While I have already posted today about the ongoing debacle in the Roman Catholic Church which may yet take down the current Pope, this Sunday op-ed in the Times of London was just too good to pass up. Talk about a case of tit for tat. Not long ago, the Roman Catholic Church indicated that it would happily welcome homophobic members of the Church of England who just could not handle allowing openly gay clergy and bishops. Well, now, with claims of sexual abuse by priests sweeping across Europe, the suggestion has been made that Anglicans need to extend a welcoming hand to Catholics who are worried about their children being subjected to sexual abuse by Catholic priests. That's not to say that the Anglican church is perfect, but at least there has not been a documented cover up of abuse mandated by the Pope on down. I have long thought that the Episcopal Church (Christ and St. Likes Episcopal in Norfolk is pictured at left) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America needed to actively recruit disillusioned Catholics who would enjoy the basically the same liturgy and beliefs without financially underwriting the nasty, morally deficient Catholic Church hierarchy. Here are some highlights from the Times of London column:*
Has the time come for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to open the door to the many millions of British Roman Catholic worshippers who may be worried that their children are likely to be interfered with by priests? I think it’s correct that young children are slightly less at risk from the Anglican clergy, although it would be unwise of Rowan to offer any cast-iron promises, just in case.
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Last year Pope Benedict XVI invited disillusioned Anglicans to join the Church of Rome if they were disapproving of, or merely bored by, women priests and homosexuals but fancied instead a few Latin incantations, rosary beads and the whiff of incense; this took the Church of England by surprise.
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Now is Beardo’s chance to get his own back. He should strike while the iron is hot. Give the émigré left-footers free passage, one of those Christingle oranges and a DVD collection of The Vicar of Dibley — they can even cling on to transubstantiation, if they keep quiet about it.
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[Irish] Cardinal Sean Brady, has admitted that he was present at meetings in the 1970's when children who were abused by a paedophile priest were forced, there and then, to sign a vow of silence. . . . Brady now accepts that the church’s response to this scandal has been “hopelessly inadequate” (although he hasn’t yet used the words “criminal” and “totalitarian”) but he will not resign over the business. This weekend Ireland’s “faithful”, as Benny the 16th puts it, have received a letter from him personally, which presumably included an apology somewhere along the way. Meanwhile, there have been similar scandals in Holland, Spain, Switzerland and Austria
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But the church still gives the impression that while its legions of kiddie-fiddling priests are probably, on the whole, a bad thing, they are not half as Satanic as stuff like condoms, socialism and gender equality. You suspect that it is the church’s entrenched position within much of Europe that has enabled it to sidestep public abhorrence for so long, and thus to react with apparent insouciance whenever these scandals arise and remain immune to proper investigation.
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However, the public across Europe is becoming more secular and more questioning of those in authority. It is disinclined to believe in the infallibility of anyone, be it a politician, a pop star or a pope. And those new watchwords — transparency and openness — are not qualities that one associates with the Holy See.
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Admittedly, the op-ed is written somewhat tongue in cheek, but the basic point is on the mark. Why are Catholics remaining with a Church that has a leadership that makes Mafia dons look forth right and honorable? For Catholic readers, I sincerely encourage you to check out the Episcopal and Lutheran alternatives: same basic faith without the moral bankruptcy through out the Church leadership.
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