The Catholic Church seems hellbent on destroying the most beautiful things about itself while promoting the ugliest. I'm starting to wonder if the Catholic hierarchy truly understands why the chastity rule exists. Priests are not celibate because sex is evil; they are celibate so that they can be completely devoted to their family (i.e. their parish). When someone has a family (and in the Church marriage is a precursor to sex which is a precursor to family), that becomes their #1 priority. Most people sacrifice much for their nuclear family, slowing down their careers and making less money than they would unencumbered by responsibilites. The priesthood is not designed to be a job, but a calling. You give up everything -- including the prospect of a spouse (see Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ) -- in order to guide a group of strangers in their quest to get closer to God. This is an all-consuming, incredibly noble goal; one that I could never dream of attaining. It is all the more noble when you realize that priests are human beings, and human beings are constantly tempted to do all kinds of crazy things (just like Jesus was). You see, it is completely normal to be tempted by all of those deadly sins. The strength lies in being able to overcome them. It seems that the Catholic Church -- a beacon for social justice -- needs some guidance right about now. It matters not whether a priest wants to engage in hot man-on-man sex or a Hawaiian muscle fuck. The trick is to remain emotionally unencumbered so that your flock can rely on you through all the births, deaths, and spiritual crises that come every minute of every day. Amen.
9 comments:
It is the things you listed in your post that drew me back to the Catholic Church initially. It was the church's devotion to peace, renouncements of war and social injustice and such that brought me back. But now that I'm back in, I find myself growing more and more disappointed by the church leadership's direction. Also, I grow more and more tired of the church's refusal to move forward on social issues, and in their deeper engagement in political issues. I understand that everyone deserves a say in the political process, especially when there are political occurrances which could either enhance or threaten church teachings. My problem, however, lies when the pulpit is used to direct a congregation on which way to vote, and that that way is more righteous or holy. And on the social end, isn't it time for women in the pulpit?
Here's my problem with the church's stance and it permeates the coverage of this issue wherever I hear/see it. Homosexuality is the reason for the church's scandals. Homosexuals ARE NOT necessarily child molesters! Aarrgh! And the only reason this reached the level of "scandal" is due to the church hierarchy fucking complicity. Even on NPR this "motive" is breathlessly repeated as if it were true, made any fucking sense, and as if this strategy by the church will do anything except closet current and future priests.
I'm telling you.....we're losing NPR as a bastion of truth in media. All that's left is the Daily Show, which isn't real.
I hear you, Mr. F. People who molest children are sickos, but just because a man molests a boy doesn't mean he's a homosexual. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the molesters who have been exposed in the catholic church are actually hetero.
You hear the same thing about the boy scouts. Supposedly there won't be any more boy molesting if you make sure you don't have any gay troop leaders. Whatever.
Just to be clear (in case my post wasn't): Homosexuality is the reason for the church's scandals. is the church's bullshit stance, not my position. That's their fucking excuse for allowing a decades (centuries?) long pattern of child molestation to fester and be covered up at the highest levels of the church.
Child molesters have nothing to do with sex. tehy are predators. It is about power and control and as far as I am concerned an uncurable condition worthy of a death penalty (or island prison colony). Molesters can be gay, straight or somewhere in between or outside the two. The church's new position is merely to close it's eyes, cover it's ears and start humming. fuck 'em.
This really pisses me off BTW.
Is it just me, or does the Catholic Church just spend all its time making exclusionary statements? Smitty, you say that the church drew you back in with its "devotion to peace, renouncements of war and social injustice" but I'll be darned if I can recall the last time I heard the Church really speak at length about any of those issues. Instead, it's just going around deflecting scandals, explaining why we pick the Pope in a secret meeting that remarkably resembles a Klan rally, and casting out lots and lots of sinners. People aren't exactly joining up like it's AOL or some shit.
We're seeing the impact of trickle-down conservatism from JPII's papacy. Conservative priests were promoted up the ladder, liberal ones sidelined. And now that Ratzinger! is in charge, it's only going to get worse.
This is interesting:
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000960.html
I have a similar attitude towards my church as I do towards my country. It's a beautiful institution, but the crazies are running the show right now. The heart and soul of each organization is found in the individual relationships and small communities that make up the whole. The more power you get, the crazier you become.
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