By Anthony L. Hall
Caribbean Net News
March 19, 2010
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-22143--6-6--.html
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| Anthony L. Hall is a descendant of the Turks & Caicos Islands, international lawyer and political consultant - headquartered in Washington DC - who publishes his own weblog, The iPINIONS Journal, at http://ipjn.com offering commentaries on current events from a Caribbean perspective |
A few years ago, revelations about the nature and scope of sexual abuse by priests gave the impression that the Catholic Church in America was being run by a syndicate of pedophile enablers. By contrast, the moral indignation European priests cast at their brethren in America back then gave the impression that the Catholic Church in Europe was wholly without sin in this respect.
Indeed, here’s how the Pope himself expressed his pastoral concern:
“It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen. It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way their mission ... to these children.
“I am deeply ashamed, and we will do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future. I do not wish to talk at this moment about homosexuality, but about pedophilia, which is another thing.
“We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. It is more important to have good priests than many priests. We will do everything possible to heal this wound.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
In commenting on this unfolding scandal, I noted that faithful Catholics might find the Pope’s expression of concern more troubling than comforting. Here, in part, is what I wrote back then:
“Many Catholics suspect that a cabal of homosexuals in the Vatican continues to indulge and cover up the serial sexual exploits of gay priests, including pedophiles…
“And I’m sure the Pope is acutely mindful that disabusing Americans of this suspicion is critical to getting them to replenish the billions the Church has lost in payoffs and tithing withheld as a result of the sex abuse scandal...” [The Pope comes to America, TIJ, April 16, 2008]
Well, there are dirty little secrets coming out of the closet in churches all over Europe today—most notably in the Pope’s home country of Germany. And these revelations give the impression that the ecumenical council of the Catholic Church not only condoned but actually enabled a culture of pederasty that would make Sodom and Gomorrah seem chaste. Which gives a whole new meaning to Christ’s exhortation to “suffer the little children to come on to Me.”
Even worse, no less a person than the Pope has been implicated. Specifically, reports are that the Pope, in his position as bishop of diocese of Munich, harbored a known pedophile priest, who continued his predatory sexual abuse of little boys under the Pope’ pastoral supervision. This, of course, is exactly what the Pope condemned American bishops for doing a few years ago.
Not surprisingly, the Vatican is deflecting blame from the Pope by summoning his former deputy at the Munich diocese to claim complete responsibility for housing this notorious pedophile. Never mind that this deflection was foiled by the fact that his former diocese had already put out the patently specious claim that the Pope “unwittingly approved the housing;” or that the Pope's own brother, The Rev. Georg Ratzinger, has admitted flagellating little boys and blithely ignoring their cries of abuse by other bishops.
In fact, the Pope himself has joined in this open conspiracy to deflect blame. For he announced earlier this week that he will be issuing a pastoral letter to facilitate “repentance, healing and renewal” amongst Irish Catholics in light of revelations of endemic sexual and physical abuse that are rocking the foundations of their church.
Somehow “the pot calling the kettle black” doesn’t quite convey the hypocrisy inherent in this papal tact. But I shall suffice to say that the Pope is giving new meaning to psychological defense mechanism of projection...
In any case, even if belatedly, I hope Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican official in charge of prosecuting priests alleged to have committed serious sexual crimes, is as zealous in prosecuting them today as the Vatican was in protecting them over the years.
I remain intrigued, however, by the Pope’s allusion (in the quote above) to a moral distinction between homosexuality and pedophilia. For in this he seems to have “unwittingly” conveyed a papal indulgence of the former, while censuring of the latter.
But such a distinction would make a mockery of the Church’s purported practice of clerical celibacy; i.e., refraining from all sexual activity, including masturbation. Moreover, it would suggest that Catholic priests - who pattern their celibate lives on that of Jesus Christ - must believe that Christ himself indulged, if not indulged in, homosexuality. The 12 disciples with whom he consorted were all men, after all.
Whatever the moral relativism that governs sexual (mis)conduct of priests, the Church is clearly abiding a moral hazard when it comes to their sexual abuse of little boys. Much has been made of the moral hazard the US government created by bailing out big banks. Because this effectively gave investment bankers carte blanche to continue their high-risk financial transactions knowing full well that the government will be there to catch them if they fall; i.e., before their banks fail.
By the same token, the fact that the Church has been covering up the perverted (and criminal) behavior of Catholic priests from time immemorial suggests that a similar moral hazard is inherent in the conduct of Vatican affairs...
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