Kyrie, eleison
Lord, have mercy
I’m not Catholic, and I don’t know a lot of Catholics. But through the years, most of the ones I’ve gotten to know are actually former Catholics. So bitter are their childhood memories of Catholic schooling; obligated mass attendance; memorized Hail Marys and many formal prayers; built-in guilt; confession; communion; signs of the cross; and catechism of memorized saints, rituals, holy days, feasts, mass settings, and biblical passages. By the time my ‘former-Catholic’ friends were young adults, they were more than cynical about The Church. But other young people who were raised in Protestant denominations get burned out on religion, too, and strike out on their own, simply choosing not to attend church all the time. Early adulthood is a time of breaking away from required childhood routines, teachings and most importantly spiritual beliefs.
The Catholic Church being a big mystery to me, not unlike the Jewish faith, I never realized what all the silent anger was about among the few Catholics I knew and wanted to get to know better—why a deliberate non-mention that they had been raised Catholic. When the subject came up, they would roll their eyes and grit their teeth. Seemed like they didn’t want to talk about that part of their lives especially to me, a non Catholic.
All I’ve known about The Holy Roman Catholic Church is from high school World History. It was the original Christian church; forming after the fall of the Roman Empire around 450 A.D.; and for 1,500 years dominated Western Europe in culture, dress, law, music, art, architecture, deeds, expectations, behavior and thought. Teachers in the public schools made sure we understood how foolish The Church had been way back when in leading The Crusades, specifically mentioning the Children’s Crusade, and that in Europe the longstanding Catholic Church had become corrupt which ushered in the Renaissance and Reformation. For decades hence, there would be many bloody battles and outright wars between Catholics and Protestants especially in determining which would rule England and other Christian countries. When one Christian sect was in power, the other was severely persecuted.
Sanctus
Holy
I’ve found mature American Catholics to be open minded and liberal thinkers, recalling their fight for civil rights in the 1960s as well as joining protests to end the Vietnam War, serving in the Peace Corps and providing worldwide humanitarian relief through Catholic Charities. An image that comes to mind is the smiling nun at the Woodstock music festival who flashes the peace sign.
Agnus Dei
Lamb of God
But then again … and again … and yet again … the public is informed of another massive scandal within large communities of the Catholic Church involving sex abuse of children and adolescents by dozens of priests. Now I understand the … shame … of those who would rather refer to themselves as former Catholics, maybe determining themselves not religious at all. The revelations are nothing new and to a jaded society may be not only secretly suspected but remain in the forefront of the minds of non Catholics. What are we to think? Sure there have been the famous TV evangelists and little-known preachers throughout the U.S. who’ve committed the same sin, the same crime. But in sheer numbers, there is no comparison, and it’s because of an ancient institution.
The latest scandal involved six dioceses in Pennsylvania; 1,000 victims; 300 priests; and an institutionalized cover up since the 1940s. These were rapes, sex crimes that should have been reported to police … but weren’t … for whatever reasons. In 1997 a similar scandal by a “pedophile priest” occurred within the Dallas Catholic Diocese involving almost a dozen altar boys which went on for years. The priest was sentenced to life in prison, and a $119 million jury award practically bankrupted the Diocese. To prevent such crimes in the future, the jury mandated the Dallas Diocese report any rumor or suspicion of child sexual abuse by priests to law officials, never to hide the unholy again.
In 2015 the Oscar-winning movie “Spotlight” was about The Boston Globe’s investigation into a sex scandal within the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Five priests were criminally prosecuted, not to mention a plethora of lawsuits. The Catholic bishop kept the sex crimes secret and reassigned offending priests, as was done in Pennsylvania. So … The Church knew all along. The newspaper reported the scandal in 2002 and won the Pulitzer Prize.
In paradisum
Into paradise
Pope Francis is livid over the same scandal involving priests not only in America but Ireland and other countries around the world. Obviously, to Catholics and non Catholics alike, something has to be done immediately. One solution is not allowing a priest to ever be alone with a minor. Some Catholics are calling for The Pope to reconsider permitting women to enter the priesthood and allowing priests to marry. Why are these two reforms still controversial in the year 2018?
In the 16th century, Martin Luther posted dozens of disagreements with The Church. He also had an opinion on allowing priests to marry, writing that celibacy is not required in the Bible and that on the contrary God called humans to be fruitful and multiply. Once the Protestant Reformation was under way, ministers were allowed to marry, and their wives were part of their ministries. Luther also believed marriage would prevent temptation. He also disagreed with priests as a necessary go-between for man and God. Luther preached that everyone is called to minister to all people, which is biblical, spoken by Jesus Christ Himself.
Today’s Catholics, led by the popular and progressive Pope Francis, are allowed their own discretion on many intimate beliefs such as contraception. What is surprising to non Catholics like me is why a billion people around the world remain dedicated to The Church. Protestants, from the root word ‘protest,’ don’t understand and would simply switch to another church. Given the cover ups, criminal sexual abuse against children, the perversion and hypocrisy—why do so many remain loyal to The Church? Are they eternally dedicated though sorely ashamed and disgusted with atrocious sins and crimes by some priests involving the innocence of children?
Catholic or Protestant, we are taught to believe before we are taught to think. The Catholic faith—with its beautiful stained-glass depictions, sky-high cathedrals, priests donning ornate robes and hats, processions, rituals, congregational prayers and songs, unified mass scripture readings and lectures—is essentially what religion should be: a sacred and profound bond of humans in mind and spirit. There are millions on earth who still believe “To err is human, to forgive divine.” But at what cost to our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, all God’s children?