“Oremus Pro Invicem”

(‘cause Sodom and Gomorrah ain’t got nothin’ on us!)

by Kelly Clark — the lady in the pew — July 10, 2003

I was thinking about Abraham, Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah a week or so ago, and haven’t been able to get the lot of them (pardon the pun) out of my mind.

And that reminds me: did I ever tell you about a Shabbat service I attended last year?

I sort of fell into it unexpectedly.

See, I was passing by this shul just before sundown on a Friday afternoon and a rabbi I know was hurrying in. Since I hadn’t seen him for awhile, I hurried right in after him, to say “hi, how are things,” you know. Anyway, before I realized it, he was at the pulpit, and I noticed there were more than a few people sitting in the chairs, waiting expectantly. And here I was, halfway up the middle aisle. Duh. It dawned on me that I’d stumbled into a service. It seemed rude to leave — particularly as my rabbi friend had already noticed me — so I sat behind somebody else.

(This is a highly recommended course of action in any worship setting when you are clueless about when to stand, sit, bow, or, in the case of Catholic churches — at least, theoretically — kneel.)

It was pretty neat, actually.

The part I liked best was when every stood up and chanted something I didn’t understand, my Hebrew being nonexistent, but when I looked at the helpful prayer book provided (blessedly written in both Hebrew and English), I realized the folks were actually welcoming the Sabbath! As if the Sabbath were an long awaited bride! I wish I knew the words to the song, but I don’t. Something like: “Beloved, come to meet the bride; beloved, come to greet Shabbat,” but that’s all I remember and I might’ve gotten that wrong.

Anyway, the sermon was about Abraham.

The reading for that particular evening was from Genesis 18, particular verses 20-33. You know what I mean. The section where Abraham seemed to be wheedling God into sparing Sodom and Gomorrah. First, he asked if the cities could possibly be spared if fifty good folks were found, and then, getting the Divine nod, was emboldened to go on, albeit apologetically, to plead for mercy in the event of finding forty, thirty, twenty, and, finally, even ten good people.

In his remarks, the rabbi noted that this exchange between the Lord and Abraham was the first recorded instance of genuine chutzpah in the history of mankind. Which drew a chuckle from everybody in the congregation, including me.

But was it “chutzpah?” Or “prayer?”

Or can the two be distinguished? Well, I’ll leave that one for the theologians.

My point is only this: is seems to me that Abraham was praying, and very persistently, for others. And that’s what I wanted to talk with you about.

We really ought to pray — persistently — for each other. For a lot of reasons, but here’s one that’s been niggling at me. Ever since I thought about Abraham, Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah last week.

How are we different from the folks in Sodom and Gomorrah?

My take? We’re worse.

Oh, well, probably you’re not, but I’m talking about “we” as in the world in general. Okay, so maybe I don’t know about the “world in general.” Fine. Let’s just concentrate on the United States.

I mean, think about it. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of the wicked behavior of its inhabitants, right?

Yet, here in the twenty-first century, we’ve managed to come up with wickedness I’ll bet the folks in those ancient Palestinian cities wouldn’t have even dreamed of!

Okay, so they indulged in homosexual activity. But in the here and now, we not only glorify homosexuality, we make laws making darn sure of its perpetual glorification. What’s more, in some states (like my own Massachusetts), we’re rushing headlong into making homosexual “marriages” kosher!

Let’s bring in the “spokes-moralist” for the Roman Catholic Church.

In testifying against legislation that would define “marriage” as a union between a man and a woman — hold on a sec, I feel a parenthetical moment coming on here —

(Think about that for a second. We’ve come to a point in our illustrious history where we actually need legislation to define something that, once upon a time, was fairly obvious: that “marriage” equals one man and one woman joined together. Sheesh.)

— Father James F. Keenan, S.J., hoodwinked the Massachusetts legislature by misrepresenting (that’s a polite term for “lying about”) Catholic teaching. To quote Father Keenan, legislation defining “marriage” as a union between a man and a woman is “contrary to Catholic teaching.”

Huh? And how is it “contrary to Catholic teaching?”

Father Keenan explains that it is “active and unjust discrimination against the basic social rights of gay and lesbian persons.”

Father Keenan may be a professor of moral theology at the Weston School of Theology, but what he told the legislature is unadulterated hokum.

Did the folks in Sodom and Gomorrah have anything against, say, kids?

We do, and again, we glorify it!

Back in the 1920s, Margaret Sanger and her pals decided that poor people are “human waste,” that the “Negro population” should be “exterminated” (along with limiting the populations of the “Slavs, Hebrews, and Latins”) and hey, presto, we’ve got the “American Birth Control League.” Which became “Planned Parenthood” during World War II — an organization that today advocates, among other atrocities, forcing Chinese women into killing their children and sterilizing Third World non-whites.

Today we not only legalize child murder in our own country but arrogantly promote it in others. Today we positively fawn over homosexual “activists” and call it “pride.” And when it comes to the privacy of our own homes, anything, apparently, goes. Sex is a “private” affair, says the Supreme Court, most recently in its Lawrence v. Texas decision — a decision that has no doubt elated folks like those in the “North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).”

From NAMBLA director David Thorstad:

“Pederasty, like homosexuality, has existed, and exists, in all societies that have ever been studied. Homoeroticism is a ubiquitous feature of human experience, as even efforts to repress it confirm. Men and youths have always been attracted to each other, and, like homosexuality in general, their love is irrepressible.”

I ask you: compared to us, doesn’t Sodom and Gomorrah look like Sunnybrook Farm?

“What are ya saying, Kelly? That God’s going to destroy us? C’mon.”

No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying we’re behaving a zillion times worse than Sodom and Gomorrah ever did. But I not saying God’s going to destroy us, or even turn us, if we look back, into pillars of salt. You know why?

Because for starters, we seem to be doing a pretty good job of destroying ourselves. Hell is a choice we make, not God.

And, despite the evil we’ve just looked at — and you and I know that we’re just touching the tip of the proverbial iceberg here — the fact remains that there are people in this world who are bending over backwards to be saints. That’s a really good thing.

Finally, and maybe even better, we’ve got a lot of Abrahams in our midst, praying like crazy. And, just as God listened to Abraham and spared Lot, I believe He’s hearing the prayers of others.

“Can you cut to the chase, Kelly?”

Right. All I’m proposing is that we do more of it. Praying, I mean. For God’s mercy. On all of us.

(Especially me, now that I think of it.)

Look. Maybe it is chutzpah to pray for God’s mercy on a people that systematically kills its children, laughs at morality, and glorifies sin.

What the heck. Let’s risk the label.

I already know you pray. I pray, too. What I’m asking — let’s make that begging — is for you and I step it up.

Thank you for being with me today. Please remember to keep everybody mentioned in this little column, living or dead, in your prayers. And remember, too, to pray for me. I pray for you all the time.

In Jesus Christ, Who is Mercy and Love,

Kelly

And now for the fine print:

Kelly Clark is your basic nobody. She serves on no parish councils, belongs to none of the myriad of designer-chic "Catholic" groups, or any Catholic group, for that matter, other than the Roman Catholic Church. Holding no theology degrees, she has no desire to see herself or any of her sex wearing a clerical collar. She figures Jesus knew what He was doing when He established His Church, and also figures that it’s His Church, not hers, and not yours. She’s an ordinary parishioner of Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston.

Use the links on the left to e-mail Kelly, to visit her parish, read past columns, and check out other cool stuff. (If you don’t see any links on the left, you’ve probably been directed here by a search engine. Just point your browser to http://www.pewlady.com to get to the main site.)

Copyright: Kelly Clark, 2003. I don’t care if you share this stuff with others. In fact, I hope you do! Only I’d appreciate it if you’d link me, or print it off as it is. In other words, don’t change anything. Thanks.

“The Lady in the Pew” column is updated regularly, God willing. To be notified of updates, please e-mail me. The link’s on the left.

“Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.”