To the editor:
What avid football fan doesn’t know when the opposing team should be called for breaking a rule of the game? Or what person seriously working on their diet or their exercise program doesn’t know why certain foods are good for you or what a specific exercise routine accomplishes for you?
And for good reason — you can’t have a fair game if the teams don’t follow the rules — and without knowing the foods and exercises that are beneficial, our eating and exercising may not produce the results in us that are healthy and desirable. To be sure, it is important to know about and care about the rules and guidelines behind the activities we participate in.
But where do most of us fall when it comes to understanding the rules and the practices of the Catholic faith that we espouse? Are some people too rigid when they ask a priest or deacon to please celebrate the Mass the way the Church intended? Are people just being "legalists" when they share with others that the Church teaches certain things for a reason?
It would be intellectually dishonest to hold one opinion when it comes to sports, eating, and exercise and the opposite opinion when it comes to our Catholic faith!
If we all were as interested and engaged in the teachings of our Church as we are in the other aspects of our lives, I think we would see a positive change in our parish communities in many ways!
Michael A. Gallagher
Ionia, N.Y.
