Labels

There are labels that everyone uses to help identify themselves. I am a Campbell, a German/Scotch/Irish, an American, a Christian, a Catholic, a SLUH senior, a (former) Cross Country runner, a P+P youth group member, an NHS member, a future Catholic Worker, and a hundred other things that don't really touch on the essence of me. They are all part of my experiencal being, speaking on the temporal plane and of the 18 years that I've been on this earth, but labels fail to speak on the spiritual plane and of my eternal soul. The most basic and most valued label that I hold is that of Christian, but even that leads to division and separation from fellow humans. The spectrum of religions and spiritualities in this world is a beautiful thing and very necessary to meet the demands of the spectrum of ways people need to connect on that spirtual plane, but any such religion or spirituality must be balanced with the ability to step back from the bindings of each individual's religion in order to reach out to form a community with all of humanity. Any sense of "us and them" has to stop if there will ever be peace. So, do I believe that there was a man named Jesus who radically taught and transformed this world and then died to save us (ie am I a Christian)? yes. Do I believe in and participate in the rituals and sacraments of the Catholic Church in order to better know God? yes. Do I also understand that the religion of anyone else who honestly is seeking truth is equally valid and correct as the religion that I practice? yes.

I have been taught in my Catholic theology class that the Church accepts other religions as valid means to come to know God and truth partially, but the Catholic Church is fully and perfectly able to come to know God and truth. I take issue with that because it is pride that causes division. It won't matter what religion a person practiced once he or she is in heaven, so why should it matter on earth? It shouldn't. Hence, labels have limited purpose and should not be heavily stressed. Another storm I am traversing is that of evaluating how I label myself and what labels I really want to have and refocusing the energy spent on maintaining some of those labels.

At this point, the priesthood looks like just another unnecessary label that separates me from others even more than the lay label of Catholic. (not to mention the other issues I have with the Church... yet) That's not the kind of label I want to have. Labels are just constructs of society that serve to objectify and box in the so labeled human. I suppose I do still understand the priesthood to be a wonderful thing, but to be a priest would focus my attention too much on the trivial (relative to the bigger picture) structure of the Church when I feel called away from such structures in order to serve others on a pure peer level. That is a deep and good desire of mine, to be free of all labels in order to be fully open to serve anyone without consideration of differences in labels. So words like hippie or democratic socialist I don't like to use because they carry with them divisive connotational baggage, even if they are partial descriptors mixed in with the overall philosophy of Tom. Tom being my biggest label (need less me, more God). Okay, I'm finished; amen.