Today is Good Friday, the day Christ was crucified. It is a holy day of obligation for people like me, who were raised as strict Catholics. I always liked Mary, especially the poetic memorare prayer and the Queen of the May festival where we sang Bring Flowers of the Rarest and crowned Mary with flowers. But I never quite understood the church's obsession with blood and suffering. Hairshirts? Self-flagellation? Any sin can be forgiven if......