There is an old law of politics that says you should keep your mouth shut when the other side is self-destructing, and for that reason I’ve said nothing about the Pennsylvania grand jury report which found that 300-some priests sexually abused more than 1000-children over the course of decades, and that the church systematically covered it up.<\/p>\n
Some random thoughts, in no particular order.<\/p>\n
The Catholic Church’s sex abuse problem has been front page news for almost 2-decades, and has been whispered about for centuries. Recall that St. Peter Damian wrote The Book of Gomorrah<\/i> w-a-a-a-y back in the 11th<\/sup>-century. (Nominally, Damian’s work is a protest against homosexuality among priests, but documents extensive and non-consensual pederasty.)<\/p>\n Consequently, I’m torn between pity for those whose infantile view of reality was rocked by the report — and contempt. How is it even possible that anybody, anywhere, is surprised?<\/p>\n Forget about the church reforming itself; that won’t happen. The church couldn’t even stop burning heretics at the stake by itself.<\/p>\n The 1st<\/sup>-century church was a cult, and the New Testament is the literature of a cult — and it sanctions the cover-ups; it is Christian to protect the church first<\/i>, and to worry about the children later. (Just as, according to Albert the Pious, it is Christian to put the church first and give your family the leftovers<\/a>.)<\/p>\n This is repellent and deserves only contempt – but you simply cannot deny the Christian teaching about these matters.<\/p>\n Honor the plain, unambiguous intent of the Founders and take away the privileged tax status that churches enjoy.<\/p>\n Today, all of us subsidize<\/a> the drafty empty churches; the swift transfers to another parish or, even, country; the pious mewlings about prayers for the victims. All of those things are made possible by money surreptitiously taken from your pocket.<\/p>\n The Godly folk are not ‘better’ people, and the Catholic Church ought to be hit with some RICO charges.<\/ul>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is an old law of politics that says you should keep your mouth shut when the other side is self-destructing, and for that reason I’ve said nothing about the Pennsylvania grand jury report which found that 300-some priests sexually … Continue reading