Catholic’s exempt?

Years ago, a young passenger in my car and friend of my son threw some trash out the window. I stopped the car, demanding to know why he did that, and to pick it up. He said, “It’s okay, I’m Christian, I can break the law and still go to heaven.” I was stunned.

That moment came back to me recently, as I tried to understand why many Christian conservatives do not feel they have to respect the law and mask up, or help out fellow human beings by getting the vaccine, which even the pope has done (“Important part, he said, is to do it for the community,” said Ms. Lenartz in the last issue) (Editor’s note: Letter from Esther Lenartz, St. John Neumann, Eagan, June 10 issue of The Catholic Spirit). They are used to being saved, I guess, in spite of their lack of love and respect for their neighbors, the law, or anything else they find inconvenient to their lifestyles. Leave that (and medical facts) to the heathens.

It is no wonder people are leaving faith communities in droves. Dirty streets, spreading a fatal disease, spreading false rumors, what difference does it make? As long as I’m saved.

Elizabeth Rosenwinkel
St. Albert the Great, Minneapolis