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Nittanyalum and Irishpipes you guys are right, it is catholic with a small c. I'm just so used to writing Catholic meaning the Catholic Church that that one slipped out.
I was actually talking to my dad about this. I learned some interesting things. I thought he "left" the Roman Catholic Church, turns out, he just stopped going because he liked going to church with my mom and us kids. Apparently my mom and dad agreed that us kids would be raised Methodist for unknown reasons when my brother was born. He actually said today that he was thinking about going back. He's still super active in the Methodist Church, too. Turns out, my mom and dad were married by a priest AND a pastor, and it was actually my mom's pastor that got my mom's name wrong during the ceremony.
My mom also alluded to the fact a few years ago that my dad may have had a falling out with his home church somewhere in the late seventies, early eighties. As I understand, it was quite the turbulent time for the RC Church around then, and he just got fed up. He's never said why that was, though.
Regardless, to the topic at hand. Apparently, his understanding (and you guys have understand that his Catholic education was before Roe v. Wade) is that if you have an abortion, you're excommunicated. He said that when he does go to confession, and goes through the steps to get back in grace with the Church (can you imagine that? "My last confession was 30 years ago."), he will only mention how he voted if the priest asks him. He didn't vote for Obama because he was pro-choice, my dad voted for Obama because he just plain didn't like McCain, and fell more in line with Obama's other views.
I do think my Church would frown on abortion, but I have never heard anything about not voting for someone based on their views. My hometown is weird though - it's in the North, so it's pretty progressive (I think) on some points, but it's in a really rural area, so it's pretty status quo on other points. The sad part is all the kids keep moving out of town, my dad's one of the younger people in the church and he's 57. I think that's a problem with the Methodist Church as a whole, though, because when I went to church in Pittsburgh I was the youngest there by at least 30 years.
I've gone on another tangent. Sorry.
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