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JONI MITCHELL BLASTS CATHOLIC CHURCH, WAR
In an album selling at Starbucks and praised by FOX News’ Roger Friedman.
Pffftt. Joni Mitchell is not Catholic. From her own mouth, "My father was Lutheran, and my mother was a Presbyterian. So they went to the United church, which was for mixed Christian marriages. I broke with the Church at age 7..." (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_7_35/ai_n14870832/pg_3.
How can someone who has never been a member of the Catholic Church slam it? She has no idea, beyond the skewed portrayals put out by Hollywood.
There are over 1 billion Catholics in the world, many of whom devote their whole lives trying to alleviate the suffering and injustice in this world, sometimes dying in the process. No, they are not famous or worldly, most haven't read Camus, most live in sparse conditions, most will die in obscurity, but to those whose lives they have touched, they represent a God who loves, who gives beyond self and selfishness. Ms. Mitchell, whose whole life has been about self-service and blame would do well to study the average Catholic in this world.
And don't tell me I have no idea what it must have been like for poor Ms. Mitchell, pregnant and separated from her then boyfriend. I have been there, a college student pregnant at 18. I did not give up my child. I did what was best for both myself and my child, now 20, and have never looked back. The father of Ms. Mitchell's daughter went back to Toronto to discuss marriage, but she had already placed her child and married another.
And, in answer to your inevitable question, I am a thirty-nine year-old, college-educated, female, Roman Catholic convert. I have experienced both sides of Christianity (from Pentacostal Holiness to Anglicanism to the Roman Catholic Church), and have never once seen what Ms. Mitchell proclaims espoused within the Roman Catholic Church.
When was the last time Ms. Mitchell set foot inside any Church? From her own mouth she left Christianity at the age of 7. That leaves 56 years without observation or study. Yet, she's a visionary? Again, pfffft.
As a lifetime fan of Joni Mitchell, (I consider her the greatest singer-songwriter of what we call the "Pop Music" generation and she is undoubtedly my favorite artist.) I have to admit to being a little disappointed in her slam against the Catholic Church. Joni has included Catholic affectation in a good deal of her past work. This time, it's turned negative. I use the word "disappointed" because I expect more from her. I expect an accomplished artist and thinker like Joni to see the difference between The Catholic Church and the Judases who sometimes occupy various offices and positions within it. She's painting the Church with a proverbial broad brush and I expect Joni to know better than to do that. The Church has always had traitors. It started with Judas and will continue until the end. It's Christ's Church, "warts and all". The problem with what she wrote in "Shine" is that she makes no effort to distinguish between the two. This just fans the flames of ignorant anti-Catholic sentiment. Anti-Catholicism, along with being grossly anti-intellectual, is the last acceptable prejudice and issues like this don't help. - Jaymes P.
3 comments:
Pffftt. Joni Mitchell is not Catholic. From her own mouth, "My father was Lutheran, and my mother was a Presbyterian. So they went to the United church, which was for mixed Christian marriages. I broke with the Church at age 7..." (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_7_35/ai_n14870832/pg_3.
How can someone who has never been a member of the Catholic Church slam it? She has no idea, beyond the skewed portrayals put out by Hollywood.
There are over 1 billion Catholics in the world, many of whom devote their whole lives trying to alleviate the suffering and injustice in this world, sometimes dying in the process. No, they are not famous or worldly, most haven't read Camus, most live in sparse conditions, most will die in obscurity, but to those whose lives they have touched, they represent a God who loves, who gives beyond self and selfishness. Ms. Mitchell, whose whole life has been about self-service and blame would do well to study the average Catholic in this world.
And don't tell me I have no idea what it must have been like for poor Ms. Mitchell, pregnant and separated from her then boyfriend. I have been there, a college student pregnant at 18. I did not give up my child. I did what was best for both myself and my child, now 20, and have never looked back. The father of Ms. Mitchell's daughter went back to Toronto to discuss marriage, but she had already placed her child and married another.
And, in answer to your inevitable question, I am a thirty-nine year-old, college-educated, female, Roman Catholic convert. I have experienced both sides of Christianity (from Pentacostal Holiness to Anglicanism to the Roman Catholic Church), and have never once seen what Ms. Mitchell proclaims espoused within the Roman Catholic Church.
When was the last time Ms. Mitchell set foot inside any Church? From her own mouth she left Christianity at the age of 7. That leaves 56 years without observation or study. Yet, she's a visionary? Again, pfffft.
And you may quote me on that!
Thanks for the comments. They were worth more than the article!
As a lifetime fan of Joni Mitchell, (I consider her the greatest singer-songwriter of what we call the "Pop Music" generation and she is undoubtedly my favorite artist.) I have to admit to being a little disappointed in her slam against the Catholic Church. Joni has included Catholic affectation in a good deal of her past work. This time, it's turned negative. I use the word "disappointed" because I expect more from her. I expect an accomplished artist and thinker like Joni to see the difference between The Catholic Church and the Judases who sometimes occupy various offices and positions within it. She's painting the Church with a proverbial broad brush and I expect Joni to know better than to do that. The Church has always had traitors. It started with Judas and will continue until the end. It's Christ's Church, "warts and all". The problem with what she wrote in "Shine" is that she makes no effort to distinguish between the two. This just fans the flames of ignorant anti-Catholic sentiment. Anti-Catholicism, along with being grossly anti-intellectual, is the last acceptable prejudice and issues like this don't help. - Jaymes P.
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