The Catholic Church
in a Tailspin: Random Thoughts
Concerning the Ongoing Crisis
Friends who read my posts to Facebook have asked that comments offered be gathered into one place for ease of sharing or copy/paste function. The following appeared over the last few days mostly in response to statements from organizations, members of the hierarchy of the Church or articles in Catholic or secular media.
8/15
I hang my head in shame and embarrassment, not to mention the sheer evil of it all. How do we combine the revelation of sexual abuse cover up in PA, which I am sure could be replicated in so many other places. How do we combine this news with the recent ad put out by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops presenting a prayer specifically mentioning changes in the Supreme Court which would mean an end to Roe v. Wade? How do we combine this news with the Church’s stance against the ordination of women, condemnation of LGBTQ community, etc., etc.?
When the last negative pronouncement from the Church concerning female ordination was released I said that even institutions can choose to commit suicide. I think we are watching it today in slo-mo.
8/16
Famed theologian Karl Rahner said, “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or not at all.” Those words and this opinion piece speak of the necessity, especially in these times, of enriching one’s personal interior relationship with the Divine. It is from this deep and honest relationship that moral decisions are best made. It is the fertile ground of ‘primacy of conscience’, well removed from institutions and dogmatic prescriptions whether religious or political.
8/16
“The underlying causes of these ongoing abuses and the collusion of so many senior members of the Catholic hierarchy are complex and multi-faceted. However, we believe that deeply rooted questions of misogyny and clerical attitudes towards women and girls urgently need to be interrogated, along with other aspects of priestly formation and church teachings on human sexuality and gender. Misogyny flourishes in all-male communities and continues to distort priestly attitudes towards many aspects of embodiment and sexuality. We believe that it constitutes a major contributory factor in the sex abuse crisis which is not sufficiently acknowledged."
Excerpt from Statement from Catholic Women Speak
8/17
Cardinal Dolan can be as obsequious as the Dicken’s character Uriah Heap in his public state regarding revelations from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury probe. Things will not change until the inner unwritten rules of the club change - it is a matter of hearts and minds. As huge as this scandal is, it is only one feature of systematic hypocrisy. The list is long: disregard of parish input in appointment of pastors; mistreatment of good priests who run into rough spots, dismissal of women; ordination of unfit men regardless of warning signs; financial mismanagement; insufficient supervision of priests; lack of requirement for in-service education for priests; the farce of discussion groups in parishes to prepare for school or parish closings or archdiocesan synods and then totally ignoring input from the grassroots, etc., etc. And we cannot forget failure of the larger Church to grapple with the necessity of ordaining married men and also women to the priesthood, the failure to speak out about moral issues with the excuse that we cannot get political. Yet the Cardinal has publicly lobbied against proposed State legislation to extend the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases. In the eyes of the hierarchy the only issues that qualify for political action are abortion and religious liberty.
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I must add that it is also instructive to read the comments posted in response to my posts. They indicate what this has done to the faithful church in the pews. The Jesuit publication America put out a survey yesterday. It allowed for narrative responses to the questions regarding reactions to the latest news. I look forward to passing on the findings from analysis of results.
