As a bold, outspoken, fiery, and passionate millennial Catholic myself, I'm well aware of the misconceptions people have about my faith and all of the arguments and disagreements that get thrown my way. "Catholics hate gays." "Catholics don't care about black lives, only unborn lives." "Catholics aren't pro-feminists, only pro-lifers", yada yada yada. I've heard it all, and I want to roll my eyes every time.
I find it quite humorous when all Catholics preach and stand for is life...yet people still get angry and up in arms and say we don't care about women or black lives or gay people. What the heck does "I stand for life" mean then...? And how come the Catholic faith speaks so much truth and beauty about women if they hate women? In both Humane Vitae and Pope John Paul the II's Letter to Women, he speaks about the necessity, beauty, and intrinsic goodness of women and why the world needs them. Heck, as Catholics, we refer to the church itself as Christ's bride. Name another church that gives that much emphasis, credit, and appreciation to women.
Or what about how we don't care about black lives if we want to defund Planned Parenthood...as if Planned Parenthood fully and entirely makes up the black population and defunding the business would wipe them out. In a time when segregation was all the south knew, the Catholic church stood for unity - arm in arm with their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Here's where people get angry with the Catholic Church - when they stand for truth and life above all else. People think we restrict freedom and power to choose. But if we restricted freedom, why would we walk so others could be free? And if we restricted your ability to choose, we would be communist. The Catholic Church neither denies freedom nor choice. In fact, the Catholic Church shouts freedom and encourages the choice of goodness and happiness. It offers something our world cannot as it becomes further and further enslaved in hate, judgment, murder, and confusion.
So instead of responding with hate and anger to a group of people who only want joy and fullness of life for you, maybe hear them out, or remember that they're not made up of all those Catholic misconceptions that you have stored in your head.
