I was raised a Catholic. I still consider myself a Catholic, although it's been a few years since I've been to Mass. I have many problems with the Church, as I do with organized religion in general. I have no problems with God. Or Jesus Christ. Who am I, with my poor intellectual capacity, to question the Creator of everything?

In the mid-1970s, what we used to call "Jesus Freaks" started popping up. I knew a few of them. They were actually pretty cool. I never argued about our foreign policy with them. I even briefly flirted with the "Born Again" thing myself. One of my catchier songs was They Took my Bible Away. One day, I'll get the courage to play the tapes I have of my songs on YouTube or something. At any rate, at that time "born againers" seemed to me to just be extremely enthusiastic believers. To be more concerned with Jesus Christ than most Catholics or conventional Protestants. It wasn't until I started meeting more of them, in the workforce, or while coaching youth sports, that I realized there really was a distinct difference between what they believed, and the religious instructions I'd received as a Catholic. I started to understand that "born again" Protestants rely almost exclusively on faith, and seem to harbor a thinly concealed antipathy towards Catholics and their "good works."

As a child, it was drummed home to me, both at Mass and at home, to "be good." Catholic "guilt" is a very real but unfairly named thing. It is instead a Catholic conscience. I feel guilt, even when it's irrational, because my conscience insists that I should have done something differently, or not done it. Should have treated someone better. Done more to help those who need it. It gave me a nice, warm feeling to volunteer with the Special Olympics, or coach severely handicapped kids in the Top Soccer program, or teach basic computer skills to mostly African immigrants. But I've heard "born againers" scoff at this as "trying to work your way into heaven." Well, I suppose maybe I am. I learned that Jesus will "come again, to judge the living and the dead." I still think a lot about the Day of Judgment. I don't know what would be more important in such a judgment, than your actions towards others.