Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Monday, April 22, 2002 Over the mountains Emily Stimpson at Fool's Folly appears to have a slight case of the ultra-montane today. We should beware of those "the Church is not a democracy" argument since the fact is (as I've mentioned previously) that the Church is indeed a democracy in its most important office and other significant ones. Nor should we overlook the first 3-6 centuries of Church existence when Bishops needed approval from from the flock before assuming office. The belief that Rome has been protecting us from bad bishops and cardinals cannot be taken seriously in light of recent scandals and malfeasance. After all, how did the "Lavender Mafia" get such a stranglehold on high office? Whenever I see any bishop appear in the news or on TV these days, I immediately wonder if he's not homosexual. I keep wondering if Cardinal Law is. How else explain his inaction and sympathy for the offending priests? I keep thinking that these bishops have something to hide and are being emotionally blackmailed or threatened with exposure such as the bishop of Santa Rosa, California who was indeed blackmailed and threatened with exposure by an embezzling priest who had been (coerced, he says) having sex with the bishop. After hearing assertions that at least 50% of all current priests are homosexual from a variety of sources, such talk (whether true or not) corrupts lay people's desire to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Instead, we now figure the odds are pretty good that our priest may be hiding something. Rome has much to answer for this, too. Furthermore Any organization that adores secrecy and power as much as the RCC does is always ripe for scandal. It doesn't matter whether the power is in Rome, in Dioceses, or Bishops' Conferences. Rome presently has no moral high ground that we can presently point at as exemplary. (I've always tried to give JPII the benefit of the doubt, but he's never really impressed me as anything but a rather autocratic pseudo-intellectual. Very much like his Polish opposites under communism. It is very sad how adversaries often come to resemble each other over time. But prevailing mores tend to produce the same in opposing forces.) posted by Mark Butterworth | 11:31 AM | |
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