I'm not the only one that has observed the Vatican's move to welcome gay-hating Anglicans and form a church within the Church with cynicism and a measure of disgust. The move allows married Anglican priests to become Catholic priests and thus shows the sham nature of the celibacy rule and the hypocrisy of Benedict XVI and others who just recently said that any discussion of throwing the celibacy rule on the trash heap of history was off limits. Unless, I guess, it brings new members - and money, the real God of the Vatican - to the Church. *
Meanwhile, in another cynical move, the USA the Conference of Catholic Bishops has leaked a new statement on marriage which condemns same sex relationships and conveniently coincides with elections and anti-gay marriage initiatives next month. Phillip at Unite the Fight sent me an e-mail and link to his take on the U.S. Church's actions. He correctly notes that many U.S. Catholics are more tolerant of gay relationships than other Christian denominations even as the Vatican and morally bankrupt Church hierarchy are obsessed with an anti-gay jihad. Here are a few of Phillip's thoughts:
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Catholics are the most supportive of marriage equality out of all Christian denominations. So why am I saying this? I'm saying this because I think it's important to separate those who attend church, who practice out of their convictions an organized religion, and the leaders of their church who dove into the social and political arena. Many times, these leaders say they speak for their congregants when in fact, many of these congregants don't agree.
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I don't think I need to repeat the argument that, though the church has every right to believe what they do and should practice that freedom, civil marriage "intrinsically" is not the same as religious marriage, and therefore renders this statement moot when it comes to the issue of civil justice. But I'd like to quote a Catholic priest who commented on Unite the Fight about this statement, which obviously was leaked early because of the marriage equality initiative facing Maine now and the power the church wields there.
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Fr. Marty Kurylowicz: Being a priest and psychologist, I know the kind of serious harm that is caused to children who grow up gay by those who oppose Marriage Equality. “Kids are being hurt!!!” There is plenty of research data that makes that [sic] supports this statement. I have been an advocate for children who grow up gay for their protection from antigay statements. Benedict XVI's continual ordering the hierarchy in a united effort to oppose Marriage Equality is proof that they have not even considered the harm to children and have ignored the overabundance amount of research data. The harm that is done to children is tremendous. It cuts deeply at the very core of child's ability to bond/attach to another or other human beings for life. However, in the meantime how many millions of innocent children will continue to be abused in this way because of their criminal neglect of their responsibility.
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Like Phillip I hold no animus to regular Catholics. The Vatican and the rest of the Church hierachy - now, that's an entirely different matter. They are nothing short of evil hypocrites. Something that an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun noted in the context of the move to accept anti-gay and anti-woman Anglicans. Here are some highlights from that column:
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The Vatican's just-announced effort to recruit unhappy Anglicans away from a church that has embraced female priests and elected an openly gay bishop provides the Catholic Church with a way to deal with its shortage of priests - without allowing Catholic women to be ordained and without ending the celibacy rule.
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So those of us who are Catholic and who for years have been calling for an end to celibacy (or leaving it only as an option) get to question a brewing hypocrisy in the Vatican's "Apostolic Constitution," revealed in Rome on Tuesday: Converts are allowed to be married, but those already ordained - or the minuscule number in the seminaries - aren't.
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Reaching out to pull in those who oppose female priests, or openly gay prelates or same-sex marriage: This is Vatican marketing at its best. Disgruntled, conservative Anglicans represent a potentially rich customer base for the Roman Catholic Church.
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It is ironic that celibacy, injected into the priesthood in the 11th century to protect the Catholic Church from financial and property claims by the offspring of priests, has cost it so much in the 21st century. Celibacy is one of the reasons for the widespread sexual abuse. Through the years, the requirement took its toll, sending thousands of priests out of the vocation and into less repressive lifestyles, and leaving a diminished population of celibate priests available for parish duty. As bishops faced shortages, they were forced to recycle their problem priests, to shuffle them from assignment to assignment. That's why some of the priests in these tragic cases appear to have been serial offenders. Celibacy is the elephant in the room when Catholics discuss the sex abuse scandal and the shortage of priests.
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Change is desperately needed in the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, given the Church's monarchical power structure, not ready mechanism exists to affect that change. Personally, leaving the Catholic Church was one of the wisest things I did after coming out. Why remain in a church that tells one that they are "disordered" and "immoral" on virtually a daily basis.
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