The Catholic & The Woman & The Glory

The following is a short story written by Tyrone.
If you read it thank you for taking the time to read it.

The Catholic & The Woman & The Glory

The two of them were just sitting there. They just ordered dinner and were waiting on the food to arrive. Time was passed by not speaking to each other and behind the man the sun was setting. It was the man who broke the silence first, “So I got to thinking…”

At which point, not a moment past the time it took those few words to leave the man’s wretched little mouth and enter the ears of the woman with whom he was about to share a meal, not a moment past the time it took for this sonic event to happen, did the woman stand up and shoot the man twice in the head with her Browning automatic she kept in her purse for just such an occasion.

Okay, so that isn’t what happened. But that is the first thing that popped right into that cute little head of hers the moment he spoke those words. What a stupid thing to say, she thought. No good has ever come from a sentence that starts with those words; at least nothing intelligent. Looking back on it all she will realize that it was at this moment that she knew it was over between them. Screw the pregnancy and the abortion that lie a week ahead on the horizon and all the fucking drama that will create. And the chasm it will eventually rip between them. Never mind this man and his Catholic sensibilities that are just so conveniently precious to him and will utterly be destroyed if she goes through with the abortion. Never mind those, as those same Catholic sensibilities didn’t stop him from fucking her before they were married. Did it? No it did not stop him from fucking her or from him letting her fuck him. It also did not stop him from using a rubber whilst fucking. While this was a direct violation of Catholic doctrine it was not a violation of the man’s sexual doctrine. But the pregnancy. Oh my stars, the pregnancy. Just how could that have happened? They were always so careful. Oh no! But the man told her, upon learning of the woman’s pregnancy that he would do the right thing, the thing a good Catholic man would do, the thing he would do. He told her that a good man would take responsibility and that he would raise this child and care for it and be the best father he could be. And while he may not be ready yet, to be a parent, he would be ready when it was time. That much, he insisted, she could count on.

Apparently the right thing, the responsible thing to do, is to raise the child like a good and proper father. Always it means this. Doesn’t it? It never means to support her decision to abort the pregnancy. No, that isn’t the responsible thing for a man to do, certainly not a Catholic man. Oh, how she did loath him when she heard those words. Sure, this served as proof that he was thinking, but not that he was any good at it. In fact, when it came to thinking, he flat out sucked as far as the woman was concerned. He sucked at it and he sucked a lot. But here, upon hearing him profess what a good Catholic man does in this situation is when he achieved levels of stupid she did not previously even know existed. The thoughts this man had, she told herself, were about as appealing and intelligible as the shitty pudding at the end of the buffet line that nobody ever eats. That must be what’s up there, the woman thought, instead of a brain. It must just be that awful, awful pudding.

Maybe she was over-reacting. He really wasn’t that stupid and she certainly wasn’t so stupid as to date someone that stupid, let alone fuck someone that stupid and end up stupid-ass pregnant by somebody that stupid. He had his values, he had his beliefs. Maybe, the woman thought about this, she was being unfair to him. He was a nice guy, a funny guy and he meant well, he really did, it’s just that his moral compass, while aligned towards good was rather askew. He just did not know that all the good intentions and all of God’s will and every belief and value you hold dear doesn’t make your thoughts on something the right way of being.

So this moment at the dinner table, sitting outside on the restaurant patio, waiting for the food they ordered to arrive, listening to the man speak of thinking while she dreamed about blowing a hole or two in his head, was to be the moment that she would realize her relationship was over. Her decision had already been made, and what she was going to do was a thing that was going to be done, with or without the support of the man. That much was for certain, so for a moment she placed her Browning automatic back in her purse, pulled the bullets from the man’s skull, patched it together the best she could, placed him back in his chair, took her seat across from him and let the conversation continue.

And thus he spoke, “…and please hear me out on this. I talked to my priest…”

Quickly, she took out her cell phone a dialed 1-900-Catholic, paid the ridiculous Lifetime Membership surcharge, plus 10% of her weekly income and placed this fucking phone call before he could utter another word.

Your approximate hold time is seven Hail Mary’s and three Our Fathers.

She’d wait longer if she had to.

She didn’t have to.

Turns out the Catholics are pretty efficient in breaking down wait times.

So why, she asked the operator, was the Catholic Church so opposed to abortion?

There is human law and there is divine law and somewhere
in between there is natural moral law. This last part is where abortion is addressed.

Oh honey, he and I are way beyond preserving any moral laws of the Catholic Church.

For those transgressions you may seek absolution, as you may with abortion. Abortion is tricky though. It is a direct violation of the Code of Canon Law Part 1398, which states that the procuring of abortion is a mortal sin in the eyes of the Catholic Church. It may incur an automatic excommunication for all those involved, including the doctor and any nurses involved in the procedure.

Oh, I don’t think there are any Catholic abortionists. It’s just him. And he can seek redemption, absolution, right?

Some matters are serious enough that once one has been excommunicated that the Pope is the only person able to remove the penalty. It is left up to the Church itself to decide which level needs to be appealed to. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help on this issue.

Well, where about does abortion stand in this hierarchy of crime?

Oh, I can’t say for sure, but it’s a pretty big one. And also, any members of the Communist Party will be immediately excommunicated.

Thanks and I didn’t ask.

It’s says I have to mention that to every caller.

They do that? Seems a bit strange.

I’m working from an old training manual.

Does it say about how the Church came to this stance on abortion?

Well, there is a moral absolute for Catholics. That’s a thing you have to understand for any of this to make sense. The Church’s stance on abortion is extreme in many eyes, but it is consistent with Catholic morality, which is based on natural moral law, the Bible and the teachings of the Magisterium.

The fucking what?

Just think of it this way. No matter the reasons for an abortion, in the eyes of a Catholic you are committing evil. Evil is hard to forgive. There is no ends justifying any means, there is only sin and no two sins are created equal. And knowingly committing evil isn’t just a thing a Catholic can come back from. Premarital sex on the other hand, you can almost always make your way back from that.

Hell, at least I looked into it for him.

She hung up. She just couldn’t listen any longer, hear another word. She supposed it made sense, but not the right kind of sense. The woman looked at the man and asked him if he had ever been out on the terrace, above the restaurant. He wasn’t even aware there was one. She led him upstairs and out onto the terrace. Walked him over to the railing and the two looked out upon the country. You could see almost the entire world from here. She took the man’s hand in hers and held it out over the railing. She fixed his hand so that his index finger stuck out and she asked him to count to 12 with her, starting with the large white house off to their left. 12 hills over she said and began counting, the man’s finger bouncing on the tops of hills, stopping when the woman reached 12.

“That, right there. Surely you know what that is.”

“It’s the abbey.”

“Yes, the Pannonhalma Abbey. One of the oldest in all the country. It’s still occupied by Benedictine monks to this very day. Fewer now than in the past, but they still live there. Now you see the basilica? That’s from the 13th Century. It’s actually the second church built on that spot. The first was built some time in the 10th century, but had to be rebuilt 300 hundred years later. So it’s not as old as the abbey itself, but still, it’s pretty old.”

The man remembered this. He had taken his parents on a tour there a few years back when they had visited. He was about to say as much when the woman placed her finger over his mouth, as if to silence him, which she did.

“It’s a trifle hard to see from here, but try to remember, best you can what the basilica looks like. It is the most remarkable building in all of Hungary. It is surrounded by older buildings and fancier buildings, but this church here, this one is the most remarkable of all. There was a cloister added on in the 15th Century and the frescoes and stained glass that now adorn the church came about with renovations in the 18th Century. Other than general maintenance, the church is relatively untouched. It’s there as remembrance, but not of a great culture and not for the history of Hungary. In fact, very few people know exactly what for. Those few monks that live there now, the 50 of them, they all know. And if you do your research you’d know as well. Lucky for you, I’ve done my research and I know why it’s there and the purpose that it serves.

“If you read about the Turkish Occupation of Hungary in the 16th Century, you might come across, somewhere in all that writing about all those 150 years of the Occupation, the history of the Pannonhalma Abbey. Buried in that history you might discover that the Turkish took over that very abbey and fortified it during their occupation. Buried deeper you’ll find that during this period was a rare time when the abbey was not occupied by monks. Buried deeper still you’ll come across tales of a great battle waged between the Turks and the Benedictines for that bit of property. And if you know anything about the Benedictines, you’ll know that they kept excellent historical records of everything that ever happened concerning them. So, you’ll wonder why was it so hard to find anything about this great battle between monks and Turks. Deeper still you’ll dig because at this point you just must know.

“Before the Turks took over the abbey, the Benedictines did their best to make a stronghold there. This was God’s land and they weren’t going to allow any dirty, lousy Turks destroy a divine place of land and worship. God had willed them this land and they were not going to bend the will of God for anybody. If that meant their lives, than so it meant their lives. God’s will had been for them to defend this land and God’s will is an absolute.

“These men of God, men who sacrificed so much of their life to be here, living at the very spot and that very moment in time, knew they were there for a purpose. They just never thought that their purpose would come down to planning a resistance against the Turkish Empire. But it did. God had asked this of them and abide by God they must. So across from the church they formed their stronghold. None of those buildings remain today, but the stronghold they built was nearly impenetrable. The Turks simply could not find a way in. All the while, one by one, bit by bit, the monks took out the Turks. Now keep in mind here we’re talking a dozen or so monks versus legions of Turks. To the Turks this was merely a nuisance, delaying their plans on creating and spreading an empire. But to the monks they really started to believe in what they were doing. They believed that God was with them, fighting alongside them. They really believed this, so fight on they did. And then, would you believe it, the Turks started to fall back. The monks weren’t so daft as to think they had defeated the Turks, but they did believe they were at least trending in the right direction.

“Then, just as quickly as the Turks had left they returned. They had marched into town, rounded up 18 women and lined them up in front of the basilica. They told the monks, these men of God’s divine will, that they would show them what they thought of their will. So they gave them an option. Give up now or watch as these women are killed, one by one. Should they surrender, the Turks would spare these 18 women and offer free passage to the monks. The monks took some time to confer with each other. This was, after all, a big decision. And their decision came down to an absolute.

"Did you know that to willingly break the will of God is an act of evil? Surely you must. Well, these men of God decided they could not break the will of God. They had never wavered in their faith and these Turks before them were presenting them with yet another test. Had not each approach the Turks made been thwarted? And had they not been energized with each victory?

“The monks debated what to do for entire hours until the Turks demanded an answer. And so the monks responded. They had, the monks, entered into a contract with God and men acting upon God’s will cannot break that contract, for a contract with God is an absolute. So no, they would not surrender, regardless of the consequences this decision held on this plane of existence were immaterial. It was in God’s realm where the decisions they made would matter. These righteous monks knew that to break a pact with God meant eternal damnation and they knew more about will than any Turk ever would. They would not surrender. Their choice had been made.

“Not but a few minutes after they made this pronouncement, minutes, mind you, did the Turks kill 18 women, one by one, right in front of the basilica. They left the bodies of those women there and walked away. This was the triumph of Benedictine values.

“Two days passed and the Turks returned, breaking through the stronghold with an amazing amount of ease. It was as if someone had just opened the door for them. When they broke through the monks put up no resistance to their fate. And executed on the spot they were.

“Sure, this is just one example, but so goes another in a long line of stories involving a small group of men choosing a set of values over actual lives because they thought they were doing the right thing. Because they were following a set of natural moral laws. Like I said, there isn’t much written on this matter, and what little exists is rather hard to find. Why? I suppose the scary truth of it is that some things words cannot suffer the true meaning of.

“During the Turkish occupation, the Turks left the church standing. They ultimately fortified they abbey, yes, but the church was actually left standing outside the newly Turkish grounds. It served as a warning to any who may even think of betraying the Turks. And it accomplished as much. All these years later and the church is the one building that has remained relatively unchanged. It just stands there, serving as a statement, much like it did for the Turks. Only it’s not there as a warning to love and cherish all things Turkish, but to warn people that the real threat to humanity are men of God in a time of crisis.”

And with that she walked away, leaving the man to look out at the country from a vantage point he had never before seen, never before even knew existed. Frozen and unsure he stood there, while just below him the woman now walked out the door of the restaurant and down the street. She turned and looked up at him. She seemed so close he believed that if he stuck out his arm she could climb right up it and back to him. She was lost to him though, he understood that now. She stared at him for a moment and then shouted up to him, “Do you understand now that there is no such thing as the fucking glory? Oh, and none of that ever happened, you fool, but I just get to believing you’ll believe anything sometimes.”