I grew up in a family that was steeped in Catholicism. My uncle was a Catholic priest and my father’s cousin was a nun. I and all of my siblings went to Catholic grammar and high schools. We went to church every Sunday and I was even an Altar Boy. And probably because of this immersion, I always had a healthy skepticism of the personnel that ran it. Seeing the priests and nuns constantly and up close allowed me to see just how human and flawed they really were. But back then there was never any hint of the truly dark side of the priesthood that we are hearing about today. And that is probably a generational thing. I’ve heard that it was the 1960s that saw the large influx of active homosexuals and pedophiles into the priesthood. This may be hard to prove but it at least seems reasonable to assume that the skeptical atmosphere that called into question every other absolute prohibition would be used by men to use a sacred office to abuse children. Now, understand, I’m not saying that the priests who were around when I was a kid didn’t have any sex offenders in their midst. I imagine that human nature being what it is, there were some of these. I merely claim that a step change in the number of them occurred in the 1960s.
Over the last forty years a steadily growing body of evidence has accumulated proving that a hidden but pervasive subculture that included homosexuality and pedophilia has existed in the Catholic Church and that knowledge of this subculture has been shielded by the higher levels of Church leadership. And now we know that the protection of these offenders has been sanctioned by the current Pope. A Cardinal of the American Catholic hierarchy was found to be engaging in homosexual acts with young seminarians at his New Jersey beach house. The previous Pope censored him and removed him from his ministry. The current Pope reinstated him and embraced him as a counselor. So now we know. The leadership of the Roman Catholic Church is composed of at best sexual deviants who are complicit with pedophiles and allow them to use the Church to irrevocably damage innocent children. At worst, they’re all pedophiles.
The Roman Catholic Church is only something if it is the legitimate heir of Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said, (Matthew 18:6) “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” And these are supposedly the priests and bishops of the Church Jesus founded. By the very words of the Bible these men must be cast out of the Church as anathema. If the Church leaders won’t do that then, they are nothing and the Roman Catholic Church is just a satanic cult.
I think the correct action is to withdraw all support from the Church until they clean house. At some point the Church has to reconsider the wisdom of a celibate priesthood. But in the meantime, it’s time to purge all homosexual and sexually active priests and identify all pedophiles and hand them over to the police.
And if the Church won’t reform itself it must be abandoned. But Jesus said, (Matthew 18:20) “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” And that’s enough to know that a corrupt Church does not destroy God.