So the Catholic Church has a new Pope, Francis I. All I can say to those hoping that he will change the Catholic church to their liking, is don't hold your breath. Yes, much is made of his humility but there are also rumblings coming from his native Argentina that he sat back and did nothing while bad things happened during the "dirty war" when the junta ruled, that as Cardinal he seemed to be more interested in protecting the Church's interests than actually leading his flock. Which, I hate to say, may be the reason he was elected in the first place.
Pope Frank has a real mess in front of him. Perhaps I am wrong and this humble Jesuit will actually start cleaning out the Augean stables that the Church has become. But I am willing to bet that it is going to be business as usual. There will be no changes regarding priestly celibacy, women's ordination or birth control. And people will overlook that just as they overlooked the fact that John Paul II, for all of his easy-going popularity, was really not as easy-going as he seemed. People see what they want to see. So right now the world is happy. It's the honeymoon period.
I am glad though that the Canadian, Ouellette, did not get in. When I read that he thought the Church had done a good job handling the pedophile priest scandal (how can anyone say that with a straight face!) and that because of this it serves as a shining role model for families, I just wanted to go and hurl. As far as I am concerned (and no, I was never molested by a priest or any religious) the Church, in covering up this scandal to the extent that it has, has ****--yes, ****!--on all the faces of the faithful who kept its teachings on sexual activity even at great cost to themselves. I took NO vows; I believed in the Church's teaching that sex was reserved for marriage--and gave up all hope of husband and child as a result--and to read that men who DID take PUBLIC VOWS violated them by raping children and others knew about it and covered it up--there are no words that can express how I feel. Some say that the Church will answer for it in the next life. Yeah, right.
American feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote: "I hold men in high places responsible for the actions of the lower orders. The sentiments and opinions expressed by clergymen and legislators mould the morals of the highway. So long as the Church and State, in their creeds and codes, make woman an outcast, she will be the sport of the multitude." Substitute any other category for "woman" and you get exactly what is happening today. Will Pope Francis speak up for those who are being bullied? Will he speak up for those who the Church has preyed upon? I doubt it. The Vatican is in its own little world. It will strain out gnats and swallow camels. It took no action during the Holocaust. But let someone teach what it considers contrary doctrine (especially if that someone is a woman!) and look how fast it acts!
My mother (who is a staunch Catholic) says to me, "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater." I said to her that many, many people who are much wiser than me and more educated, have been bailing that particular bathtub out with teacups and straining the water for some time now and have utterly failed to find even the slightest hint that there even was a baby in there in the first place. I lost my faith because the more I studied it the more it seemed that it was built on sand and not on rock. Yes, the Church will go on. There are no shortage of people climbing on that particular bandwagon. But I am no longer on it. It matters not who sits on St. Peter's throne. Like Benjamin the Donkey in "Animal Farm", I say, "Life goes on regardless."
Pope Frank has a real mess in front of him. Perhaps I am wrong and this humble Jesuit will actually start cleaning out the Augean stables that the Church has become. But I am willing to bet that it is going to be business as usual. There will be no changes regarding priestly celibacy, women's ordination or birth control. And people will overlook that just as they overlooked the fact that John Paul II, for all of his easy-going popularity, was really not as easy-going as he seemed. People see what they want to see. So right now the world is happy. It's the honeymoon period.
I am glad though that the Canadian, Ouellette, did not get in. When I read that he thought the Church had done a good job handling the pedophile priest scandal (how can anyone say that with a straight face!) and that because of this it serves as a shining role model for families, I just wanted to go and hurl. As far as I am concerned (and no, I was never molested by a priest or any religious) the Church, in covering up this scandal to the extent that it has, has ****--yes, ****!--on all the faces of the faithful who kept its teachings on sexual activity even at great cost to themselves. I took NO vows; I believed in the Church's teaching that sex was reserved for marriage--and gave up all hope of husband and child as a result--and to read that men who DID take PUBLIC VOWS violated them by raping children and others knew about it and covered it up--there are no words that can express how I feel. Some say that the Church will answer for it in the next life. Yeah, right.
American feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote: "I hold men in high places responsible for the actions of the lower orders. The sentiments and opinions expressed by clergymen and legislators mould the morals of the highway. So long as the Church and State, in their creeds and codes, make woman an outcast, she will be the sport of the multitude." Substitute any other category for "woman" and you get exactly what is happening today. Will Pope Francis speak up for those who are being bullied? Will he speak up for those who the Church has preyed upon? I doubt it. The Vatican is in its own little world. It will strain out gnats and swallow camels. It took no action during the Holocaust. But let someone teach what it considers contrary doctrine (especially if that someone is a woman!) and look how fast it acts!
My mother (who is a staunch Catholic) says to me, "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater." I said to her that many, many people who are much wiser than me and more educated, have been bailing that particular bathtub out with teacups and straining the water for some time now and have utterly failed to find even the slightest hint that there even was a baby in there in the first place. I lost my faith because the more I studied it the more it seemed that it was built on sand and not on rock. Yes, the Church will go on. There are no shortage of people climbing on that particular bandwagon. But I am no longer on it. It matters not who sits on St. Peter's throne. Like Benjamin the Donkey in "Animal Farm", I say, "Life goes on regardless."
