The Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas (ADKCK) has outlawed the Girl Scouts from meeting with, or partnering with, the Catholic Church in their diocese. Like many civic and community groups, the Girls Scouts have held meetings and sold cookies in various Catholic churches, but the Catholics have now told them they are no longer welcome. Once again, this is a 'Christian' church...sigh...
First, let's just cut the bull. This decision isn't coming from the Vatican, but rather the fever dreams of mandatory persecution which are currently being belched out by the modern Republican Party. Conservatives HATE the Girls Scouts for their progressive inclusivity policies, and have worked against them, even creating a modern version of Hitlerjugend Lite as a competitive alternative. To further their hatred, conservative conspiracy theory crazies discovered a distant link between the Girls Scouts and Planned Parenthood. The Girl Scouts give to a group called the World Association of Girl Studies and Girl Scouts (WAGGS) and WAGGS is in a different relationship with Planned Parenthood International, a different group than Planned Parenthood in the US. The Girl Scouts don't give any money to Planned Parenthood, and this connection is flimsy to say the least. It'd be like saying any member of NATO is responsible for all actions of a member country's relationship with a non-NATO country, who is in turn loosely connected to another, unrelated organization.
Or as modern conservatives label it, the smoking gun!
If this really is the standard of the ADKCK, then no group should be meeting within the walls of the Catholic Churches of Kansas City, as I guarantee I can find a connection just as solid between the Boy Scouts, 4H, The Lions, the VFW, Rotary, the Jaycees or any civic/community group, and an entity which goes against Catholic doctrine. Let's start with the NRA. Jesus, the man who makes Christian's Christian, would CLEARLY not approve of guns or the NRA. They go against his teachings directly. This it the ADKCK's standard, not mine, so if any group with a similar connection to the NRA is meeting within the walls of the diocese, they need to go too. Or is that kind of sinning okay?
The Catholic Church pushing this garbage, and not holding other organizations to THEIR same litmus test, are doing so to match the local Conservative far right Republican political ideology of the community, not because they're embracing a quality religious policy. They're manipulating religion to serve their own purposes, which is in this case 'hating because they want to hate.'
But fine! It's the right of the ADKCK to ban whomever they want to ban from their churches. Let me ask, how many people do you think this action will bring into the church? Do you really think people saying to themselves, "I was never going to be Catholic, but now that they hate the Girl Scouts, I'm heading to mass!"? Do they think families are saying, "thank God they banned the Girl Scouts. Now we can try this Christianity out!"? This action won't increase attendance or interest in the church, and it actually drives people away from the pews. I guarantee every parish in the ADKCK will see 5 to 30 families stop going to Catholic church, either walking away from religion completely, or going to a more welcoming option. The only people who think banning the Girl Scouts is a win are the most fervent, conservative, 7 day a week Catholics, and Republicans who want to use religion as a weapon against their political foes. New Age Christians and Evangelicals are not about to abandon their churches and become Catholic because the ADKCK stiff armed the Girl Scouts.
The ADKCK will position this as a moral victory, but all they're doing is damaging the already tarnished reputation of the church. I see the masses 3/4 full compared to the days before the church child sex scandal. Small community churches in many parts of rural America have only one mass per week, sharing a priest who serves six other congregations, and the one mass isn't exactly packed. Banning the Girl Scouts is not helping these real attendance/membership issues.
Both my daughters are Catholic. Both my daughters are Girl Scouts. Both organizations have done wonderful things to help guide my girls to a better path in life. The Girl Scouts have never indoctrinated my daughters into being Planned Parenthood advocates, or had them screaming "abortions for everyone!" That's just silly. They've taught them to respect themselves and to respect others, while trying to help out in the community. And the cookies are tasty too, but as a parent of Girl Scouts, cookie sales are the worst part of having your daughter in the organization. Still, I love the cookies. This isn't an 'evil organization' the Catholic Church needs to label as an enemy of God.
And as far as trying to get into bed with the Evangelicals, you do know many leaders of the Evangelical church have a lot of reservations about Catholics, right? A lot of non-Catholic Christian Republican leaders don't like the Catholics either. It was revealed two weeks ago, many members of Trump's cabinet are having a weekly bible study meeting with Pastor Ralph Drollinger, a man whose own church disavowed him, a man who claims Catholicism is the worlds largest fake religion. The ADKCK seems to think the Republicans and Evangelicals are going to let them into the boat because they threw out the Girl Scouts. They'll let the Catholics continue to hang onto the rope trailing behind the boat in the water, but if the Catholics get to close the lip, they'll whack them with an oar.
I'm really getting tired of having a religion based on love, acceptance, welcoming, compassion and forgiveness, my religion, tell me who I need to hate, who I need to condemn and who I need to shun. You're supposed to be better than that. Instead of telling me who isn't welcome, why don't you start telling everyone who is...
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