The Politicization Of Catholicism

As a former Roman Catholic - I was an altar boy for a decade and even 4th Degree Knight of Columbus once upon a time - I am repulsed by what has happened to the Catholic Church. Or perhaps I should restate that: I am repulsed by the Church hierarchy which I see as on a moral level on par with Mafia Dons. They have no morals and it would seem little or no honor. The good news is that most rank and file Catholics appear to be ignoring the foul pronouncements of the morally bankrupt Church hierarchy as evidenced by the Catholic laity's support for contraception and even same sex marriage. Unfortunately, far too many in the political class and the main stream media don't seem to get the message that the Church hierarchy in the persons on porcine Cardinal Dolan of New York increasingly speak only for themselves and that rank and file Catholics will go out and vote as their consciences dictate rather than based upon the bloviating of bitter old queens in dresses. Andrew Sullivan looks at the political gamesmanship of the Catholic bishops. Here are some highlights:

The legacy of Pope John Paul II and the current pontiff is increasingly felt. In rejecting the separation of church and state, and by focusing primarily on sexual issues, the hierarchy in many countries is beginning to fuse with parties of the social right. And the politics is now Santorum-esque. Listen to Cardinal Dolan of New York embracing the culture war (via the New York Times):

The cardinal mocked a secular culture that “seems to discover new rights every day.” “I don’t recall a right to marriage,” he said, describing marriage, instead, as a “call.” “Now we hear there’s a right to sterilization, abortion and chemical contraceptives.

Yes, they did a great job ensuring that thousands of children were left at the mercies of child predators for decades, didn't they? Just trust them. Don't listen to the majority of Catholics who dissent, or those brave souls who exposed the network of pedophiles and pederasts. Then the leader of an institution which refuses to allow women equality, boasts of using women as p.r. elements of a political campaign: He told a story about bishops hiring an “attractive, articulate, intelligent” laywoman to speak against abortion and said it was “the best thing we ever did.”

And in Britain, Cardinal Keith O'Brien has now likened allowing gay citizens to have civil marriage to "madness" and the legalization of slavery . . .

It's in this context that you have to understand the recent cruel withholding of communion to a lesbian daughter at her mother's funeral, or the abrupt firing of a gifted music teacher because he sought to marry the man he loves. As modern society shifts, and as its own flock shifts with it, the Church hierarchy has decided to double-down on its sexual absolutism. The cruelty comes with it.

Personally, I hope this batshitery by the Church hierarchy is hastening the demise of Catholicism - or at least the form practiced by the imperial papacy that apparently thinks we are still living in the 12th century.

Biblical Literalism or Low IQ: Which Came First?

I happened upon a piece in Discovery Magazine that I wrote about roughly 3+ years ago. Given what has happened to the GOP with its takeover by the Christianists and the idiocy of many of the would be GOP presidntial nominees, it seem worthy referencing yet again. The graphs are quite informative:

The author of the piece had the following to say:

The IQ scores are from the General Social Survey as reported by The Inductivist. I already knew that this sort of correlation existed, it’s pretty unsurprising as I noted. The same pattern shows up if you use post-graduate eduation as the dependent variable. And I spot checked SAT scores by denomination, and again the association shows up. All that being said, the title was obviously tongue-in-cheek.

Virginia Parish Bans Girls From Being Altar Servers

The race backward in time by the Roman Catholic Church continues unabated and one has to wonder when more of the Catholic laity is going to say enough is enough and vote with their feet. As a former Catholic who has found a home in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America ("ELCA"), Catholics who are treated like serfs by the Catholic clergy need to wake up to the reality that there are other alternatives - alternatives with far less corruption and moral bankruptcy than is today's norm for the Roman Catholic Church. Frankly, I feel far less dirty NOT being a Catholic in light of the rampant sexual abuse worldwide and the continued Vatican's failure to basically punish almost anyone who enabled and/or covered up for sexual predators. One of the latest example of the backward thinking of some of the bitter men in dresses is the banning of girls from acting as altar servers at Mass. Having once been an altar server myself - luckily I wasn't molested - for ten years, I can honestly say that there is nothing one does that can't be equally well done by females. One of the worse offenders in depriving females of equality is the Diocese of Arlington in Northern Virginia. The Washington Post looks at the Medieval mindset that still predominates in that diocese. Here are some highlights

The decision last fall by Corpus Christi’s pastor, the Rev. Michael Taylor, and the response of Zickel and about a dozen other families who left the 1,100-family South Riding church reflect ongoing tensions among American Catholics over the role of women.

The subject has played out unusually in the diocese, which was the next-to-last in the country to say, in 2006, that girls were eligible to help priests at the altar. (The diocese in Lincoln, Neb., still has a boys­-only policy.) Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde left the decision up to individual priests. Five years later, about 60 percent of the diocese’s 68 parishes across northern and eastern Virginia still allow only altar boys, a diocese spokeswoman said.

Catholic priests ultimately hold authority in their parishes and answer only to clergy above them, not to laypeople.

Taylor, who did not return phone calls for comment, wrote in the parish bulletin that he hoped the church would “create opportunities, and perhaps clubs” for girls as a way to help them find ways to serve the church, rather than serving at the altar. Loverde has not responded directly to requests by Zickel and others to meet, people on both sides said.

Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have in general sided more often with traditionalists who fear watering down core Catholic teachings, such as that God sets separate roles for men and women.

In recent months, liberal Catholic publications have written about churches where girls are no longer being trained to be altar servers, saying the change reflects a turn to the past. The Phoenix diocese’s cathedral returned to boys-only altar servers this fall.

From all I have heard about Bishop Loverde - who vigorously supported passage of Virginia's constitutional amendment that bans any and all recognition of same sex couples - the man would happily bring back the Inquisition. Personally, I'm thankful each day that I had the initiative to leave the cesspool known as the Roman Catholic Church.

Spain Is a Battleground for Catholic Church’s Future

I have posted a number of times about the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to interfere with the civil laws in a number of countries, including Spain. The New York Times has a story that takes another look at the Church's efforts to intermix the civil laws in Spain with the Church's anti-gay, anti-divorce and anti-abortion religious crusade. As the article notes, the Church and its Nazi Pope worry that Spain's embrace of liberalism and modern science and knowledge may spill over to former Spanish colonies which contain a significant chunk of the Church's worldwide membership. One can only hope that modern knowledge and civil equality of all citizens will triumph over the Church's efforts to drag society back to a Medieval mindset. Here are some story highlights:

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The Macías Picavea primary school hardly looks like the seat of revolution. But this unassuming brick building in a sleepy industrial town has become a battleground in an intensifying war between church and state in Spain. In an unprecedented decision here, a judge ruled in November that the public school must remove the crucifixes from classroom walls, saying they violated the “nonconfessional” nature of the Spanish state.

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If the judge’s ruling was the latest blow to the Catholic Church’s once mighty grip on Spain, the church’s response showed Spain to be a crucible for the future of church-state relations in Europe.

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For Pope Benedict XVI, who has staked his three-year-old papacy on keeping Europe Catholic, Spain, with its 90 percent Catholic population and rich history, represents a last hope in an increasingly irreligious continent.

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That hope is quickly dimming. Since 2004, the Socialist government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has legalized gay marriage and fast-track divorce, and it is seeking to loosen laws on abortion and euthanasia. But in response, the church and religious Catholics have been pushing back, seeking a greater voice in public life. The result is that the church is in a full-throated war with the government.

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At stake is the vision of the country: Will Spain join the rest of secular Europe or stand as a final Catholic foothold? . . . Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said of Spain. “It’s a critical point in the church’s confrontation against secularization in Europe and in the Western world.”

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The implications are broader, since Spain, with its 42 million Catholics, remains a touchstone for Latin America. South America alone has 324 million Catholics, the world’s largest concentration.

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[D]uring Franco’s four-decade dictatorship, Catholicism was the official state religion. Until after Franco’s death in 1975, women could not open bank accounts without their fathers or husbands co-signing. Today, they hold many of the highest political offices in the country.

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“Spain changed very, very quickly,” said José María Contreras Mazarío, the director of religious affairs at the Justice Ministry. Today, he said, “Spain isn’t Catholic theoretically, culturally or politically.” In an increasingly multicultural society, he said, the government wants to revise its definition of religious liberty so all religions are effectively equal. Indeed, many see the church as a reactionary force trying to hold the country back.

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The Church IS a reactionary force and I truly hope that it is defeated and perhaps ultimately forced to reform itself, including the dismissal of corrupt and morally bankrupt members of the hierarchy - including Benedict XVI.