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Posted by on Feb 5, 2013 in Blog, Essays, Movie Reviews | 3 comments

Roman Catholic Revulsion

 

Pope Benedict

 

I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church.

To this day, most of my family are practicing Catholics.  I attended Catholic School (Holy Trinity in the Oak Lawn section of Dallas) — the same school run by the priest who gave President Kennedy last rights.  I attended mass regularly (strong emphasis on the past tense).  I was a member of the Knights of Columbus.  I once played on the church soccer team, which was called the “Crusaders” (seriously).  My Godfather graduated from the University of Notre Dame.  That’s as Catholic as it gets.

 

But over the years, I’ve gradually come to see the Catholic Church for what it truly is — an archaic, oppressive, lying institution that’s hopelessly out of touch with 21st Century realities, which destroys millions of lives around the world and has done unspeakable evil throughout human history.

The excesses stem not just a few bad apples.  The root cause is institutional corruption.  In Catholicism, according to Canon Law, everything flows downward from the very top.  This means the Vatican ultimately bears responsibility for crimes against humanity.

Strong words?  Hardly.  If anything, those words aren’t strong enough.

The Roman Catholic Church remains wielded to the Dark Ages.  And it’s not just because a bunch of men chose to walk around in black robes speaking a dead language that went out of existence 500 years ago while waving containers full of ash dust, or nuns suppressing their own individuality in observance of unconditional servitude.

Look at the facts:  Catholic policies towards women are degrading.  Catholic commandments on birth control create imminent poverty for millions who starve and die in developing countries.  Catholic beliefs toward basic human rights are often are cowardly and self-serving.  Catholic teachings on sex are Neanderthal.  Catholic practices on economic and social issues are reprehensible.  And Catholic teachings on so-called “morality” are duplicitous.

All this aside, the Catholic Church’s policies and practices in the tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of sexual abuse scandals around the world involving priests are downright disgusting.  Many heads need to roll — starting with just about every Pope dating all the way back to the 4th Century.  Indeed, the Vatican has been a collaborator in innumerable crimes and cover-ups since the fall of the Byzantines.

The Catholic Church is an empire of corruption.  This has nothing to do with matters of faith or a belief in God.  It has everything to do with making the appropriate choices as to which institutions in our society deserve our reverence and trust.

The Catholic Church and the Vatican deserve neither.

*     *     *

No one wants to read or hear about priests and sex scandals.

It’s a hideous subject.  It’s certainly not entertainment.  There’s no satisfaction to be gained from subjecting oneself to the indescribable evils committed by members of the clergy.  Contemplating these horrible acts against innocent children which have gone on for so long in so many places is painful to look at.

But look we must.  And re-think everything we believe about Catholicism, we should.

HBO has just debuted a new documentary on this subject.  The title is Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. I had heard about this powerful film by award-winning director Ale Gibney, which runs about 90 minutes.  Late last night, when I saw this program was coming up as the next feature show on HBO, I considered tuning in.

Then again, why would I have any desire to watch such a thing?  I thought to myself — why would I want to subject myself to something like this?  Who in the world would willingly stop and watch people doing such repulsive things to children?

So, I did what most probably do.  I turned the channel.

But curiosity got the best of me.  I found myself flipping back to Mea Maxima Culpa and watching bits and pieces of the documentary.  As I watched, I began to realize this wasn’t only a film about a controversial subject.  It was a story about politics and power.  It was also a story about extraordinary courage — those who initially stepped forward and told of what happened.  I came to realize this was a masterful documentary that becomes increasingly more intense as the viewer gets absorbed into the story.

Essentially, Mea Maxima Culpa focuses on several deaf adults who are now in their 60s and 70s.  Back during the 1950s as children, they were sexually abused by priests in Milwaukee.  Unfortunately, as we would gradually learn there were many more Milwaukees — hundreds, if not thousands of Milwaukees around the world.

While the Vatican continues to lie, engages in mind-boggling cover-ups that remain unchecked, and postures itself as being above all the crimes committed at the parish level, this film undisputedly links Rome with just about all the filth done by its faithful servants.  The church hierarchy was far more than just an enabler.  They have been confederates in these conspiracies for the past 1,700 years (watch the documentary — the evidence is clear).

The Inquisition.  The war on enlightenment.  The Crusades.  Pacts with fascism.  And now — sex crimes and cover-ups.  Why isn’t the Catholic Church being tried for crimes against humanity?

I urge you to not miss this program.

READ MORE HERE — MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

*     *     *

The word “hero” gets overused.

Worse, it’s often misapplied to athletes and celebrities in our culture who frankly do nothing to deserve such adulation.

Thank goodness there are real heroes in this world.  Some of them appear in this film, as brave men who were courageous enough to step forward and tell what happened.

Imagine the humiliation of revealing one of the worst things imaginable — committing sex acts on children.  Imagine what it took for these brave people who risked finger-pointing, hushed whispers, and public ridicule for the sake of justice?

Why is this important?  Why should you care?

Maybe you won’t.

But if hundreds of years of history, institutionalized corruption from top to the bottom, and a continuing conspiracy of denial from the Vatican don’t sway you towards contempt for the Catholic Church, then nothing else will.

Thank goodness there were men brave enough to step out of the shadows and one very dedicated filmmaker willing to shine a lens and a light into the darkest corners of the church’s soul.

Catholic Church Sex Scandals

3 Comments

  1. Me too. I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school, had my lefthandedness beaten out of me with a ruler etc. I just saw another example of the Catholic’s two faced polocies. They fight for pro-life based upon the belief that ‘LIFE” begins with conception. Yet a man is suing a Catholic hospital for the death of his wife and unborn twin boys. The hosptial then comes out an says that the unborn twins are not “LIFE”. This just about floored me. Like I needed another reason to resent the church. Boggles the mind.

    • Watch “Zeitgeist,” it tears apart all religion to its core, lies…

  2. “Catholic beliefs toward basic human rights are often are cowardly and self-serving. ”
    Have a read about what the Catholic church as an institution did for political targets in Chile, under Pinochet. Read about Oscar Romero, in EL Salvador. Not all priest are pedophiles, not all nuns are reppressed. I agree, women policies are outdated, and lots need to happen to bring the Church up-to-speed, but that must come from the inside. BTW, I am gay, a woman, and still a Catholic.

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