It's Time for the Catholic Church to Throw a Hail Mary
A powerful piece in the New York Times explained why it is no longer possible for men of the Catholic Church to run things as they always have. They have failed and must step aside for women and lay people.
The news is full of ordinary Catholics expressing dismay over the revelations coming out of Pennsylvania. Those who have copies of the entire report say it is painful to read. The most sadistic of crimes goes unpunished and even rewarded.
The reaction of the Catholic Church is much different than that of the suburban church in Chicago which was hit by a sex scandal. The Chicago church board and clergy all resigned. A variation of that did happen in the Catholic church of Argentina where all Bishops resigned and are now being vetted for return to posts. In the Catholic church there has been no widespread reform, only moving the figures around the chess board.
It is said there is no possible way women could be given clergy status in the Catholic Church. One suggestion was that the Pope run baptism be given the standing necessary to qualify women for clergy status.
Back in the day Catholic clergy, including Popes, married. There is no reason they cannot marry today. It would open the door to gay priests marrying and that in turn would give a more rational look to the entire organization.
It's time for the Pope to throw a Hail Mary.
If you still support the Catholic church you are supporting an organization that has never dealt properly with pedophilia in it's ranks and has proven it does not have the capacity to do so. To quote Andrew Seidel "It is time to quit the Catholic Church." To remain a member is to share in the guilt of this scandal.
ReplyDelete"and has proven it does not have the capacity to do so."
ReplyDeleteA profound observation. Can the Catholic Church deal with this or is it impossible? From what little I know about the church, I don't see how it can do much. If it allowed marriage, both gay and straight, the culture of dishonesty some report within the community of clergy might be made better. But, the path to this would be fraught with splits in the denomination. I see a slow but steady downward spiral in numbers and influence.