No Rest For the Wicked

          My midterm paper on teen pregnancy was crappy by my standards, but I submitted it with no regrets. After volunteering for about an hour at the CEP office (labeling envelopes -- fascinating stuff), I got on the horn with Father Bill. (Aside for people who were never Catholic: Bill is his first name.) He was very accommodating and happy to speak with me, and our interview was relatively short, running for about thirty minutes. As the theopolitical spectrum goes, his opinions were not the most fascinating; he cleft to standard, moderate Roman Catholic teaching very closely. (Note: I'm giving the highlights here.) Interestingly, Father Bill did bring up something akin to the Protestant work ethic, placing him more to the right; however, he also argued that justice and peace are the two most important ideals for society to pursue, which is a more theopolitically liberal viewpoint. [R&P centers around the concept of this spectrum, which inextricably links politics and religion and does a fine job of explaining many religiously fueled events. There are many different measures, but an important one is the differing emphases on "soulism" or personal salvation (right) as opposed to social justice and good works (left).] He also thinks that religion should be more entwined with politics, which is disconcerting; I do not agree with his assessment that the United States is a "Judeo-Christian" nation.
          The juicy stuff came at the end of the interview. Father Bill's answers to my questions on economics were also intriguing, in that they went from an intellectual 0 to 60 in about three seconds. I asked where evil originates in an economic system, and he promptly answered that the Devil is the origin of all wickedness. I then asked whether any economic system is inherently unjust, to which he replied that it's dependent on whether people are being abused by that system or given a "fair shake" (there's that Protestant work ethic again!) He also showed off the classic rip in the Seamless Garment, saying that abortion and physician-assisted suicide are categorically murder, but that the death penalty can be applied under very limited circumstances. Also: "Homosexuality is neither right nor wrong, but acting on it is immoral. Unfortunately, the world we live in does not make this distinction." I obviously don't share his perspective, but at least this is a more moderate stance than might be expected from a Roman Catholic priest. All in all, I was quite happy with the way the interview turned out; in any case, it was a tremendous weight off my shoulders. Now all that's left is to actually write the paper, which should be cake. I slept from 4 to 10, then got down to work on the essay.