When I first read Holly Benton’s article, “To go or not go to church on Sunday”, I was first very angry that someone could drop to such a level as to publicly display their personal feelings about their faith in such a way. I couldn’t help but think of all the people that might unfortunately question their respective faith because of her narrow-minded and self-contradictory opinions. But after some thought, the only thing I thought about the article was – how sad! How sad that someone would TRY to totally mock something like their faith and try to make excuses for their bad behavior. I take issue with several points of Ms. Benton’s article.

First, of all, as a practicing Catholic (just as Holly Benton), I have never felt that my religion has been “forced” upon me. Maybe I didn’t understand my faith when I was younger (just like maybe she didn’t want to do her “barn chores” everyday) and I didn’t realize why I should go to mass, but to those who go to church, take part and LISTEN, you will find something that is unique and very special.

Ms. Benton even admits herself that “the few times that I did go to mass this past year, I left feeling refreshed and renewed.” Well I am here to tell everyone, especially Holly Benton, that what is at mass those “few” times a year is there EVERY single week.

What is at mass every week is a community, and most importantly in the Catholic faith we believe that Jesus Christ is there among us. This is the reason why going to mass every week is important because as a community we can share our faith together, be supportive of others, and more importantly, give thanks and praise to Jesus Christ who is there among us.

The idea may seem abstract to some including Ms. Benton — but that is why we consider it a mystery and a miracle. However, everything we do in the Catholic faith is done for a reason, and we can trace our history and practices back to their beginnings.

The main point that I am trying to convey here is that ultimately being able to go to mass is a PRIVILEGE, not something I am forced to do.

I also find it interesting that in Ms. Benton’s article she refers to the Bible for support of her article. She tells a Bible story of how Jesus talked about the “hypocrites.” Well first of all she needs to “look” deeper. Yogi Berra once said, “You can learn a lot by just looking,” obviously Ms. Benton is missing the point here. Maybe this is one reason why she should actually go and listen to that “windbag” every Sunday. And by the way, the “windbags” are actually very insightful and humorous.

Secondly, the Bible also says in the Ten Commandments that one should keep holy the Sabbath. Does Ms. Benton choose to not agree with this Biblical statement? For if she ignores this she ultimately ignores the message of the whole Bible.

I invite Holly Benton and anyone else who holds similar views to step back and take a good look at your faith and try to understand it. If it means going to mass — consider this a personal invitation from me to you. And if the only reasons that you are not going to mass are because you are “hungover” and “lazy” — you need mass and what it offers more than ever.

But finally, I would like to say that when I came to ISU, I know that I felt extremely vulnerable, worthless and confused. But ALL the people of St. Thomas Aquinas were there for me. If it hadn’t been for my faith, I would have never met any of them, and my life would definitely be lacking something big right now; but luckily God gives us free will and I choose to roll out of bed — not because I have to — but because I have my priorities straight.

Patrick Kuehn

Freshman

Ag Education