I a bad Catholic for not caring that Hugo Chavez is dead?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I don\u2019t know. \u00a0Over at Mark Shea\u2019s blog<\/a>, there\u2019re a couple posts about Mr. Chavez. \u00a0For some reason, the focus is on Matt Drudge and the Evil\u00a0Conservatives\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019m sure there are some who are cheering his death, and we probably shouldn\u2019t cheer that anyone has died. \u00a0I guess we ought to pray for him like we pray for anyone. <\/p>\n

But truth be told, it\u2019s easy to pray for him. \u00a0What was he to me? \u00a0Several\u00a0on Mark\u2019s blog point out that Chavez was well loved in his country<\/a>. \u00a0Of course Russians wept when Stalin died. \u00a0And Chinese still venerate the memory of\u00a0Chairman\u00a0Mao. \u00a0So the love of the people doesn\u2019t seem to equate good living.<\/p>\n

From what I can tell, and given the attitudes of those in the West who celebrate Chavez, I\u2019ll guess he was a petty dictator who gained immense wealth and power by catering to the masses with bread and circuses, and keeping their minds off their problems by continually stirring up hatred toward other countries (like ours). \u00a0Of course in some corners of the Catholic blogosphere, that\u2019s a feather in his cap. \u00a0It certainly was for a large swath of American progressives who have always known of the eternal evil of America.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0despite\u00a0it all, I didn\u2019t really suffer under him. \u00a0He didn\u2019t do anything to me. \u00a0He didn\u2019t hurt me, help me, or mean anything to me. \u00a0He was one of those cheerleaders\u00a0hoping\u00a0for my country\u2019s decline. \u00a0Too many in his country testified to brutal\u00a0totalitarian\u00a0tactics that Americans\u00a0only\u00a0think we suffer under but don\u2019t. \u00a0He cozied up to our enemies, those proud and open in their desire to slaughter and kill us. \u00a0But in the end, I still didn\u2019t really get hurt by anything he did. <\/p>\n

So I can pray for him all I want. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t cost me a cent. \u00a0But what does it matter? \u00a0Personally, I will pray only so far as I say I hope he is in the hands of a loving,\u00a0merciful\u00a0and just God. \u00a0Beyond that, not so much. \u00a0It\u2019s not my\u00a0job\u00a0to forgive him. \u00a0It\u2019s \u00a0not my job to defend him. \u00a0I can say I saw what he did and that it was bad. \u00a0Even evil. \u00a0Catholic though I am, I\u2019m not ready to\u00a0believe\u00a0all evil ends at the exit sign of 1600 Pennsylvania. So personally, I don\u2019t care that he\u2019s dead. \u00a0My guess is the world will be no worse off because of his passing, and there might even be some in the long run who are better off. <\/p>\n

Perhaps that makes me a bad Catholic, but it\u2019s how I feel.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"