Church Hierarchy: Educated Catholics A Problem

I have maintained for some time now that the Roman Catholic Church's ability to convince Catholics to blindly follow the pronouncements of the senile, anti-gay and anti-woman members of the Church hierarchy (including the Nazi Pope, Benedict XVI) is a direct function of how ignorant and uneducated the members of the laity in the audience. Hence, the Church's growth in Africa and other uneducated areas of the world while church attendance declines in the developed and educated portions of the world. Science and education are the enemies of today's Roman Catholic Church which more and more preaches to the Catholic equivalents of the backwoods evangelicals. The concept that the Church is swimming against the tide of history and scientific knowledge apparently never enters the minds of Neanderthals in the hierarchy. Now, the Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, the Bishop of Lancaster, has more or less conceded as much in recent statements. Here are some highlights from the Telegraph:

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The Rt Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, the Bishop of Lancaster, has claimed that [university] graduates are spreading scepticism and sowing dissent. Instead of following the Church's teaching they are "hedonistic", "selfish" and "egocentric", he said. In particular, the bishop complained that influential Catholics in politics and the media were undermining the Church. While not naming names, he suggested that such people had been compromised by their education, which he said had a "dark side, due to original sin".

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Bishop O'Donoghue, who has recently published a report on how to renew Catholicism in Britain, argued that mass education has led to "sickness in the Church and wider society". . . . . The bishop said that Catholic graduates had rejected the reforms made in the second council of the Vatican, which introduced fundamental changes in issues such as liturgy and doctrine.

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"The Second Vatican Council tends to be misinterpreted most by Catholics who have had a university education -- that is, by those most exposed to the intellectual and moral spirit of the age," he said. "These well-educated Catholics have gone on to occupy influential positions in education, the media, politics, and even the Church, where they have been able to spread their so-called loyal dissent, causing confusion and discord in the whole church."

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The bishop said that influential Catholics had set a bad example and corrupted the faith of those who had not gone to university. "This failure of leadership has exacerbated the even-greater problem of the mass departure from the Church of the working-class and poor," he said. "For example, the relentless diatribe in the popular media against Christianity has undermined the confidence of the ordinary faithful in the Church."

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Meanwhile, what are psychologists saying about the Nazi Pope's edict that seminary candidates must be screened for homosexual tendencies? Nothing good. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

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[E]ven many Catholics will be horrified by the idea of the church employing psychologists to "out" prospective priests. Nor is it much comfort that the psychological scrutiny will be voluntary. What young man who feels called to the priesthood will feel free to object?

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[T]he role of psychologists in screening applicants raises troubling ethical questions, as even psychologists who approve of such cooperation admit. Aiding the church in weeding out homosexuals is hard to reconcile with these guidelines of the American Psychological Assn.:

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"Psychologists are aware of and respect cultural, individual and role differences, including those based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language and socioeconomic status, and consider these factors when working with members of such groups. Psychologists try to eliminate the effect on their work of biases based on those factors, and they do not knowingly participate in or condone activities of others based upon such prejudices."

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If the church -- or a diocese within the church -- takes the Vatican decree literally, it's hard to see how a psychologist could lend his or her expertise to the thwarting of a young man's aspiration to serve God simply because he happens to be gay. In our view, that's not just cruel; it's unprofessional.