By The David
“The wrath of God is a way of saying that I have been living in a way that is contrary to the love that is God. Anyone who begins to live and grow away from God, who lives away from what is good, is turning his life toward wrath.”
“Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. There may be legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not… with regard to abortion and euthanasia.” ( my words.. or pedophilia? Seems to be a little selectivity being practiced by the good Cardinal, or possibly a self-serving statement!)
“Above all, we must have great respect for these people who also suffer and who want to find their own way of correct living. On the other hand, to create a legal form of a kind of homosexual marriage, in reality, does not help these people.”
The above are three famous quotes. The words were uttered by Pope Benedict XVI either in his current identity or when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. As Cardinal, he had the ear of Pope John Paul II as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 until his elevation to the Papacy.
Cardinal Ratzinger was known to be a stern, conservative interpreter of Catholic Doctrine. He wielded his power seemingly without compassion or mercy for those who he believed offended his moral sensibilities. He has, throughout his career, taken a firm stance and a very hard line against homosexuality and the homosexual man and woman. He has been so lacking in understanding toward the gay person that he has effectively closed them out from the church itself.
The homosexual has also been demonized during the years of the Cardinal’s tenure as prefect: When the scandal relating to the pedophiliac and predatory behavior of Roman Catholic clergy, the church took the position that the acts were being committed by a minority of priests who were homosexual and should have been weeded out before they took Holy Orders. There followed a well publicized purge in which anyone suspected of homosexuality, whether inclined toward it or actively living a gay life, was expelled from the seminary.
The explanation for this action was no more than a public relations move by the Church to shift the blame on an already marginalized minority. It was an attempt to shift its sins onto a group who much of society was all too willing to believe was responsible. Imagine that, gay priests… how horrible…. when most of us know that there have been gay priests from time immemorial.
Besides…. most of us also know that pedophilia is something that is no more attributable to gay people than it is to straight people as a group. The pedophile, whether a member of the clergy or the laity, suffers from a disorder of his own. The attraction to prepubescent children is not determined by one’s attraction to their own or to the opposite sex.
It is a problem of and to itself.
Much has been written as to why this outbreak of horror has hit so many of the children of the church. First it was thought to be peculiar to the church in the United States, but now it is known to be a universal problem not at all reduced by the church’s homosexual purge of a few years back.
Indeed, an even more serious situation has occurred that taints the present occupier of the Chair of Peter.
The new problem for the Vatican is what appears to be documented evidence that Benedict knew of incidences of child molestation and attempted “for the good of the Church,” to cover them up and use the tried and true (?) remedy used by Cardinals from Boston to Rome. That remedy? Instead of seeing that the perpetrator was brought to justice, the choice is to transfer him to another diocese where he is free to find new victims. It is an unconscionable choice, a choice without moral foundation. It makes Benedict’s words in the first quote above ring hollow and take on the aura of a cynical attempt to dupe the faithful of his church.
The Vatican is spinning the latest occurrences to be about the press spreading what is no more than malicious gossip. That is too easy an answer. The hierarchy needs to address this problem openly and with honesty. Blame needs to be taken and the church needs to examine its own conscience as to its sins and how those sins can be expiated. To say this is all a matter of malicious gossip is to minimize the pain and suffering of every victim who has suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy of any faith, and of those who have suffered corporal abuse at the hands of those in charge of religious schools or choirs… those such as the Pope’s own brother.
Before one can be a moral authority, one must first be moral. In any event, it may be simply justice, or possibly karma that will see that Benedict’s papacy will not be a jubilant one.
The Church is caught and will fight in the way people who are caught usually do, to attack those who demand contrition and responsibility of the criminal …. there is a sin greater than abortion, it is the fucking of a 7 year old by someone of “trust” …. he looks guilty because he and the church ARE guilty. By trying to confuse the issue and say that pedophilia is a gay disorder is to make being “gay” the crime, and not the churches reaction and complicity in all this …. gay has nothing to do with this, people who abuse children are sick fuckers, more little girls are molested than boys … yet the word “straight” isn’t thrown around when it involves little girls …
I’ve spoken to Catholics about this and they are “defensive” … I ask them to look into the eyes of their children and tell me that there is any argument except complete truth …. faith is something we absorb as part of our being, following a church that for a century hid this kind of abuse, while involving itself in many complex and moral issues, that have little to do with “faith” is hypocrisy to the 10th power …. Like the Germans in WWII, I am sure the Church has all the records .. people who believe they are beyond the law often do … as the German investigations continue, I am sure that more revelations will come to light .. I don’t know if the Vicar of Christ can be impeached, but he would do his Institution and the world a favor by confronting all this head on and then stepping down … sacrifice his failed career for the greater good.
BTW, he wears $600 red shoes, tell me he doesn’t have some Garland and Streisand albums in his Bentley …
Hi, interesting post. I have been thinking about this topic,so thanks for posting. I’ll probably be coming back to your posts.
The David, there is a line in your post that i’m sure many will overlook, but that i found especially poignant. “That remedy? Instead of seeing that the perpetrator was brought to justice, the choice is to transfer him to another diocese where he is free to find new victims.” Not just within the Catholic Church, but also within Protestant ones, is a tendency to rotate parish ministers and preachers according to their popularity. Untried or unpopular clergy are often sent to the small towns, there to try their luck with energizing the congregation. Many young ministers have gotten a good start at retaining a robust following with such humble beginnings, but often as not, the small town is the place where the miserable and sanctimonious lay prey to innocent, unsuspecting victims. Passing these derelicts of society around is as irresponsible as spreading around a contagious disease. A wrong action cannot be justified by position in society, nor degree of wealth or power. It’s still a wrong action and the consequences on our emerging youth are terrible.
India is crisscrossed by schools and other institutions run by Jesuits.
Yet thanks to India’s dodgy editorial class very few in India know that the Vatican has paid out close to a hundred million dollars to compensate for victims of child sexual abuse by albeit “a small minority” of priests.
The Indian media has barely reported that story.
Was the media’s heinous silence an act of concern for Indian children or a hideously wrongheaded act of leaving well enough alone ?
Abuse of power often happens in plain sight, since to the busy and self absorbed lay person, the powerful appear glamorous and formidable and their prey appear to be rebellious, despicable and in many ways, asking for it.
As somebody who has conscientiously refused to do business the way it “normally” is in so called democratic societies – I will not pay bribes – and who has been almost destroyed for my pains, I am able to feel deep appreciation for the heroes who spoke out and for those who heard them, felt outrage and who together managed to extract a measure of accountability from one of the most powerful and ambitious organisations on this planet.
Since the past two decades, the Government of India, the Government of my own state, Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh High Court , the Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioner have combined to impress on me that what works in India is what I have called the “patronage paradigm” – the paradigm of shoddiness, irresponsibility, cronyism and corruption” – and that ideas of the rule of law and democratic processes are merely spectacles to lull the gullible.
I have been denied the recognition that were commended to me by one former Chief Minister of my state, one former minister of home affairs, one speaker of the Lok Sabha, several prominent ministers of the central cabinet, eminent intellectuals and freedom fighters.
I have been unable to earn a decent living.
The office of the Governor of Andhra Pradesh incited my neighbours to cut off my water supply.
The information commissions in the state and at the centre denied me my right to information on spurious, brazenly illegal grounds and punished me for daring to object.
The high court denied me my right to competent counsel and punished me for complaining.
Even as we speak, Dr Manmohan Singh”s office, “Daredevil” Pratibha Patil’s Rashtrapati Bhavan, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, State Information Commissioner CD Arha are all locked in a most perverse and ignominious conspiracy of silence to deny me justice.
Even as the Prime Minister’s Office maintains a guilty silence in my case, it appears to have jumped through hoops to heap honour on a businessman alleged to be a serial swindler.
India’s editorial class is as dense, amoral and narcissistic.
Variations of this comment have appeared in almost every major Indian online publication plus in a few abroad.
However, not a single editor or reporter has had the professionalism to pick it up and make it “impact”.
My credentials are strong and I have taken much trouble to meet many editors personally, usually on impeccable referrals.
Our “know-it-all-in -chiefs” have had nothing but smirks to offer.
When I sought the solidarity of the press, Shekhar Gupta (editor in chief of New Indian Express) advised me, “You cannot go around taking pangas (quarrels) with people, yaar.”
Even my comments are mutilated.
Vinod Mehta’s “Outlook” has banned my comments on risible grounds.
The Hindu crawled.
It published “spin” by corrupt officials and got hissy with me for pointing out, with evidence, its craven, yellow soul.
The Indian Press (with a solitary exception) blacked out the fervent open letter written by Padma Vibhushan Kaloji Narayana Rao.
That dear man , clear as a bell in his nineties, had laid his head on my shoulder, hugged me and wept.
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divakarssathya wrote:
Apr 9th 2010 3:15 GMT
What about “civil society” in India ?
Since close to a year now, I have written to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Campaign for Judicial Accountability And Reform, Forum For Judicial Accountability, MKSS (Aruna Roy)and Anna Hazare regarding this cascading delinquency of constitutional bodies in India.
There has not been one constructive response.
They all appear to be in helpless denial of the awful truth that an innocent citizen has been hounded and humiliated since two decades, not for any bad behaviour or wrongdoing, but for resisting the dilution of the values of the Indian constitution and standing up for the correct administration of the Right To Information Act 2005.
Please visit and participate at http://sathyagraha.blogspot.com/ :
Andhra Pradesh High Court’s Pernicious Rebellion Against The Law .05/29/09
RTI Act 2005 Abuse In Andhra Pradesh- SIC Cheats! Chief Secretary Lies!05/07/09
Prejudiced CIC Laps Up PMO Lies 05/05/09
Compelling Criminality. Divakar S Natarajan and Varun Gandhi Cannot Both Be Wrong ! 01/28/09
And India’s editorial class will not report the story!
News and views from Divakar S Natarajan’s, “no excuses”, ultra peaceful, non partisan, individual sathyagraha against corruption and for the idea of the rule of law in India.
Now in its 18th year.
Any struggle against a predatory authority is humanity’s struggle to honour the gift of life.
I can see why you’re upset divakarssathya – the establishment that supposedly espouses the rule of “law” (as if there really is such a thing…) is a parasite that sucks the life out the individuals under its thumb and does all in its power to silence those that point to the proverbial elephant in the room. What you see in India today I see happening here in but a couple decades and I strongly doubt that there’s any chance to fix the corruption that is so pervasive in the system: thus the reason I advocate withdrawal from it – accrue whatever resources you can reasonably get your hands on (food, tools, weapons, land, etc…) and get as far away from the influence of the established order as you possibly can.
A social disease this advanced may no longer be curable – rather than struggle like Sisyphus to push the boulder of reform over the hill that will not let you see your task through, remove yourself from the picture and prepare to start over when the establishment finally dies from its illness.
Christopher: Thank you for your kind and thoughtful comments. The Sanatana (define:eternal. Hindu)way of life prescribes withdrawal only in pursuit of enlightenment. And only after all other duties have been fulfilled.Till then the war for life has to be fought and wrested away from the predators. It must be done without hatred.Life has to be wrested with love. Occasional bad temper notwithstanding.
I am sorry if I have given you the impression that my life has been consumed by this atrocity. It has not. There have been/there are brilliant compensations. sooner or later, the truth will prevail.
In the meanwhile, please drop in and tell me what you think of “Mad Dogs And Guardian UK ” one of my recent posts.
With my very best to you and the ones who love you.