sorry that this responce is sssooooo late in coming!

Your encounters with orthodox medicine are much more usual than you think. Most alternate approaches are far less ‘quack’ than is believed. Personally, I think it is ‘orthodoxy that is THE worst.

The Church (especially the American Catholic Chhurch) is filled with all sorts of problems. By far, THE biggest one is its reliance on formality. Its discipline is regimented as if the Church was a military organization.

Jesus revelation that God is ‘Abba” does away with any sort of formalism. [my couin was a priest and his mom used to call him 'Father'. ] Abba in Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke means literally ‘Dad/Daddy’. By far, it is a word of familial intimacy. This is lost when we use the word ‘Father’ instead!

Call your priest by his first name .. not Father. If asked, tell him that if you can call God by His first name, Jesus. Then you should be able to call his servants (including bishops) by their first names.

I’ve always found it odd that we hear all the time that not two people are alike, yet we like to medically treat everyone the same way. It has never made sense to me. I have mild arthritis in my hips and everyone (including medical professionals) tells me to take Alieve. They tell me it is great and will get rid of the pain. I took it everyday, twice a day, for over a month with no improvement at all. There are 100 different forms of arthritis, yet they want to treat all forms the same way. It is really annoying.

My Mom lived in pain for years because she couldn’t get doctors to listen to her, that she was different from the usual patient. She had TMJ and Fibromyalgia. She had them before those disorders were given names. Since the orthodox medicine didn’t have a name for her problem, she was told she was nuts because she couldn’t possibly be in any pain.

It is really sad that orthodox medicine is all that seems to be accepted. My Mom was given Xanax to help her sleep. She had been taking Valerian root for years and was told to stop. Why? I have no idea. the Xanax never worked as well as the Valerian.

When I got bit by a cat in my wrist and a tendon was torn, I was in a lot of pain. No meds worked, but acupuncture did. The meds were covered by my insurance, the acupuncture wasn’t.

I know this isnt’ really the input you wanted, your statement just made me want to babble a bit.

and yes, the Catholic Church is used as a political tool, IMO. Those people do not follow the Catholic Faith, but they get attention for saying they are Catholic.

Our Priest said something very profound during his sermon today. He said that he was talking to a man who told him that he refuses to go to Church. The man said that the Church was just filled with hypocrites. The priest looked at him and said “You’re right. And we have room for one more.”

I listened very carefully to CNN’s coverage of the eulogies for Ted Kennedy at the JFK Library … quite a fellow! For years now, I’ve had all sorts of trouble reconciling the pro-abortion stance of liberal (and some conservative) politicians who are Catholic and our Church’s strong (could hardly get any more determined than JP II) anti-abortion rhetoric. The two could not be more diametrically opposed to each other. Confusion persisted, until last night.

Perhaps, the Church (& especially its hierarchy) are just scapegoats …. fall-guys for a rather old ploy. It is true that these folks ARE Catholic … but these are for the most part wealthy, very wealthy people! Jesus Himself and the early Church had some very stern things to say about wealth.

Just how does anyone reconcile the pursuit of wealth (above all) and the pursuit of God, especially when amassed wealth is ‘the good life’ and the goal of ‘the pursuit of happiness’?

We all are taught how our countries (US & CANADA) and so-wealthy (compared to other nations). We may live (etching out enough to eat) here, but very few folks have control of this wealth. Why this is so is ????? We fear so much about communism yet many are speechless beside nuns (who are likely some of the purist communist organizations in the world, including Mother Teresa’s Sister’s off Charity).

Stupidly the (wealthy) Democrats simply want all Americans to follow the example of wealthy folks. They had for decades used abortion as birth-control via private doctors. It is only JUST to expand this to more common folk. Please note, that this is the impetus of the Obamacare package. [There is no consensus on whether orthodox medicine is THE best approach to medicine. Yet it is the only one being discussed.]

This view is very recent for me and may/may not be accurate. Do wonder if such is correct. Would love input ….