Trying to Deceive Scots Believers Is a Cardinal Sin
By Joan McAlpine
IN a week which saw Cardinal Keith O'Brien apologise for his sexual conduct, Joan McAlpine says he will be suffering too. LET he who is without sin cast the first stone. Those were the words of Jesus to a baying crowd ready to execute an unfortunate woman for the “crime” of adultery. They should be remembered before we hurl verbal rocks at Cardinal Keith O’Brien. This is an old man who must be suffering. His humiliation is of his own making. But that’s no excuse for wanton cruelty. If only the cardinal had refused to cast stones himself. Instead he described gay marriage as a “grotesque subversion” and evidence of a “further degeneration of society into immorality”. So even if you had no religion, the Catholic hierarchy believed itself entitled to dictate to you – condemning democratically elected governments for legislating in favour of equality. To justify this interference, the cardinal went to extraordinary lengths to demonise gays. He has been called a hypocrite. But it is more complex – and tragic – than that. His forthright views were a form of self-loathing, perhaps even an attempt to cover the tracks of his own sexuality. As Evan Davis, the gay BBC correspondent, said at the weekend: “I think people who struggle to suppress their homosexual urges find that expressing anti-gay views gives them fortitude in their torment.” In other words, Cardinal O’Brien was a victim of the very prejudice he sought to perpetuate. But is anyone really surprised? Back in the Nineties I was in the Vatican as a reporter to cover the “elevation” of the then Archbishop Thomas Winning to the status of cardinal. Dozens of cardinals were being created by Pope John Paul II that day and after the ceremony they received well-wishers in the sumptuous marble palaces scattered about the tiny city state. I will never forget a group of young seminarians we spent some time chatting to. They were in good spirits, robes flapping, and their humour was high camp. They made risque jokes and were asking each other-: “How many cardinals have you kissed?” Graham Norton would have loved it. It was funny but completely surreal. While making a documentary for Channel 4 back in 2000, the film maker Mark Dowd said one seminary rector told him that, in his experience, half of the young men entering the priesthood were in fact gay. They were in denial, so a vow of celibacy offered a way to hide their sexuality. But in doing so, they became the voice of an institution that claimed their feelings were depraved and sinful. I cannot think of a more effective way to mess with young minds. To quote the cardinal himself, leading that sort of double life is surely harmful to “physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing”. It certainly didn’t do him any good. It has been said that this crisis will make the church more open. The evidence is discouraging. The cardinal’s first response was denial. And just a few days ago, the church’s spokesman in Scotland claimed there was no connection between O’Brien’s resignation and the now notorious accusations of “inappropriate behaviour”. That was untrue. It was an insult to the intelligence of believers in Scotland who will be angered by the deception. They may be called a flock. But they are not sheep.
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