I know that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have both riffed on these topics already, but I can’t resist adding my $0.02 worth. In an ironic coincidence of events that have to make one believe in divine intervention, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to a monumental settlement of sexual abuse claims less than a week after the Roman Catholic Church reaffirmed its stance as the “one true church”.
The details, for those of you unfamiliar with these stories: On July 10, the Vatican’s office on orthodoxy known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed for two decades before becoming Pope Benedict XVI) issued a document reaffirming its belief that it is the only true church. This was a restatement of the Church’s 2000 document, Dominus Iesus. The Catholic Church proclaims itself to be the only “mediator” of salvation, and notes that other groups (e.g., all Protestant churches) are not real churches at all, but merely Christian “communities”, primarily because they do not have the apostolic succession claimed by the Catholic Church. Oh, and those Orthodox folks? They’re OK, mostly. At least they’re still “churches”, even though they "lack something in their condition as particular churches" because they are not in union with the Pope. The Protestants, however, are right out.
Meanwhile, down in the Bat Cave, the Los Angeles archdiocese recently announced a settlement of over 500 sexual abuse lawsuits, with a total payment of $660 million. The parties arrived at the settlement just prior to the beginning of the first trial, at which plaintiffs’ attorneys had planned to call Cardinal Roger Mahony to the stand to answer questions about his knowledge of the ongoing abuses and his role in the cover-up thereof. It certainly appears that there was a great deal of motivation to keep Cardinal Mahony off the stand.
So imagine yourself as a Catholic in the LA area. You’ve seen your church’s priests accused of heinous sexual abuse of minors in their pastoral care, and now the money you’ve put in the collection plate all these years is being paid out to settle a series of lawsuits so that the Cardinal doesn’t have to speak about these cases in the public scrutiny of being under oath in an open courtroom. Meanwhile, the Pope has recently reminded you that you’re part of the One True Church, and that you shouldn’t go check out any of those Protestant denominations because, after all, they don’t have the full means of grace and salvation available to them. Sounds to me like some Catholic Church folks somewhere are afraid of losing their grasp on the hearts and minds of their followers.
Is this the only instance of blatant religious hypocrisy of late? Of course not; it’s just the nice juicy one of the moment. And I would be doing you, dear reader, a disservice if I didn’t continue to remind you of the hypocrisy that is rampant in most all institutional religions. Maybe my blogging friends will explore more deeply the psychological and philosophical implications of all of these matters (yes, SI and KA, if you’re reading this, that’s an invitation). For my part, I’ll just challenge you to go out and prove that the best antidote to bad religion is not no religion, but is in fact good religion. Go therefore and do some good in the world today.
3 comments:
The Pope is just making clear what has been historic standard operating procedure for the Catholic church, and indeed most organized religion - as they are a business playing a confidence game, offering a product that doesn't exist (eternal life) from a dealer who doesn't exist (Christian God). That means you must make up hocus pocus and irrational claims in order to differentiate your product from the other fantasies on sale. Sociologists of religion have found the religions that fare best in the marketplace are the ones that make large demands of their followers and emphasize faith, not reason. The Pope is just following good business practice. I’ll say more about this in a post on Doestoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor in the near future.
It should be noted that the Pope in his explanation of Pope John Paul II's 2000 document Dominus Iesus Pope Benidect XVI does not state that those outside the Catholic Church are without salvation. He also states that "there are 'numerous elements of sanctification and of truth' which are found outside (The Catholic Church) structure" and that those "are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation." That being said, the Pope holds no reservations on the differences between the Catholic Church and Protestant Churches. I thought this article by Johnathan Morris takes a well informed look at the meaning of this document. I do think regardless of your views, it's always important to look beyond what mainstream media puts as their headline to grab your attention. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288976,00.html
Keith, looking forward to your Grand Inquisitor posting, and I've linked to your blog from mine so readers can check out your thoughts for themselves.
T.E., thanks for your comments also. I would point out that although the Protestant churches are described as "instruments of salvation," the "fullness of grace and truth...has been entrusted to the Catholic Church" is still a central assertion. Also, while I appreciate the link to Father Morris' Fox News article (nice pic - score one for the hot priest!), I have to take issue with my links as being "mainstream media" - which is more mainstream in America these days, Fox, or the Catholic News Service? I would think the former...
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