Published: August 08, 2008 03:34 pm            

HAMILTON: Are Catholics really smarter than Baptists

Yes, I asked it: “Are Catholics really smarter than Baptists?”

There are many reasons to ask the question, especially in Niagara Falls, where it would seem that there is a huge disparity in actions despite the small differences in belief systems: That is, between what Catholics believe and actually do and what we Baptists (Protestants) say that they believe and what we actually do. This is even more pronounced when it comes to black Baptists.

For instance, look at all the diocese consolidation of local churches. On the one hand, the church has a loss of population to the southern states simply because that is where the jobs are. Ironically, those same states are largely Bible-Belt Baptist states. 

And, on the other hand, notwithstanding a shortage of priests, those Catholics who remain are generally older and are on fixed incomes. Many of those elders have explained that it is difficult for some parishes to maintain both their buildings and the diocese’s overhead. The end result for the churches will be the same amount of diminishing posteriors in the pews at a more economical cost. This frees up money for goodwill efforts, such as Catholic Charities, which distribute help to all Western New Yorkers. 

Additionally, there is a move, especially in Niagara Falls, to place virtually every building where a Catholic knee has bent on a historical registry to both preserve it from demolition and limit its recommissioning to other uses. Still, in Niagara Falls, it is more likely that the Unitarian Church on Main Street will make some historical preservation list than any other non-Catholic church in town. Most Protestant churches are both prolific and of cookie cutter construction. I still regret that no one saved the St. John’s AME Church building on 13th Street near Buffalo Avenue. While not unique, it had special significance to the black community. 

Unlike the Catholics, Lord knows that there is no shortage of Baptist preachers in town. Good argument can be made that there are too many of them and that there is too little for them to do. Whereas the few, highly educated Catholic priests in town make it a habit (no pun intended) of shunning politics, many Protestant preachers, many without degrees, seem to relish in the thought of healing the woes of their church and community by touching the hem of those who wield political power. In the meantime, there are more and more Protestant churches forming and more and more problems within those churches and communities. Despite a growing proportion of the population, there are no more total posteriors in the pews. 

Many of these Protestant preachers are seemingly on a closed-circuit evangelical track that extends not much further than Buffalo. Some city preachers take turns preaching at each other’s churches. They generally preach unity issues. Yet I have never seen a consolidated church picnic that included all of these gospel-mutual groups. 

The differences between the Catholics and the Protestants can also be found in the exercise of their different ministries.  Some Protestant preachers were against the merger between Memorial Medical Center and Mount St. Mary’s because St. Mary’s is a Catholic ministry hospital and takes a stand on abortion.  Both Catholics and Protestants believe that the taking of life is wrong, and both hospitals subscribe to the Hippocratic Oath’s basis of the preservation of life.  In Protestants’ protestations of the merger, they missed two points. 

One point, particularly for black preachers, is that while only one-in-three white babies are aborted, one-half of all black babies are killed in womb; and two, at least the Catholics have hospitals where babies can be born!  Where are the Protestant hospitals in Western New York?

Are Catholics really smarter than Baptists? Well, let’s compare the Catholic schools in Niagara Falls against the Baptist schools. Oops, we can’t. There are no Baptist schools in the city. And when reverends Rich Hague and Jesse Scott successfully set out to create Niagara Charter School, most of their colleagues shunned the effort for fear of alienating the educational powers that be, who ironically either sent their kids to Catholics schools and/or served on those boards. Now, the school district is bragging of significant improvements in their educational standings since Hague’s and Scott’s school was established.  Hmmmm.

Perhaps one day in Niagara Falls we can lay the subject of Catholics being smarter than Baptists to rest and bury it deep in the annals of past history. But to do so we would have to do it in Catholic cemetery. Oh, did I forget to mention, there are no Protestant cemeteries in the city. 

So, it’s no wonder why some of these Protestant preachers hang so tight with the politicians!  Where once our hopes were in God, the politicians are seemingly Protestants’ new hope — they take care of us Niagaran Baptists from cradle to grave. Maybe we Baptists would be smarter if we got our actions more in line with our stated beliefs.



Ken Hamilton is a Niagara Falls resident. He can be contacted at kenhamilton930@aol.com

        

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