What's wrong with the (catholic) church?
The pope has stated that there is crisis of religion in Europe and that the great churches in decline all around the world - except America. Of course he has readjust his statement for World( catholic) Youth day that Australia is the great southern land of the holy spirit.
But why are the great churches in decline?
The pope's theory is that people's attitudes these days are:
Bishop Fisher said
That's right. How dare these people, during an event celebrating the greatness of the catholic church, point out and remind us that the catholic church is not great. For some reason it's okay for the church to condemn an artist because he took some pictures, but if one of their priests "suffer" the little children, well lets just sweep that one under the carpet.
Of course the reason these people are "dwelling crankily" on these "old wounds" is the address and hopefully change this very attitude. The reason that an apology is not enough is because these people want reassurances that the catholic church will change. That people like cardinal Pell, the former archbishop of Melbourne, will stop stalling compensation claims, or stall investigations by moving priests from parish to parish until either there are no more parishs or the police get involved.
Yes, if the pope wishes to stop the decline (or delay the decline) the church must change. Of course it's hard when they keep electing as its leader some geriatric and usually conservative or a traditionalist.
But as the pope says,
So maybe these hope for all the crankily wounded dwellers within the church they still seem to support.
But why are the great churches in decline?
The pope's theory is that people's attitudes these days are:
"We do not need God to be happy, we do not need God to create a better world. God is not necessary."Hmm, maybe it has nothing to do with people's (common masses) attitudes, but something (everything) to do with attitudes of church hierarchy like Bishop Anthony Fisher [World youth day organiser].
Bishop Fisher said
"I think most of Australia was enjoying, delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people ... rather than dwelling crankily as a few people are doing on old wounds,"What are these old wounds? Sexual abuse, as children, by priests.
That's right. How dare these people, during an event celebrating the greatness of the catholic church, point out and remind us that the catholic church is not great. For some reason it's okay for the church to condemn an artist because he took some pictures, but if one of their priests "suffer" the little children, well lets just sweep that one under the carpet.
Of course the reason these people are "dwelling crankily" on these "old wounds" is the address and hopefully change this very attitude. The reason that an apology is not enough is because these people want reassurances that the catholic church will change. That people like cardinal Pell, the former archbishop of Melbourne, will stop stalling compensation claims, or stall investigations by moving priests from parish to parish until either there are no more parishs or the police get involved.
Yes, if the pope wishes to stop the decline (or delay the decline) the church must change. Of course it's hard when they keep electing as its leader some geriatric and usually conservative or a traditionalist.
But as the pope says,
"We must awaken consciences,"
So maybe these hope for all the crankily wounded dwellers within the church they still seem to support.
posted by Renegade79 at 4:48 pm
6 Comments:
Posting a blog about the church is like sitting an ADHD kid in front of a big red button that says "DO NOT PUSH" with no other stimumi and expecting them to sit there for hours....
Anyways in mixing my passions, an article on economics and religion - marketplace of faith:
"Nor does the heat always last. “You don't see many graveyards in megachurches,” say the sceptics. Emotional, unhierarchical religion may be gloriously customer-centred, but it lacks a control mechanism. Pentecostal pulpits have been a home to some almighty rogues, and many Muslims would like to bring radical imams under control."
and
"And atheism is definitely part of this pluralism. The proportion of Americans citing no religious preference has increased from 7% to 14% (20% for young people). As Ross Douthat argued recently in the Atlantic Monthly, anti-religiosity has moved from America's east-coast elite to the masses. By some counts there are at least 500m declared non-believers in the world—enough to make atheism the fourth-biggest religion."
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10015239
link to previous references, sorry.
I know. That's why I've resisted posting til now.
But after reading Fisher's comments I could resist no more.
And I've read this morning that he had "misspoked" I'm sure that makes all those victims feel so much better
This comment has been removed by the author.
In response to this:
"...dwelling crankily as a few people are doing on old wounds,"
I agree with you Nat, on these points...
Considering that these cases were unresolved and ongoing the wounds of the abused cannot really be classified as 'old'. Sure, some of the abuses now re-surfacing in the media may have happened a long time ago, but if justice was not brought upon the perpetrators then I cannot see how one's wounds could heal.
I also agree that, considering that no changes have been made to the Catholic Church's system since the date of such reported cases of child abuse, one must assume that such biligerant abuses continue to happen. This would be added grief to the victims.
However I wanted to add to the discussion with this point: some victims did 'get the police involved'. Because there is a certain percentage of Catholics holding high ranking positions within the police force, in many cases getting the police involved did NOTHING to help their cause Please read
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2004/s1264404.htm
The victims have thus once had their trust betrayed and abused by one high ranking, well-respected member of society, but then to compound the issue, when they have sought justice through the appropriate channels their trust (i.e. I tell you this really horrifying and shameful thing that happened to me and you guys go and catch the man that did it") has again been betrayed.
And that's just the victims of the physical abuse. The effects on the families of the victim, the community with a kiddy fiddling priest, and hey, while we're at it the effects on the church itself are MASSIVE.
The phrase 'swept under the carpet' conjures an image of briskness and smacks of simplicity. When Mr Brown 'swept [it] under the carpet'(because Mrs Brown is out earning a living...) he hid a few crumbs out of sight while Mr Jones came around for tea and some afternoon gossip. What has happened here is far, far darker: it hurt more than just Mr and Mrs Brown and their Brownlings.
Yes Claire. There was a time when police would interfere with an investigation, because they didn't believe the victims or a misplaced trust in the catholic church or whatever reason. They would also fail to investigate gay bashings, rape and even domestic violence.
But after royal commissions, internal investigations, public outcry, the police force has changed over time. That doesn't change what had happen, but the important thing is that the police and the public are trying to make sure it won't happen again.
As for the phrase "Swept it under the carpet." It is suppose to conjure images of briskness and is suppose to smack of simplicity. That's the catholic church's attitude to the problem. People like you and I can see that it's far more complex and darker then that, but the church says it as something that will go away if you ignore it.
That's the attitude that has to change if the church wishes to survive.
Post a Comment
<< Home