How to speak, respectfully, of the Catholic Church amid the ongoing pedophilia scandals?
Having just watched Netflix series, "The Keepers", involving the murder of a nun who attempts to uncover widespread sexual abuse, I’m deeply disturbed by how systemic the actual corruption is...
Now, for example, on the heals of a damage control summit on clerical sex abuse, we learn that Cardinal George Pell — Vatican treasurer, third most senior Catholic in world, and close adviser to Pope Francis, is found guilty of child sexual assault (rape). What does it mean that the now convicted pedophile Cardinal Pell, like the defrocked Cardinal McCarick before him, were the public faces of combating abuse against minors? How can the Church be trusted to self-regulate, when those investigating sex crimes are the actual predators?!
What does it say about the Churche's integrity when criminal priests are relocated and even promoted, to the highest ranks, while the victims are ignored --or worse, intimidated-- by the figure they regard as their moral guardians, and in the words of one victim: "the closest you'll ever get to God."
Below, is a picture of the fallen Cardinal Pell walking side-by-side into court with Gerald Ridsdale, the man later found to be Australia’s worst paedophile priest, in 1993—convicted of sexual abuse and indecent assault charges against 65 children — some as young as four....
How to process all this and still believe in the innocence of the Church?
I've often wondered if celibacy, as Oscar Wilde glibly put it, might not be the (only) sexual perversity. It seems so radical a life choice that it must be only for the very few... The Vatican seems to me a cautionary tale against a spiritual entity having secular power, allowing them to transgress with impunity and justify their immoral cover ups.
In turn, it saddens and frustrates me to listen to how broad and ambiguous Pope Francis' condemnation continues to be of the abuse and abusers. Being the quietly radical soul that he is, one wishes that he would find the moral courage to break the vicious cycle and care more for the guiding values of the faith as well as the victims than the Church's reputation and, sorry to say it, the money coming their way. It is no secret, for example, that the Vatican bank is unclean and often used for money laundering (https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-vaticans-dirty-money-problem).
I remain wary of throwing out the baby with the bath water -having done this to some extent as an agnostic adolescent - when confronted with the hypocrisy of members of my own faith (Islam). I continue to accompany my wife to church from time to time and believe there's still good everywhere, recognizing that 'The fault is not in our stars, But in ourselves..' Which is to say, I know that the perversity making the headlines does not represent all priests or all Catholics. But, yes, the Church out to be held to a higher standard and such systemic corruption cannot continue to be above the law...
Still, just as I recognize, for example, that something must be rotten in the Muslim community that permits the rise of violent extremism, so I see that there is deep moral rot in the Catholic Church that is in desperate need of purging. It’s all terribly sad, especially that there are so many with an axe to grind with organized religion. My view is that, despite the blasphemous atrocities committed in their name, world religions continue to be an unmatched source of Wisdom, Beauty & Peace--far preferable it to the alternatives: meaningless suffering, despair, anger, arrogance, New Age mish-mash, materialism, doubt, cynicism, nihilism, etc..
But, the more I learn about the corruption of the Vatican, the more shocked and appalled I am by their abuse of power and trust. This documentary, below, is a must see for those who may not be aware of the extent of this problem. (Even John Paul II, whom I once admired, is complicit)
My hope is that the latest scandals will lead to long-overdue and profound soul-searching, justice and reform.
Heaven help us all...
[Image: https://www.disclose.tv/the-dark-pagan-secret-at-the-heart-of-the-vatican-309806]