Primary commandment the Hutaree group is breaking

Where to start on this Tuesday morning? How about the insane “Christian” militia group trying to jump-start Armageddon out of a Michigan base? Granted, living in Michigan’s weather might make one cross over to the dark side, but I’ve never known snow drifts to cause folks to gird up in weapons and plot to kill a police officer. Who are these weirdos and how on earth do they get “kill a cop and start a violent standoff with the law” out of anything in the Bible? Fact is, of course, they can’t, as their website demonstrates by grasping at straws. The biblical quotes the group (named Hutaree, whatever that means) posts on the site have absolutely nothing to do with killing or bringing about the end times courtesy of a sniper scope. These guys may claim to be Christian, but as JC himself said, you’ll know Christians by their love – not their insanity.

The battle for the hearts and minds of agnostics has heated up with the atheist billboard message that was hoisted in mid-February being plastered over by a “God-country-family” billboard, courtesy of Raul Robb, a Tucson financial adviser. I didn’t like the billboard from the Center for Inquiry because I think they should come up with a better message. Their billboard read, “Are you good without God? Millions are.” Well, duh.

The billboards are popping up across the nation

There are plenty of people who argue that the only way you can be good is if you have a belief in a higher power or religion in your life, and it is certainly borne out in many ways. Who, for instance, is the first on the scene of a natural disaster? Usually not Atheists Are Us. But just as many believers do good because they feel called to it by their religious upbringing, there are also nonbelievers who do good because they believe their humanist stance requires it. Point is, we should be nice to each other, God or not, and far too often, we aren’t. Which, if you’re an atheist is no big deal, but if you’re a believer whose religion preaches loving one’s neighbor and you don’t do that – well, you give your religion a bad name.

Finally, for people who are still confused by the health care overhall, particularly in the issue of federal (aka your taxes) funding for abortion, Kathleen Parker has broken down the bits and pieces to show why the health care bill probably will fund abortion. Sadly, it doesn’t explain why legislators (and the general public) who call themselves pro-life do not object (at least not strongly enough) to further funding a war that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people, including children and pregnant women, and was never considered “just” in terms of the loophole allowed pro-lifers under just war doctrine.

The wonderful Laurie Goodstein has documents (redacted, just like the politicians’!) and a great story showing a dismally sad state of affairs in the Vatican when reports of a priest abusing 200 deaf boys came to Rome’s attention. And, depressingly – but not surprisingly, since he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time – the current Pope was involved. Read her story here.

Whenever someone argues that the Catholic Church’s celibacy requirement of clergy is the reason sick, twisted men molest defenseless children (or confused adolescents) I want to smack them in the shoulder. Celibacy doesn’t cause child sexual abuse; if it did, all the Demented Daddies out there wouldn’t be grabbing after their own sons and daughters (or more likely, their step-sons and step-daughters). The practice of celibacy is the argument given in this op-ed in yesterday’s NYTimes and it is an argument that lets the Church off the hook in a number of ways.

The sexual abuse of children happens because certain people (I like to call them criminals) get their jollies off of a power differential in sexual encounters. And, frankly, aside from the power differential between a parent and child, the most powerful of these differentials is between clergy and child. (Followed closely by teacher and child and Boy Scout Leader and child.)

Ergo, what we’ve got blowing up (again!) in the Catholic Church – this time on the other side of the Atlantic – ain’t a celibacy issue, it’s a power issue. First there is the power differential between the priest and child, of which the Roman collar-wearing snake takes advantage. But then – and far worse – is the power present in a Church hierarchy that is beholden to no one except (shock!) other men in the hierarchy. When you’ve got a closed system, bad things happen. When you’ve got a system that survives on making sure that the only people who rise through the ranks are “loyal to the Magisterium,” you’ve got yourself a problem — because anyone daring enough to call a spade a spade is quickly marginalized. (Note: Some people are taking responsibility for the abuse in Ireland; a bishop resigned today, begging forgiveness from the children harmed in his diocese.)

Each parish is a little fiefdom with Father in charge. Each diocese is a little fiefdom with Bishop in charge. And Holy Mother Church is a fiefdom writ large with the Pope (and some Cardinals) in charge. Until we make it so that the People of God are in charge, we’re going to have issues of abuse because a closed system protects its own, instead of protecting the vulnerable.

But, you might ask, what about all those diocesan commissions set up after the sex abuse crisis got press (all hail the Boston Globe!) 10 years ago? Aren’t they helping bring more transparency to the system? Well, let’s see – are the people on those commissions elected by the people? Can anyone who wants join the commission? Or are all the members appointed by local bishops and is one of the requirements (save for exceptions made for a handful of survivors on commissions) fidelity to the Magisterium? See the problem?

So, let those who dare, say it out loud: Sexual abuse by priests is not due to celibacy, it is not due to a secularization of society – as Pope Pope Benedict XVI said in his scathing letter to the Church in Ireland last week (see #4 here) – it is not due to poor seminary formation, it is not due to a rise in child pornography and the sexualization of children (where are their parents???!!!). The sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church is primarily due to an institution built as a monarchy, full of male-only power and privilege, that marginalizes those who challenge it and is steeped in a culture of what one priest calls, “I don’t call you on your sins and you don’t call me on mine.”

The aforementioned (celibacy, porn, etc.) can and do contribute to situations in which sexual abuse occur, just as allowing any Tom, Dick or Harry into seminary because of the priest shortage does. (Segue: That problem could be at least partially solved by returning to the Catholic roots of married priesthood or ordaining women, but God forbid we think outside the closed box.) But while those things might “trigger” a beastly response from a sinful man, those things are not the reason sexual abuse of children in the Church lasted as long as it did. That continuation – through many years for some of the victims – was/is caused by a powerful, closed system that protects its own in the name of protecting the Church.

B16 does shame the abusers in no uncertain terms – and the bishops who protected them – in his letter to Ireland. Yet he remains silent on the allegations in Germany and, even in his Ireland letter, refrains from doing what would really help people come to trust the Church again: He doesn’t demand resignations, he doesn’t even demand the bishops spend one day each week meeting with victims – for as long as those victims want – to hear their pain and attempt to heal the soul-murder committed in the name of God. (He could be doing these things in private – but they need to be done in public for transparency’s sake.) And most notably, he doesn’t say, “After careful thought, I’ve realized we’ve obviously screwed up and we need some outside advice, so I propose we rework Canon Law to involve the laity in our operations, particularly parents, and particularly those who have proven to be prophetically challenging to the Church. Maybe we should be listening to them.”

Instead, it is just more of the same – seminary visits by (who else?) priests and bishops (let’s keep it all in the Club, fellas) to see if the problem is seminary formation and a further call for people to return to practices that will lead them closer to God (and, by inference, more “in union” with Rome). Has it ever occurred to anyone in the hierarchy that maybe people aren’t in union with Rome because they think Rome is wrong? It is enough to make me want to bang my head against a wall.

I’m hot under the collar about this because I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and know the damage abuse by an elder does to a child. It is the gift that keeps on giving, and when I hear of children being abused, I lose all sense of mercy for the abuser and those who might protect him/her. You harm a child, I believe you should be harmed. This doesn’t fit with the Christian tenets of repentance and forgiveness, but research shows child abusers rationalize their actions, they don’t repent for them. And, as any good Catholic can tell you, without true repentance, there is no forgiveness – a fact the Catholic heirarchy should keep in mind when figuring out how to respond to yet more revelations of sexual abuse.