Pages

Monday, August 20, 2018

Another on Religion

Reading the news this week...I know...I should quit doing that. But amid all the (nowadays) normal Trump noise and the usual insanity that permeate the daily cycle...here we go with yet another investigation into the Catholic church.

This one caught my attention because even though it's an absolute nightmare, it's not surprising. The church has been down this road before and will be again.

Seems to me that nobody should be looking at a DC pizza joint or haunting 4chan searching for child abusers and traffickers...they're right down the street at the vestry.

How many times do these 'revelations' have to come out? This go-round it reaches back to the '40s and involves possibly thousands of victims? 300 priests in Pennsylvania alone? Some at it so long they've retired or died. And this is what's called a religion? It's more like a predator meat market.

Tell me about how 'they're not all bad' and I'll tell you about turning a blind eye to madness. To make the excuse that the 'good' ones don't know what's happening in their ranks is ridiculous.

Think about it...just as a rough estimate...take 50 states with say...half that many per state comes out to 7500 practicing molesters and pornographers. All with perfect hunting grounds and the protection of one of the most powerful and influential organisations in the world. You can even get promoted if a whiff of your indiscretions gets out. What a deal! Don't tell me they don't know.

And still they have the gall to preach morality. They espouse celibacy and abstinence while raping children. They wring their hands over the 'moral outrage' of LBGT while colluding to hide their own immorality. They exclude women and decry the crime of birth control while they bleed their parish children of innocence. They dare to sit in pious judgment of others while they feed their own personal demons. Their absolute power has corrupted absolutely.  They bury the evidence and protect the guilty in a twisted parody of the Mob. Over and over again.

In truth, the Catholic Church is no better than any criminal enterprise at its core. They do some good to cover up the fact that they destroy lives and do irreparable harm to the most vulnerable of those they profess to protect. All you need is some good PR and a few 'donations' to grease the skids. 

Hell, even Pablo Escobar knew that if you do a little 'public service', your corrupt and evil organization will be better tolerated and harder to indict. Run a soup kitchen, give away a tiny fraction of the take, smile for the cameras. Pay the right people and threaten the rest and the wheels keep on turning. The church continues to be immeasurably wealthy and powerful while 'the least of these' are used and abused. It makes me feel like throwing up.

The leader of the church, Pope Francis issued a letter yesterday to Catholics around the world condemning the “crime” of priestly sexual abuse and cover-up and demanding accountability.

Francis wrote: “We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.”

That you did. Your 'church' has overseen more devastation and horror in the name of your faith over the centuries than any other in history. You demand from your followers that which you yourselves cannot or will not do. You preach chastity, charity and forgiveness while you indulge in sex with children, sit on a misers hoard that can't even be counted and pronounce judgment on anyone who dares to question your authority. How do you look in the mirror and call yourselves men of God? How dare you call yourselves holy? How much evil can you hide? 

A Catholic poet once wrote, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here"

Perhaps your parishioners...particularly the children...should do just that.