More Scandal In Church

And the scandal in The Church continues.

I have this feeling that it's just turning off of organized religion altogether, which I don't like that much. A church is important- the sense of community you can get from being in a room full of people that shares the same faith as you, it's awesome. It's part of the experience of believing in God. And I've tried Protestant Churches, I really have- it's just that the Catholic Church is so damn clever about the rituals and the smells and sounds-- all designed to appeal to that little corner of the brain that really digs that, I guess. I can and am perfectly willing to go Methodist. But it just won't be the same for me.

To me, this is simple: the hierarchy needs to hold itself to account. Priests are held up as examples of chastity and piety to the rest of us Catholics, so it beggars belief that once you start wearing funny hats or red robes, you're somehow exempt from that. Without the laity, the hierarchy is nothing but a bunch of old men in funny hats. And unless they change right now, the Church will continue to bleed and a demographic crisis that was already bad will continue to get worse. Of course, you're dealing with an organization to whom 'openness' and 'accountability' are totally alien concepts. Despite the fact that they should be seeking to be better examples for their 'flock' they have no reason to hold themselves to account and never will, unless the laity stops giving them money. And that teat will never run fully dry, because even as the rituals of the Catholic Church get hardwired into your brain, obedience to the hierarchy is still very strong.

Underneath this all, of course, is the conservative resurgence that's going on in the Church right now. John Paul II's longevity was good for the Church, but the slow reaction against the reforms of Vatican II is slowly underway and there is a line of thinking out there that a smaller, more doctrinally 'pure' Church would be better than a bigger, more inclusive one. That's stupidity in and of itself and solves nothing. In a world-wide Church, you're going to get differences and a spectrum of beliefs and interpretations of doctrine. That won't change whether the Church is big or small. And the quiet 'counter-reformation' is probably pleasing conservatives, but it's doing nothing to address the rot and lack of accountability current rife within the hierarchy right now- and if Conservatives want to preserve their way of doing things, they need to do something drastic right now. Otherwise, it may take a Vatican III to fix this.

So, in essence:

1. Accountability. No one is above God's Law or Man's Law. Send Cardinal Law back to Boston to have him face the music- and have the Pope step aside until his name is cleared- or not, whatever the case may be.

2. End celibacy for Priests. Bill Donohue, crazy, cringe-inducing defender of Catholics that he is, blames the gays. Of course. But it's time to end celibacy for Priests. I know too many Catholic men who would be fantastic priests, but can't, because they're married. I think being a Priest and getting hitched isn't bad- but if you want to 'move up' then you should stay celibate.

Neither of these two things is ever going to happen. But I'm just sayin'