A recent article in the Washington Post notes that St. Jerome's Catholic Church in Hyattsville is turning down charity money that was raised through the legal sale or raffle of firearms. It strikes me as odd that the church would turn down any money that wasn't raised through illegal or immoral acts, so what's with the bias against firearms?

Church member John Aquilino set up the independent Catholic Sportsmen's Organization, because the church didn't want St. Jerome's name connected to the gun raffle. Even though Aquilino's gun auction has raised a lot more cash than all those bake sales they put on, church administrators have refused to take money from the Catholic Sportsmen's Organization, unless it was raised in a way that they deem worthy.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, favors gun control... [and] decided that the sportsmen's group could raise money for St. Jerome's only if the events are not "related in any way to the use or sale of guns."

Talk about beggars being choosers. The issue is so polarising, that Peggy and Pat Alexander, and a few others have even left the church over the issue of guns. Apparently they don't like pro-gun parishioners practicing shooting sports, and using the public interest in shooting to drum up revenue for the church.

"It's pretty painful," says Peggy Alexander, who now worships over at the Episcopal church. "To be 52 and a lifelong Catholic and to feel so betrayed by the church that you've grown up in -- it's hard." [...]

"We're not looking for a fight with the church," Aquilino says. "But this smacks of the same sort of intolerance and prejudice that racism is built from."

No, says Alexander, "it's a moral issue. It's about putting more guns out on the street. It's against the life-affirming doctrine that the Catholic Church preaches."

Putting guns on the street? I'm surprised she didn't accuse Aquilino of turning her church into "Dodge City". I don't buy the argument that guns are inherently immoral, or that they can only be used to take a life. In fact, it was firearms that stopped the Nazis from conquering Europe. It wasn't diplomacy, or love-ins, or sending them cookies and milk. It is firearms that the police use to stop crime. It is firearms that private citizens use every day in this country to keep themselves from becoming a victim.

What irritates me the most, is the hypocrisy of the whole thing. To wit:

"...he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." -- Jesus Christ, Luke 22:36
"When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." -- Jesus Christ, Luke 11:21

The right to keep and bear arms was good enough for Christ, it is certainly good enough for me.