ReallyDoVille
Look.
Tiger Woods cheated on his wife.
Over and over and over and over again.
Which stinks.
But, to the best of my knowledge, he never assaulted any of his 'victims'.
And he never held them against their will.
And he never beat them.
And none of them were systematically kept helpless in the face of such behaviour.
And, most importantly, none of them were children.
So, given all that, I actually have no real problem with all this sycophantic sports show babble about how Mr. Woods will be 'redeemed' if he wins his next golf tournament.
As long as he makes peace with his wife and does his level best to take care of his kids by giving them all the things that money can't buy.
Which is a tall order.
That last part, I mean, not the winning of stupid golf tournaments.
But it can be done.
****
Now.
As for the Catholic Church and the people that run it.....
It is clear that many people in that Church have done all of the terrible things listed above.
To many, many, many helpless children.
So, given all that, I honestly cannot understand why anyone cares about celibacy, or conspiracy theories, or hierarchies, or rigid ways, or ancient protocols, or any of the other ridiculous excuses that are being made to defend the Church.
Because none of that codswallop will help even one kid who has been, or even now is being, abused by members of that Church.
And as long as every single member of that Church does not move, with force and without excuse, to stop that abuse immediately, and forever, there can be no hope of redemption for any of them.
Put another way, if Jesus himself were alive today, what would he do if he read this?
____
And please do not misunderstand me because, despite the fact that I am an atheist, I do believe that many of the central tenets of christianity do matter. Especially the stuff about loving and helping one another.
.
10 comments:
"Bravo, RossK, Bravo!"
Wasn't aware of your non-believer status (as is mine), but that may explain why we see things the same way so many times. The timing of the latest revelations - just before the annual spectacle in Rome so as to take the shine off the festivities - was perfect.
Now about that weekend buskin' schedule: Lookin' forward to the return to JoJo's 'hood . . . .
I don't how anyone who has seriously studied history can imagine that the modern church and its leaders are faultless. I'm not talking about anyone's belief in God, only the fallibility of organized religion when it relies on its own standards of morality. It owes duty to its God but also to its earthly and human obligations.
Canadian experiences prove that abuse of the defenseless is/was not exclusive to the RC Church. Other mainstream churches, secular childcare workers, caregivers, sports organizations, schools etc. have experienced their own scandals.
The difference however is the RC failure to take full and complete responsibility for misdeeds. Clearly, the hierarchy participated in coverups and aimed to protect the churches reputation instead of doing all possible to stop abuse and heal the victims. In many proven cases, the Church made the suffering of victims worse. The present Pope and his supporting voices appears ready to continue evasion of responsibility.
The idea that Joseph Ratzinger has diplomatic immunity because he wears an expensive hat and changed his name to Benedict is silly, and should be discarded ASAP.
Bob--
There was a piece in the Globe's Focus section by the eloquent John Bentley Mays on the weekend that truly sickened me.
Why?
Because the 'reasonableness' of the pretzel logic only served to, once again, obscure the fact that, at it's core, the story of the guy in Wisconsin who abused the kids over and over and over and over again at the deaf school he was in charge of and who was then moved so he could abuse again instead of canned, apparently with the blessing of Mr. Ratzinger, only served to prove, at least to me, that this church has long been and, based on the evidence at hand, still is a massive, organized pedophile ring.
.
Norman--
Fair enough about other groups.
But this business of 'making the suffering of the victims worse' is just unfathomable to me. I honestly cannot understand how lay members of that church cannot rise up, in the face of the overwhelming evidece, and demand that it all stop.
Immediately.
All it would take would be a few weeks of notes, rather than bills, in the collection plates to get the process stated in earnest.
.
Bob--
Unfortunately, it won't.
Unless, of course, the rank and file overseen by the person that wears that hat were to rise up and put an end to this.
.
RossK
Amen to all you have said ... and surely Easter is the time to say these things: why don't we all rise up and say that corruption must stop.
Thanks.
Ross K said:
I honestly cannot understand how lay members of that church cannot rise up, in the face of the overwhelming evidence, and demand that it all stop.
Immediately.
All it would take would be a few weeks of notes, rather than bills, in the collection plates to get the process stated in earnest."
(my emphasis)
Ross, that is precisely what is bothering me too.
Why don't the members of these churches voice their refusal to accept such horrific abuse and cover-up by their church leaders? The behaviour of the Catholic Church "leaders" is tantamount to condoning, even enabling, the mass sexual assault of children. And by mutely and blindly continuing to adhere to the church, all Catholics deserve our scorn. Yes, all. Membership has its responsibilities.
As for the Globe and Mail article by John Bentley Mays that ran this Easter weekend, I too was sickened. Mr. Mays' focus was solely on himself. And, he concluded by recounting, in glorious terms, his visit to Lourdes where he was so awe struck by how people were transported by the goodness of their kindness towards people who were disabled or ill. I found it odd, if not highly ironic, that Mr. Mays made no mention of the damaged child victims, or their pain and discomfort, betrayal and destroyed lives, or the need for action to prevent new generations of babes being "volunteered" into the arms of the church (any church) to become unwilling child sex slaves. (Did I just let loose a rant? Yup.)
Until it repents and changes it ways, completely, transparently and demonstrably, the Catholic Church is simply a club for dangerous sex pedophiles.
Happy Easter everyone. May the light shine brightly in dark places.
The RC church, in Ireland for example, tolerated behavior - no, participated in - systematic abuse of children, sometimes for sexual pleasures but also for economic gain.
Ignorance of the most fundamental problems is wide and deep and people remain willfully blind and even educated Christians use Catholic abuse scandals for their own favorite slanders. We had an example in our community this weekend.
http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/2010/04/highly-educated-still-ignorant.html
Mays should have simply published his original piece - the one rejected by the Toronto Church newspaper - or published nothing at all.
His apologia was pathetic.
I have to wonder if he didn't have second thoughts after hearing what the Pope's "preacher" said in Rome.
Post a Comment