Catholic in name only <typical right wing hypocrites>

[Paula Sims]

On Christmas we went over to hubby's aunt to spend Christmas dinner with her, her son, and hubby's brother and his wife. The brother and wife are big liberals (they make Bernie Sanders look like a right-wingnut!) and I knew the aunt & cousin with right-wingers, but I thought they were Catholic right wingers. Oops -- big underestimate.

I asked them what they thought of Pope Frank. Now keep in mind I'm a big practicing Byzantine Rite Catholic but that's my choice and I choose to live that way -- not force it on other people; hubby is a lapsed Roman Catholic but is rethinking things now with Pope Frank at the helm. I was expecting some support out of them for the new dude. NOPE -- boy did they turn on him. They were angry that he 'hated the rich' and expected to everyone to 'give out to the poor' <insert typical Faux spew here>. They said that they weren't rich but they're not poor either (they're cheap and live in a hand-made ranch from the 1950's which is why they have money). I said that I didn't get THAT extreme of a message, that giving also meant giving of one's time, one's knowledge, and yes, some money. They said they didn't believe in enabling (translation .... well, you get it)

Now keep in mind that the only way her husband went to college and was able to earn any money was through the GI bill (a Democratic idea), they have Social Security & Medicare (Democrats, Democrats), and her son decided that he wanted to quit his job and become a day-trader (bust) and got insurance through a state-program (Democrats galore). [That went bust and now he's stocking shelves] But NO -- they 'made it on their own'. . .

They then said they think that "Merry Christmas" should be said from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Again, I repeated that there are many holidays between Thanksgiving & the New Year & after (St. Andrew's Day, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, St. Lucy's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas, the Holy Family, St. Stephen's, Circumcision of our Lord/Feast of St. Basil, Birth of John the Baptist, Epiphany) and that I celebrate them all and that I appreciate that Happy HOLYDAYS are said to me. She said she never celebrated those and that as far as she's concerned, Christ should be put back into Christmas. I paid said that we should first start with putting Christ back into Christianity and the details will take care of themselves. They didn't like that at all.

We went on to discuss the Chicago Bears. . .

[Release The Hounds]

1. The Fox 'News' brain is practically impenetrable.

[TexasProgresive]

2. You did well.

It may have been fruitless but you gave them something to think about. Who changed the subject to the Bears? If it was them that means it was getting through.

[Posteritatis]

3. I wonder how many of those self-declared popes we'll see in the next few years...

A bunch of people proclaimed themselves such during John Paul II's pontificate over one silly thing or another, mainly in the States; I kind of expect there'll be more under Francis if just because of how extravagantly Republican-friendly he isn't.

Almost wonder something on a larger scale among North American Catholics might fire off over it, if just because of the shaky relationship they often seem to have with the church in general. Especially if Francis starts actually threatening chunks of the standard power structure like he seems to want to.