To Be a Contrarian

To be a Catholic

is to be

a contrarian.

This is a funny thing to think,

since much of the popular narrative

of modern life

would seem to suggest

very much

the opposite.

But that goes hand-in-hand

with those origins,

all that resentment,

that's been playing out

for some five hundred years.

But all the same it's true.

It was a contrarian

that suggested

Roman life

wasn't good enough

to dictate cultural norms.

I don't think it was

a rebellion

or yearning

for independence

that provoked this,

or even the idea

of a messiah,

but an awareness

that there was

a better way

to live,

that acknowledged

basic human dignity.

Which is funny,

since so many early Catholics

died in undignified ways

in order to argue this.

To be a Catholic

you sort of hear

about these early martyrs

a lot;

they're not buried

in the rush

to reach

some philosophical point

explaining why we had

to leave

the faith

in order

to purify it.

But to hear Christians

talk about persecution

today,

the "war on Christmas," 

it's not really

to understand

what they mean,

and less so

coming from a Catholic.

To be a Catholic

is to be a contrarian.

Even among Catholics

it's not good enough

to say you're Catholic,

because even Catholics

can't agree

what being Catholic

means.

So even among Catholics

there are contrarians,

which is why I say

to be Catholic

is to be a contrarian.

It's to be

out of step

with the world,

which has been so busy

trying to distance itself

from that time

when the whole world

seemed Catholic.

(And I do say "seemed,"

which is to say,

to the European world.)

(Which itself

is a distinction lost

on all those

still fighting

a war they seem

to have won.)

I could go on,

but that wouldn't be

very catholic

(and again, 

I guess it would.)