A/N: This essay is written as a response to what’s happening in my church. I wrote it to get my feelings out. I suppose some of it can apply to Christianity in general. Please don’t be offended by this piece. If the religious content does offend you, please do not read it and do not flame it. Thank you.

Many Christian values create the foundations of the Catholic Church. One of the most basic and well-known of these values is forgiveness. Proverbs 24:29 states, “Do not say, ‘I’ll do to him as he has done to me; I’ll pay that man back for what he did.’” As one reads these words, it seems easy to accept their meaning. However, as I have seen recently, it is harder to live the words of the Bible than one previously thought. There is no greater sin than to watch a holy place desecrated by the lies, deceit, and secrecy of vengeful mortals. It slowly chips away at the spirit when one goes to mass every Sunday and witnesses such violence. One may think that lies, deceit, and secrecy are not violent. As stated by Ghandi, violence is not only physical, but spiritual as well. To partake in sinful and spiritual violence harms everyone involved.

Lying. Everyone does it; it has become a way of life in our society, even in a Catholic society. The eighth commandment states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This is one of the main ideas of Catholicism and yet we break this commandment every day – sometimes more than once a day. We tell lies, spread rumors; all the while hoping the disease of deceit spreads like a wildfire among our friends and enemies. As Catholics, it is not part of our religion to spread untruths to gain the ‘status quo’ when times are hard. We should practice fellowship and forgiveness – or has that become too difficult now? Are we so far beyond the point of no return that we have decided to turn our backs on Catholic morals?

However, it is not only lies that hurt the church. The stubbornness of not considering forgiveness also eats away at the spirit. Once the hurtful fabrication has been woven, and the words cannot be taken back, stubbornness enters the scene. It tiptoes among our hearts and whispers ill thoughts and ideas into our heads like a little devil on our shoulders. Being stubborn only hardens the heart and puts the situation in a stalemate. No one – on either side – wants to reach out to each other. They believe whole-heartedly there is no way they could be wrong. To these people, considering the idea there is another answer to the problem is unthinkable. This is not only immature and pointless, it is childish too. School children do not resort to such juvenile methods of problem solving. Even young children can move past their stubbornness and learn to forgive those who have wronged them, and who they have wronged.

Once lying and stubbornness have joined, secrecy soon follows. Keeping secrets hinders truth. But what exactly is secrecy in the church? It is the whispering one hears when they walk past a group of people, sideways glances, glares, and not being able to trust others. It is petitions, secret meetings, and vigilante justice. Does the Bible mention any of these things as ways to live a good Christian life? No, it does not; and to act like that causes dissention among what is supposed to be a strong Catholic community. Secrecy does not allow truth and love to blossom. It keeps the truth buried deep under our misgivings and our unwarranted hatred.

An outsider may see this lack of Christian values and ask, “Where is God in this place?” I believe we should all be asking ourselves that question. Where is God? Is He on the sharp, venomous tongues of the liars and people who spread rumors? Is He in the pagan idol worship of a painting of a man who no longer resides among us? Or maybe God is hidden by the layers of secrets we tell each other about fellow parishioners that we see every Sunday. Fortunately, God is found nowhere in these sins. He is everywhere in our church. His presence and His love are stronger than the pettiness of a small faction of people who are too blinded by hatred to live by love.