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Church sees gray where there's only black and white
Seattle Post-Intelligencer/New York Times ^ | 5/4/02 | Maureen Dowd

Posted on 05/04/2002 9:27:33 AM PDT by ppaul

WASHINGTON -- In the Catholic catechism, schoolchildren learn the seven deadly sins.

There is Lust, which ran unchecked -- in a tortured, destructive form -- in the Catholic priesthood.

There is Greed, which prompted Catholic prelates to defame victims rather than face civil fines and depleted contributions.

And then there is Pride, which was on infuriating display last week in Rome, where the most compelling tableau was the row of empty chairs at a Vatican news conference. Only two of the 12 American cardinals there bothered to attend.

As American Catholics waited and prayed for a glimmer of humility, the princes of the church strutted off to what one church official called "other obligations," as if there were something more pressing than the rape of children.

And while conservatives back home yammered that the answer was a return to clerical austerity, Cardinal Edward Egan luxuriated at a five-star hotel near the Pantheon. (Add Gluttony to the list.)

When the cardinals issued a statement targeting "notorious" predatory priests, that notorious protector of predators, Cardinal Bernard Law, was hiding in a friend's apartment inside the Vatican.

This was supposed to be the moment when these shamed vicars would make an extraordinary act of contrition, when the men who usually urge redemption angled for their own.

But the leaders of a church built on symbols could not even manage the symbolism. The empty chairs sent an unequivocal message: They hadn't learned a thing.

The cardinals chose defiance over deference to the expectations of their devastated flock, which thought that celibacy, women priests and married priests might be discussed.

The shepherds opted for arcane legalisms over actual remorse, meaningless distinctions over meaningful changes: An abusive priest might or might not be ejected from the club, depending on the age of his victims and the frequency of his transgressions, and how long ago the abuse occurred. Was he a "serial" offender or a hobbyist, intent on abusing or inebriated? To the hair-splitting cardinals, these variables still seemed to matter. To enraged American Catholics, they no longer do.

We are angry that these spiritual arbiters are unyielding when the "sins" belong to us, not to them.

We have relatives whose lives were choked because they could not get annulments -- and thus remarry in the church -- after their spouses betrayed and abandoned them.

We know faithfully married women who are forced to violate the Vatican stricture against birth control if they don't want 13 babies. We are friends with gay Catholics who are expected to sacrifice intimacy to maintain their faith.

Rome has resisted modernity, clinging to black and white.

But -- astonishingly, disgustingly -- on the matter of molestation, which any sane person does see in black and white, the cardinals divine shades of gray.

It took them three days and a deafening chorus of disapproval before they ostensibly agreed on a one-grope-and-you're-out policy. They can still water that down at the bishops conference in June.

And it will be a miracle if they don't, given the increasing evidence that church leaders in America, and perhaps even the Holy See, have engaged in a huge conspiracy, spurred by fear of blackmail. They knowingly put children in harm's way because they did not want the priests they should have punished to divulge the church's hypocrisy.

Even as the cardinals were making their way back from Rome, the Archdiocese of Boston released new documents in the case of the Rev. Paul Shanley, an unabashed molester who made a speech in 1977 asserting that no sexual act in and of itself causes damage to children, not even incest or bestiality.

The documents show that Shanley threatened to spill the church's sexual secrets if he wasn't allowed to keep his street ministry. They also include a 1972 essay in which the priest boasted: "My name is to be found in the files of countless VD clinics in this fair land. One of the first things I do in a new city is to sign up at the local clinics for help with my VD."

In the cardinals' Vatican statement, they said of the church, "A great work of art may be blemished, but its beauty remains." Not at this rate.

Link to editorial HERE.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholicbashing; catholiclist; children; courts; crime; criminals; justice; law; molestation; pederasty; pedophilia; pope; priests; rape; vatican
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To: superfluousdude
ROTF...You think RS now has a calling?
21 posted on 05/04/2002 10:59:02 AM PDT by Angelique
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To: ppaul
Gray is an appropriate symbol. Excepting economics Yes or No is beyond the capacity of any person in a position of authority. This is true of church, government at all levels, business and military.

"Christianity shall die of its own mendaciousness"-A Great Historian 1888.

22 posted on 05/04/2002 11:05:00 AM PDT by HENRYADAMS
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To: abwehr
One wonders if these perverts and their helpers were ever committed to the Church or was it just another institution amongst many that have been corrupted by the secular humanists and leftist ideologues.

This is where you hit it on the head. Despite the desires of many here to use this problem as validation for their irrational beliefs about the Catholic Church, the real issue is that the Catholic Church has been infiltrated by evil.

23 posted on 05/04/2002 12:07:44 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah
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To: goldenstategirl
"...infiltrated by evil."

Ditto.

24 posted on 05/04/2002 1:05:56 PM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: ppaul
Interesting how she condems perversion within the church,
but defends it outside of the church.

Dowd alert! She speaketh out of both sides of her mouth.

25 posted on 05/04/2002 1:12:48 PM PDT by Salvation
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide violates Scripture

BTTT for the truth!

26 posted on 05/04/2002 1:13:53 PM PDT by Salvation
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To: abwehr
I doubt you will find many Catholics who disagree with most of your statement. The men responsible for these crimes, and those who had knowledge of the crimes and allowed them to occur, need to be removed from active duty and prosecuted, as necessary.

However, don't get sucked into the media myth that these crimes were pedophila. I believe there were only one or two cases of actual pedophila (sex with children). The acts that have been committed are HOMOSEXUAL acts with teen-age boys (post-pubescent.) This in no way condones the crime, which is an affort to God and His Church, in addition to hurting teen-age boys and their families, and being against the secular law.

God bless.

27 posted on 05/04/2002 1:15:24 PM PDT by Gophack
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To: RAT Patrol
Maureen Dowd, like others, understand that the Catholic Church is a powerful Church and that its teachings are sound moral teachings. The Catholic Church has been a staunch defender of human life from conception to natural death since its beginning. We have been joined by many of our Protestant brothers and sisters in defending human life.

Dowd, like others, don't understand the Church teachings. Artificial birth control has a lower percentage success rate than faithfully practiced natural family planning. However, many people think that human beings are animals when it comes to sex and can't refrain during the few days of the month that a woman can conceive. They have the secular "me-first" attitude. Why should we conform to please God? Why should we deny ourselves when we don't get immediate rewards? Why can't we have sex whenever we want with whoever we want? We have this wonderful thing called birth control, no consequences. Whoops, got pregnant! Condom broke! I can get an abortion.

The church has a moral position and some people don't like it. Fine, they don't have to. But don't expect the church to change because some people in this society think that the rules are unfair or too strict.

28 posted on 05/04/2002 1:26:33 PM PDT by Gophack
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To: Gophack
You said it better than I did.
29 posted on 05/04/2002 1:52:48 PM PDT by RAT Patrol
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To: history_matters
Amen, Amen, Amen!
30 posted on 05/04/2002 2:30:44 PM PDT by chatham
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To: Gophack
Well said.
31 posted on 05/04/2002 2:37:07 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah
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To: goldenstategirl
This is where you hit it on the head. Despite the desires of many here to use this problem as validation for their irrational beliefs about the Catholic Church, the real issue is that the Catholic Church has been infiltrated by evil.

Infiltration is one of the key questions. We know that the communists were trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church. There is that little book The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle that now seems to be reasonable given current events. And there are the old satanist and luciferian groups that have longed to destroyed the Church.

Regardless of the group, you are spot on when your right that "the real issue is that the Catholic Church has been infiltrated by evil" because it surely has, and the smoke of satan is billowing forth from the sanctuaries.

32 posted on 05/04/2002 3:08:29 PM PDT by history_matters
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To: abwehr
What disturbs me is that these Cardinals and Archbishops, the elite of the church, stood before America and told us that Marxist warlords in Central America must not be defeated, that American efforts at self defense were wrong and would lead to war and we were to listen to them because they were men of faith and great moral rectitude

Add to that mix support for gun control and socialism here in the USA
33 posted on 05/04/2002 3:52:54 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: Gophack
animals when it comes to sex and can't refrain during the few days of the month that a woman can conceive.

If you eliminate those who use birth control you will be very lonely at mass on Sunday and the churches coffers will be bare here in the USA . And if anything the USA Catholics are probably the most faithful in the world
34 posted on 05/04/2002 3:59:20 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: history_matters
"The Devil like a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour.." Office of Compline, many years ago.

Guess he found a lot of morsels. Was it C.S. Lewis who said that the Devil likes nothing better than for us to deny he exists?

35 posted on 05/04/2002 4:04:12 PM PDT by livius
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To: livius
C.S. Lewis said it was the devil's greatest victory to convince us that he did not exist.
36 posted on 05/04/2002 4:20:17 PM PDT by history_matters
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Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: Goldhammer
How many of the Catholic flock here expected ordination of women to be discussed?

None.
Zero.
Zip
Nada.
Jail the pederasts and pedopholes, and, excommunicate them.
Period.

38 posted on 05/04/2002 4:46:58 PM PDT by ppaul
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To: Goldhammer
women priests to be discussed?

Heaven forbid, we have enough to contend with the homosexuals who have infiltrated our seminaries and worked their way through the hierachy...now, we surely don't want lesbianism to take the same course.

39 posted on 05/04/2002 6:02:20 PM PDT by ejo
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To: history_matters;goldenstategirl;abwehr;americancolleen
Yes,the Church has been infiltrated. In Bella Dodd's Memoirs she tells of speaking before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities.She was the former co-chairman of CPUSA(Communist Party United States of America)and testified in the late 40's early 50's. She testified that from the time of the Bolshevic Revolution and by the beginning of the 40's Communists had placed over 1000 candidates in Catholic seminaries in Europe and the United States. So it is not hard to discipher what happened by the 60's. They had risen to positions of power in the Church,seminaries and academia and commandeered the Church. But God in His mercy has given us yet another chance. We need to be wise as serpents and simple as doves.

Satan and his able emissaries on earth are within the walls.

40 posted on 05/04/2002 7:19:43 PM PDT by saradippity
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