Politics and Religion at Dinner

This weekend was beautiful in So. Cal., the sky was clear and bright and we started off for a few errands as we drove down to San Clemente so Carolyn could pick up some items on sale at the art store while I checked out possible window replacements. Then we stopped at Expo to check out possibilities for new bathroom fixtures and tile choices (just looking). Then it was off to BevMo to replenish the wine refrigerator. We finished up with a good late lunch at La Salsa.

The afternoon was spent sanding the door for our sailboat which we had brought home and Carolyn worked on her various art projects. Then we readied ourselves for a dinner hosted by Debbie for Steve Kanda's birthday.

We were the first to arrive at 6:15 to find Debbie, Steve and Steph (Manny was taking a required writing exam) making final preparations on a gourmet dinner of tri-tip, asparagus, stuffed artichokes, diced potatoes, a salad including goat cheese and small tomatoes, and, of course, plenty of wine and champagne! Within twenty minutes, we were joined by the rest of the old SMCHS crowd, Dave, Mary Margaret, Arthur and Linda Gome.

Within moments, Mary made it clear that "it was about time" since the Kandas and Hutchins had not invited them to any events/parties in a long time. Debbie was most gracious and apologized that they hadn't reciprocated in a long time and that life sometimes just gets too busy. Mary was sort of off the hook, but she seemed to be placated a little although her ears perked up when it was casually mentioned that the Kandas and we had spent some time together in October (our trip to SLO).

But the real fireworks occurred around the dining room table as discussions veered from Steph's wedding plans (March 2006) to Terri Schiavo and the Pope. They always warn you to never discuss politics or religion, and the intensity of some of the comments were pretty extreme around the table, quite often by Mary!

Besides the normal info on Steph's wedding, a significant conversation related to their desire to have a 'spiritual' wedding, but not a religious one. Raised a Catholic, marrying an adopted Jew, that could cause some issues, but neither Steph or Manny attend church/synagogue, yet Debbie and Steve would prefer they are married by a priest, perhaps with a rabbi in attendance. While all the other major issues of their wedding have already been addressed, I'm guessing that who performs the ceremony will be one of the more complicated ones to complete.

Catholic discussions led to the Pope's recent death and Mary's assertion that he had set back the Church decades because he was so conservative having rejected the ordination of women priests or the use of birth control especially condoms in places like Africa with high incidents of AIDS. Of course, Mary can rarely just discuss these issues, but must 'comment' at a rather higher than conversational decibel level. I think we and the Gomes (Presbyterians) defended the Pope's conservative stands more forcibly than the two Catholic couples.

And then we got into a discussion of Terri Schiavo and the use of life support treatments. Mary was adamant that she would never provide respiratory or life support to David or her kids if their probable future life would be less vital than currently. I was aghast to find that she (and Dave) concurred that if they were to be confined to a wheelchair they would rather die! And, of course, Mary stated she would abort a child that was likely to not be 'normal'. Carolyn strongly spoke of the intrinsic value of every life, and soon she and Arthur had left the room to avoid further heated discussions and to try to learn a few Latin dance steps and which was ultimately her undoing.

In addition to the politics/religion, Dave and I discussed sailing and his five year plan to purchase a 40' plus catamaran to circumnavigate the globe over four or five years. He is a stronger man than me as I could not imagine being confined with MM that long. They will be trying their hand at a longer time sailing this summer when they take their family on a week bareboat cruise through the British Virgin Islands.

Walking to our car around 12:30 a.m., Carolyn discovered that her dance moves with Arthur had really hurt her hip and she felt as if she had torn a ligament! Sunday morning she could barely move and so we decided to stay home (we had planned to go to Coast Hills) and take it easy. We began the morning with the papers, coffee, juice and sausage and scrambled eggs made by yours truly. Carolyn did some more painting and Bible study while I watched Tiger win his fourth Masters primarily due to his ball's half revolution on the 16th that dropped in for a birdie rather than hanging on the side of the cup.

I'm hoping that we were appropriately forceful in our defense of our beliefs and faith over the weekend, but the dinner party seems to focus on our desire to be with those who are more closely aligned with us spiritually and even politically.