- YELLING AT GOD:

So yesterday I got really fired up when reading an article online about certain religious organizations rushing to write and publish books which are supposed to discredit the Da Vinci Code. I think one is called "Breaking the Da Vinci Code" and most of them are being put out by Christian/Catholic book publishers. So I was doing a little research and went to check out the Opus Dei website (a specific, very religious group who are more hardcore than most other Christian/Catholic divisions) Opus Dei was written about in the book and although the Da Vinci code is a work of fiction, some of what he spoke about them is true, which I found out through later independent research.

Anyway that being said I went kinda crazy and wrote Opus Dei a bit of a nasty email to which I wasn't really expecting a response. Here it is and after I will include the response I got only a few hours later:

-- I had a question about your faith in relation to the whole Da Vinci Code controversy. Specifically I would
like to know if the Catholic Church at any point in history has repressed or punished women or stunted
their growth? Just so I am fair, I will say here that I realize most religions historically repress sexuality and women, always linking shame with sex.

Does the Catholic Church ever take responsibility for anything it does wrong, or in the case of the recent
numbers that came out about how many priests actually have been charged with child molestation, just ignore it and suppress everything until the media eventually finds out..then hold a press conference or two and say you are now aware of the problem and are working diligently to fix it.

Maybe if the Church came out and admitted some of the horrible things it has done in the past, you could
move forward into the future with a clean conscience and work towards rebuilding and repairing the damage you've done.

Instead you choose to just defend yourself against a book like this, which I understand you're entitled to.
Every story has two sides. But the fact that you will never come out and admit any wrongdoing ever (on any issue) is what really makes me believe most of what I read in The Da Vinci Code more than anything.

If you would like to respond to me I will happily read what you have to say.

Daniel

-- ok so that's what I wrote.. and here was the response I got:

Dear Daniel:

A few years back a book appeared entitled like When A Pope Asks Forgiveness by Luigi Accattoli. I find it still available from Amazon. It's been some time now, so I don't remember all it said, but as I remember it was a collection of a number of writings and addresses of John Paul II in which he enumerated some of the things for which the Church needed to ask forgiveness, together with commentary by the author. I think this will help you out.

The remainder of your letter is more of a statement than a question, so I am not going to attempt to answer it, although some of the premises you stand on are mistaken.

Thank you and God bless you,

Rev. Bradley Arturi

-- so I had to write again and thank him for such a timely response and let him know I might check that book out..and I also apologized for venting on him and said I was just fired up after reading the news article. I did appreciate that he wrote back after blasting him and even said "God bless you".

how did he know I sneezed when I was reading that?