Papal Disconnect

Dan Barry has a column in the New York Times that describes much of the felling I had before I finally gave up and left the Roman Catholic Church - or it left me. In some ways, I believe it was the latter. My faith and beliefs have actually changed very little and my moral standards likewise remain pretty much the same. What changed was that I could no longer quell my impatience and disgust with a senile, morally bankrupt, aloof and utterly discontected Church leadership that (1) knows little - and cares even less - about the actual lives of their flock, (2) has no concept whatsoever of what it is to be a spouse or parent, and (3) cares more about appearances and the equivalent of ritualistic bellybutton contemplation than doing what is morally right - e.g., truly punishing and/or removing those who allowed sex abuse of children to occur and then did all they could to cover it up. Here are some highlights from Barry's column:

Let me say at the outset that I am your classic stumbling, grumbling, trying-to-sort-it-all-out American Catholic. I consider myself a practicing Catholic because I dearly need the practice. My family and I attend Sunday Mass with some regularity, though not always at the same parish — in case anyone is taking attendance.

Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the United States this week, a tour that will include touchstones in my own life — ground zero, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Yankee Stadium — and will attract throngs of American Catholics. Still, beyond the fact that I’m not much of a throng guy, I will not be among those craning their necks for a glimpse. I feel a palpable papal disconnect.

The disconnection I feel may be rooted in the good old American distrust of monarchs and frippery. And, unlike American Catholics of 150 years ago, I do not feel the sting of prejudice that would cause me to embrace the pope in defiant declaration of my faith. Since the day my in-laws first displayed their papal blessing nearly 50 years ago, much has happened to wear away at the authority of the pope. For stumbling, grumbling worshipers like me, though, obedience to the pope has morphed into a respectful taking of his pronouncements under advisement — a cafeteria-like approach that drives more rigid Catholics to the brink of saying the Lord’s name in vain.

As Peter Steinfels, the Beliefs columnist for The New York Times, recently noted, there is nothing particularly new in this tension. He wrote that many American Catholics “honor the pope yet disagree with papal positions, whether about using contraception, restricting legal access to abortion, ordaining married men or women to the priesthood or recognizing same-sex relationships.” I would add to that list disgust, more than mere disagreement, with the way the church has handled the priest scandals of the last decade.