I said 'more wafers' - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Just the other day, I was talking to one of our proofreaders about some of the big, juicy columns that I’ve got on the shelf. There are a few very big picture topics that I hope, one day, to tackle, but that are so big that it might take a long time to write, installments to get my point across or, frankly, the courage (misguided or otherwise) to print them.

 

We’re talking about some pretty big issues that, for one reason or another, are pretty personal to me, be it through family experience or almost 18 years at this mentally-taxing job or just changes that have been brought about in me as a result of becoming a (two-time) father. (Eagle-eyed readers will have seen my son, Cooper, in the ‘Babies of 2023’ section in last week’s paper and even greater eagle-eyed readers will know that his first birthday is just one week away.) 

 

One that I mentioned to my colleague was a reassessment of my life growing up in the Catholic Church. While not ever an overly devout Catholic and church-going family, we did observe a lot of the big customs (Easter, Christmas, giving up something for Lent - all the hits) and I took in the Sacraments of Baptism, the Eucharist and Confirmation, mostly through my school, which was Catholic as well. When I went to a wedding in my home church of St. Isaac Jogues in Pickering  (it’s still standing, my public school, St. Anthony Daniel, not so much) for the first time in many, many years, I was surprised at how much I remembered. I fell right back into it, knowing when to kneel, when to stand and when the alter boy was going to shake those bells all over again. 

 

I juxtaposed that upbringing and faith within the church with the crushing disillusionment I felt when stories, led by The Boston Globe, began coming out about pedophile priests and the church’s organized effort to protect them. It was a massive betrayal of trust and faith. This betrayal, along with the church’s reluctance to make any kind of progress towards welcoming other types of people into the church, wounded me so severely that I had to walk away.

 

Worry not, Catholics (hey, some of my best friends are Hallahans)! For that column has been shelved indefinitely. All is good in the world of Catholicism because Pope Francis told a group of Italian wine producers that wine is “a gift from God” and a “true source of joy” for those who consume it. Preach!

 

The Pontiff must have been brushing up on all of those wine-heavy parts of the Bible. I’ve always found those parts of the Bible more interesting, while others tend to focus on the parts about the God-given rights for Americans to own guns - ah, yes, the gun chapters, love when Jesus had all those guns. I mean, Jesus did turn water into wine after all and he was known to partake. (A quick Google search - always true - tells us that the wine Jesus and his Disciples drank at The Last Supper was likely Syrah-adjacent - excellent choice JC!)

 

So, the next time you head on down to the wine cellar and uncork a special bottle that you’ve been saving for just the right occasion, you’re doing God’s work. Oh, maybe not exactly God’s work (I don’t want to get in trouble with the Christian crowd once again), but something that the Pope himself sees as something that God wants you to enjoy.

 

And, when we were children on Christmas or our birthdays, what were we taught about gifts? It’s impolite not to accept. So, if wine is a gift from God, don’t insult God - I beg you - and enjoy your wine. Life is short and, if God is such a big fan of wine, there must be well-stocked cellars awaiting us all in Heaven.