Contempt for the Lilies of the Field

Posted on September 23, 2005 in Hypocrites Morals & Ethics Sexuality

If there was any doubt about how the church would handle allegations of sexual abuse under Pope Rat, those doubts have been erased: it is now anathema for Catholics to even read the grand jury reports probing the behavior of Philadelphia archdiocese officials regarding past sexual abuse scandals. Methinks that many Catholics must attend church just to hear what whopper their celebrant expects them to swallow next:

Its “prolonged explanations of the abuse” are “very graphic,” the Roman Catholic archbishop said in an interview at his Center City office yesterday.

The 418-page report, released Wednesday by District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, also “gives a very slanted view” of how the archdiocese now handles sex-abuse cases, he said….

The report blasted former leaders of the archdiocese for allowing dozens of priests to abuse hundreds of children during the last 35 years.

It harshly rebuked Rigali’s predecessors, Cardinals Anthony J. Bevilacqua and John Krol, for allegedly “burying” abuse reports, concealing crimes, and reassigning abuser priests to parishes where their sexual appetites were unknown. The report listed 63 known abusers who served in the archdiocese.

I think the most uproarious line from Rigali came in the middle of that last extract:

“I don’t think it’s of value to families,” Rigali said.

Rigali is concerned about the report becoming pornography. But what about those whose activities made for such lurid reading? The black robe thrown over the Church and the disenfranchisement of the laity made this predation possible. Vatican officials complain about homosexuals, but little attention gets paid to heterosexual predators. This is the church which, despite the feelings of the greater Body of Christ, persists in identifying birth control as wrong and refusing to ordain women as priests. More than 1500 years of male chauvinism and fear of the married have brought us to these histrionics: even though the church machinery is clearly defective, Vatican and diocesan officials across the nation continue to try to prop it up as a holy artifact.

When I left the Church some 20 years ago, it was because I was tired of seeing good people prevented from exercising their acts of charity. Recent affairs suggest that the church actively protected molestors and rapists. But this, I doubt, is new. The legacy of the hateful Jerome bred what we see today. What is coming to light is not a matter which has erupted in the last half century: it has been a part of the Church’s presence in the world ever since Jerome locked the door against the marriage of priests. This isn’t a matter of a few years: the clergy has been stinging the body of believers for centuries.

Cardinal Rigali ought to walk on his knees all the way to Guadalupe, begging forgiveness with each advance, for the contempt he has shown the lilies of the field.