The hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy truly leaves one breathless at times. Take for instance the Church leadership's continuing anti-gay jihad and juxtapose it against the U.S. Bishops' decision to more or less leave the 2002 guidelines for dealing with sexual abuse by clergy in place - guide lines chock full of loop holes which expose the lie of the hierarchy's supposed concern for children and youths. The only concern has ALWAYS been about avoiding damage to the Church's image and the avoidance of cash payouts when sexual predators are exposed. The children and youths? They're not even on the radar screen. Maureen Dowd lays into the Church - and Porky Pig Dolan in a column in the New York Times that looks at the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the pampered prices of the Church. Here are some highlights from her column:*
The archbishop has been ferocious in fighting against marriage between same-sex couples, painting it as a perversity against nature. If only his church had been as ferocious in fighting against the true perversity against nature: the unending horror of pedophile priests and the children who trusted them.
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[Governor Cuomo] was accused by the Vatican adviser Edward Peters of “public concubinage,” as it’s known in canon law, and Peters recommended that Cuomo be denied communion until he resolved “the scandal” by ceasing this “cohabiting.”
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And therein lies the casuistry. On one hand, as Peters told The Times about Cuomo and Lee, “men and women are not supposed to live together without benefit of matrimony.” But then the church denies the benefit of marriage to same-sex couples living together.
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Dolan insists that marriage between a man and a woman is “hard-wired” by God and nature. But the church refuses to acknowledge that homosexuality may be hard-wired by God and nature as well, and is not a lifestyle choice.
Dolan and other church leaders are worried about the exodus of young Catholics who no longer relate to the intolerances of church teaching. . . . The church refuses to acknowledge the hypocrisy at its heart: that it became a haven for gay priests even though it declares homosexual sex a sin, and even though it lobbies to stop gays from marrying.
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In yet another attempt at rationalization, the nation’s Catholic bishops — a group Dolan is now in charge of — put out a ridiculous five-year-study last month going with the “blame Woodstock” explanation for the sex-abuse scandal.
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In another resistance to reform, the bishops voted on Thursday to keep their policies on sexual abuse by the clergy largely the same, with only small revisions, ignoring victims’ advocates who were hoping for meaningful changes.
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At their meeting in Bellevue, Wash., one retired archbishop from Anchorage actually proposed an amendment to get rid of the “zero tolerance” provision on abuse so some guilty priests could return to parishes. That failed, at least.
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The Starchbishop noted with asperity that “Last time I consulted an atlas, it is clear we are living in New York, in the United States of America — not in China or North Korea,” where “communiqués from the government can dictate the size of families, who lives and who dies, and what the very definition of ‘family’ and ‘marriage’ means.” Yeah. Not like the Vatican.
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In the same blog, Dolan snidely dismissed the notion that gay marriage is a civil right. “We acknowledge that not every desire, urge, want, or chic cause is automatically a ‘right,’ ” he wrote. . . . how about the right of a child not to be molested by the parish priest?
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More on the bishops' refusal to make meaningful change to sexual abuse policies can be found in this Beliefnet article:
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The bishops voted 187-5, with four abstentions, to make only slight revisions to their Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a set of guidelines adopted in 2002 as the clergy sex abuse scandal spread nationwide.
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But victims’ advocates say recent reports of ethical lapses by church leaders in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Mo., prove that the nonbinding church policies are weak and unenforceable.
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“Despite revelations in numerous dioceses showing that abuse has been continuing under the bishops’ current abuse policy and that the policy needs to be overhauled, the bishops … chose to rubber-stamp a nearly identical policy for the future,” said the watchdog website BishopAccountability.org in a statement. “This is a squandered opportunity and a disaster for children.”
The archbishop has been ferocious in fighting against marriage between same-sex couples, painting it as a perversity against nature. If only his church had been as ferocious in fighting against the true perversity against nature: the unending horror of pedophile priests and the children who trusted them.
*
[Governor Cuomo] was accused by the Vatican adviser Edward Peters of “public concubinage,” as it’s known in canon law, and Peters recommended that Cuomo be denied communion until he resolved “the scandal” by ceasing this “cohabiting.”
*
And therein lies the casuistry. On one hand, as Peters told The Times about Cuomo and Lee, “men and women are not supposed to live together without benefit of matrimony.” But then the church denies the benefit of marriage to same-sex couples living together.
*
Dolan insists that marriage between a man and a woman is “hard-wired” by God and nature. But the church refuses to acknowledge that homosexuality may be hard-wired by God and nature as well, and is not a lifestyle choice.
Dolan and other church leaders are worried about the exodus of young Catholics who no longer relate to the intolerances of church teaching. . . . The church refuses to acknowledge the hypocrisy at its heart: that it became a haven for gay priests even though it declares homosexual sex a sin, and even though it lobbies to stop gays from marrying.
*
In yet another attempt at rationalization, the nation’s Catholic bishops — a group Dolan is now in charge of — put out a ridiculous five-year-study last month going with the “blame Woodstock” explanation for the sex-abuse scandal.
*
In another resistance to reform, the bishops voted on Thursday to keep their policies on sexual abuse by the clergy largely the same, with only small revisions, ignoring victims’ advocates who were hoping for meaningful changes.
*
At their meeting in Bellevue, Wash., one retired archbishop from Anchorage actually proposed an amendment to get rid of the “zero tolerance” provision on abuse so some guilty priests could return to parishes. That failed, at least.
*
The Starchbishop noted with asperity that “Last time I consulted an atlas, it is clear we are living in New York, in the United States of America — not in China or North Korea,” where “communiqués from the government can dictate the size of families, who lives and who dies, and what the very definition of ‘family’ and ‘marriage’ means.” Yeah. Not like the Vatican.
*
In the same blog, Dolan snidely dismissed the notion that gay marriage is a civil right. “We acknowledge that not every desire, urge, want, or chic cause is automatically a ‘right,’ ” he wrote. . . . how about the right of a child not to be molested by the parish priest?
*
More on the bishops' refusal to make meaningful change to sexual abuse policies can be found in this Beliefnet article:
*
The bishops voted 187-5, with four abstentions, to make only slight revisions to their Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a set of guidelines adopted in 2002 as the clergy sex abuse scandal spread nationwide.
*
But victims’ advocates say recent reports of ethical lapses by church leaders in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Mo., prove that the nonbinding church policies are weak and unenforceable.
*
“Despite revelations in numerous dioceses showing that abuse has been continuing under the bishops’ current abuse policy and that the policy needs to be overhauled, the bishops … chose to rubber-stamp a nearly identical policy for the future,” said the watchdog website BishopAccountability.org in a statement. “This is a squandered opportunity and a disaster for children.”
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