After reporting the story of a St. Louis-area Bishop who disparaged atheists at my alma mater, I was offered the opportunity to speak at the Ethical Society of St. Louis. Since it was a big opportunity for me, I immediately created a Facebook event and invited all of my friends, as any tech-savvy kid would do these days. In my excited state, I may have forgotten that I have quite a few bigoted friends from my Catholic high school days who hate atheism and atheists. So the epic debate ensued, via Facebook, and one part in particular struck a chord.
Among those virtually protesting my event were 3 boys preparing for religious life. One is a current Seminarian, another is studying to become a Jesuit, and the third is discerning his "call" to the priesthood. All three of them were rather quick to show the love of Jesus by bashing myself and my message. If they had read the description on the event page, they would have found that I have no plans to bash their religion (Catholicism in all cases), but to open the door for interfaith dialogue between the religious and the non-religious. In their haste, they made insensitive and inaccurate comments and have (for the most part) ceased their arguments.
Amidst all this disorder and chaos, another person interested in the religious life stepped forward and offered the message of compassion that Jesus of Nazareth brought. She called for an open exchange of ideas and to show a loving attitude towards all. In the truest sense, she brought wisdom and acceptance to her fellow religious life friends and admitted she planned to attend the event to find just the same things she brought to the wall post.
Now it is obviously an overstatement to say nuns are better than priests. But this (future) nun sure showed more understanding then her male counterparts. Maybe the Catholic Church should remember that the most revered among them do not always have to be men.
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