Recent religious arrogance, part one. A Catholic example

We like to think that we live in an era in which religion no longer has unlimited power to oppress people. This is not true. In this entry, I consider the example of the Catholic Church. In the next, I examine the nation of Israel. I will not at this time consider Protestant examples, for the simple reason that there are so many of them that they will, indeed, fill numerous other entries in this blog. Catholics and Jews will be lightly criticized in comparison.

I always thought it would be cool to be a Catholic. Literally. I guess I first got this idea when I was a child and a very devout Catholic friend of mine took me into the sanctuary, mid-week when no one else was there, and taught me to approach the altar, genuflect, and cross myself. I never did it again, but I always had the impression that a Catholic sanctuary was a place where people could be peaceful and quiet, in contrast to some Protestant churches where the preacher yells and sweats while waving a Bible in the air. In my childhood, air conditioning was rare, and in a California summer, the coolness of a Catholic sanctuary was palpable. The image fit perfectly with that of a church that has monasteries in which monks and nuns spend their time secluded from the strife of the world.

But the image does not fit the reality. For years, the Catholic Church has been rocked by scandals of sexual abuse by priests against children. Recently, the pope (formerly Cardinal Ratzinger) issued a backhanded apology to victims of priestly abuse in Ireland. But he claimed that the abuse was the result of secularization. And he just assumed that everyone would believe this. The abuses for which he issued the apology, however, had occurred between 1920 and 1960, before Vatican II and the secularization that Ratzinger so despises. He certainly must have known this, and therefore it was a lie. The pope just assumes that, as God’s Special Person Upon The Face Of The Earth, he can lie and it will become truth. This is blasphemous arrogance. Of course, not being a Catholic, I don’t give a ratz ass about it. But the lives of hundreds of millions of people are powerfully controlled by the statements and actions of this mere human being.

This is nothing new. Popes have frequently been corrupt. In fact, Pope John XII (ruled 955-964 CE) died of wounds he received when he was attacked by the husband of a woman with whom he was at that moment having sex. Popes like John XII make Ratzinger look pretty good.

The Catholic church has a chance to be a force for good in the world, but can do so only if it leaves its theological arrogance behind and instead acts a little more like some of its best members, such as Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to help the poor, or Daniel Berrigan, the priest who committed dramatic acts of civil disobedience against the Vietnam War and against nuclear armaments.