TIME TO GO

Stanislaus waited for the next edition of The Tablet and, with some apprehension looked at the Letters section. There was no sign of his open latter to Israel Folau. He read the editorial section, the comments section and skimmed through the articles but there was no mention of Israel Folau's attack on homosexuals or of his dispute with the Australian Rugby Union.
"Strange" he thought and waited for a week for the next edition.
Once again his letter hadn't been published and  there was no  mention of Folau in any way. Stanislaus felt let down.

He looked on the internet for other catholic newsletters to see if the story had been fully reported but was disappointed .

Nope - nothing there

Nope - nothing here either.

He thought that The Catholic Bishop's Conference of Korea newsletter should develop a new logo as the one they are using can, at first glance, look like something else, something rude.


Looking through past issues of The Tablet he did find an article on Folau: HERE

In this article Folau's stance is reported along with that of his supporters but the central issue of an attack on homosexuality was not. Stanislaus felt let down.

"I need to make a change" he thought after deliberating on this for a day and a night. "My church isn't defending me".
Stanislaus had been re-reading his catechism and the gospels and remembering the Sunday sermons where his priest had talked about love, inclusion and forgiveness and saw that there was a disconnect between what was said and what was being done.

His research always came back to the catholic church promising him the gift of grace but to receive this he had to reject sin. Homosexual behaviour, according to the church is a sin and a violation of divine and natural law. If he were to practise homosexual behaviour he would then be deemed to be a sinner and not eligible to receive grace. This was a shock to Stanislaus. He so far in his life hadn't acted on his desires which fortunately the church didn't see as sinful. It was a sin only if the desires were acted on but what if an opportunity was to come his way?  Stanislaus thought this wasn't fair and so he made his decision.

He would leave the catholic church.

A LETTER TO THE TABLET

Stanislaus had thought about the Israel Folau thing for a couple of days and let it swirl in his brain until he came to a conclusion.
He didn't know it but his conclusion was going to develop into two or more parts. It was going to evolve. Stanislaus agreed to himself that he was a good catholic and that by and large he agreed with the teachings of his church. It was Israel Folau's statements that he disagreed with. He was going to go on as usual with attending mass and the sacraments but he was going to pay more attention to the sermons and was going to re-read the gospels and the catechism. At first though he was going to send a letter to Israel Folau. He didn't know Israel Folau's address but thought that if he sent his letter as an open letter to Folau to The Tablet, the international catholic news weekly, then at some stage Folau and his followers would get to read it. That was his plan.

Dear Israel Folau,You might be bigger than me but you are wrong. You might be faster than me but you are wrong. You are richer than me but you are wrong.I consider myself to be a good catholic. I attend Sunday mass every week and I pray to Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the apostles. The catholic church tells me through my catechism and from the teachings by my priest that god is about love and that we should all love one another. Hatred is wrong so, ergo, hate speech is wrong. You have used hate speech when you said that homosexuals will go to hell. You are wrong. Hell doesn't await me Israel. I have been told that Jesus awaits me with open arms. I'm not happy with you Israel and I'm particularly upset that you are seeking money from poor people to fund your untruths. I'm even more upset that you plan to sue the Australian Rugby Board for $10 million.Perhaps Israel, you should add 'Greedy People' to your list of people going to hell.

Stanislaus emailed his letter to the 'Letters' section  of The Tablet , the address of which he found in his on-line subscription and went about his business to await a response. He felt a little bit excited after hitting the 'send' button but also a little bit apprehensive. "Things have to change" he thought as he put on a fresh pair of Knobbies, the shorts-style that he'd seen on offer in the on-line version of The Tablet. He'd seen something similar, worn by the Opus Dei character in The Da Vinci Code but these were more comfortable.

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