BROOKLYN (NY)
Social Science Research Council
October 22, 2013
[Editor’s Note: This post is in response to “Praying Angry” by Robert Orsi.]
Robert Orsi, in his sensitive and insightful piece, brings out how “praying angry” is a necessary spiritual exercise for many who have been touched by God and abused by life. I say “many,” because abuse convinces some to give up on God. They trusted God to “be there” for them, to protect them from the worst that we can suffer, be, or do. They cried to the Lord in their trouble. But no rescue was forthcoming. For some, abuse makes belief in God psychologically impossible. Others conclude that even if God exists, God is not the kind of person they want to have anything to do with. Abuse is evidence that God is a deadbeat deity, that God is aloof and doesn’t care, that God is callous or cruel, even that God hates us. Still, for whatever psycho-spiritual reason, many who have been touched by God and abused by life, find themselves unable to let go. They are hurt. They feel abandoned and betrayed by God. But they aren’t finished with God. They can’t heal without confronting the authorities that allowed the abuse to happen. In imitation of the bible’s Job, praying angry calls God to account.
Sexual abuse of children by adults on whom they depend for love and nurture always digs deep into the human person. Physical violation is an outward and visible sign of role confusion and shattered expectations. Orsi’s wider work helps us to appreciate how this struggle amplifies when children are abused by priests. Especially pre-Vatican II, the Roman Catholic church set itself up as the sole institution chosen by God to open heaven’s doors. It proclaimed the sacred office of priesthood as necessary for salvation. Because God is above reproach, holy church is likewise above reproach, and her sacred ministers participate in this presumption. Moreover, not only does the Roman Catholic church enforce beliefs by catechetical instruction; it also uses an elaborate material cult presided over by priests to habituate the worshipper to postures and gestures, rote prayers and responses—all of which root religious feeling and conviction in the body and unconscious as well the conscious self.
If the priest is an alter Christus, then predator priests send the message that God is a predator, that Christ is a pederast. The consecrated host stuck up the girl’s vagina turns the really present Christ into a sexual molester. [McCord is referring to the Cudemo case.] John Paul II’s encyclical insists that priests are not only sacrificers but shepherds. Predator priests advertise God as handing over the flock to hirelings who care nothing for the sheep, who sacrifice the lambs to meet their own needs.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.