Holy Week Woes

As the Church enters the most important week of the liturgical year it is beset, yet again, with charges of sexual abuse and this time, it looks like Pope Benedict had knowledge of it and chose to either do nothing about it or keep it under wraps. At the moment the Church is fighting back against the allegations made by the New York Times

As a cradle Catholic, frequently asked by non-Catholic friends to explain what the heck is going on, here's the way I look at it. In any hierarchical organization, people in power are going to abuse that power and when that happens, people above them are going to try to keep it quiet. When that fails, as it always ultimately does, a shit storm results. However, the difference between, oh say, Richard Nixon's failings and those charged against Pope Benedict is that there is no way for Benedict to quietly retire back to Munich and get the Church's equivalent of Jerry Ford to take over.

As we've seen in the squabble over health care in the U. S., the majority of U.S. Catholic Bishops have sold their souls to the Republican Party so I wouldn't be the least surprised if Bishops and Archbishops world wide weren't just as reactionary. This, just as much as the good he did is also part of John Paul II's legacy.

So what do we do about it? Leave the Church? Not likely, too much time and effort invested in this organization. Complain loudly? Uh, always have, always will. Become like the majority of Catholics and just quietly fade away? Somebody has to stand up to the idiots, both lay and ordained who think they know the will of God when plainly, they don't.

And while we're on the subject, you might re-consider that whole chastity condition and let normal people with normal sexual desires into the club. Then maybe the Church wouldn't be any worse than Congress.


I do like the nickname Pope Benedict acquired as a Cardinal: "Rottweiler Ratzinger".