One More Opinion

Why the Catholic Church doesn't want to the Whole Truth to come out:

By Phillip Alden

April 2010

By way of introduction, I am the son of an Irish-American, Catholic mother. I grew up being forced to attend their church. Catholicism in Palo Alto, California, in the 1960s and 70s, was rather liberal. There were openly gay members and the priests I grew up knowing were all good men who would never harm anyone, particularly any child. There were no anti-gay messages, or any such messages preached there. (The priest I admired the most was forcibly excommunicated later for falling in love with and marrying a wonderful woman. He also performed my sister's marriage ceremony while he was still a Catholic priest.)

Although I never voluntarily participated in any way, (I never went to "confession" and I was never "confirmed,") my mother loved her church and was very active in the union of her church and the Catholic students at Stanford University, (which sits next door to my hometown.) I am glad she is not alive to day to see the beginning of the destruction of the church she loved so much.

Because that is what we are witnessing, one of those moments in time that you fail to appreciate until after everything has run its course. We are front row center for the beginning of the end of the Catholic Church. Now when I say that, I know it can sound like hyperbole. Catholicism will continue to exist for centuries. But the "Catholic Church" as we know it, as a powerful religious entity that influences societies and governments around the world, one of the wealthiest organizations in the world – is beginning to die. It will be a long, slow, painful death – for such an entrenched organization does not "go quietly into that good night."

Am I happy about this? For a while I gloated, and I will welcome the day when the church can no longer hurt people. But happy? I don't think so. For one thing, even though my mother is no longer with us in this life, there is my aunt, my cousins, and millions, if not billions, of basically good people who are going to be hurt. They are hurting right now. To a devout Catholic, these continued revelations are like a knife to their spirit. These are people who don't change their religious beliefs easily, if at all.

For some people, it's a shame that the truth has a habit of rising to the surface, regardless of how hard one tries to bury it. But as we know from history, sooner or later, the truth will out. It just keeps getting worse and worse for Rome. And there's no end in sight.

Already there are church properties in the U.S. and in other countries that are being sold off to pay for lawyers and law-suit payouts. Some of those churches were built by hand from craftsmen immigrants from Germany, Italy, Ireland, France, and a dozen other countries. These one-of-a-kind, beautiful pieces of architecture will be lost forever.

The Vicious Cycle:

The pandemic of child abuse, both sexual and physical, by Catholic priests and other authority figures in the church – all over the world – is just the tip of the iceberg.

Traditionally, in Catholic families, if a male child shows any sign of potential homosexuality, they are usually push into the priesthood. This has been done for centuries. These young men often become sexually retarded, and the only people they can truly relate to sexually are children.

According to gay men who have left the church; seminaries, and even Vatican City, have places where two men can get together easily.

According to this Wikipedia article about sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church:

".. Dr Richard Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist with experience of treating abusers, suggests a link between homosexuality and child abuse. He said, "In fact, every priest whom I treated who was involved with children sexually had previously been involved in adult homosexual relationships..."

Now that is not to say that, because a man is homosexual, he is a child-molester. That has been disproven by medical study after study. Outside the Catholic Church, the only people who accuse us of being predators by virtue of our sexuality are ignorant people who have been fed hate by other ignorant and hateful people. There are hundreds of gays and lesbians who raise children, and those kids grow to be sexually healthy adults who make their own decisions about their personal sexuality. I have nephews and nieces, and my friends have children. I would never dream of harming them or any other child.

As an aside, I met a woman from Japan while vacationing in New Zealand. When I told her about this cycle, she said the same thing happens in Japan: Japanese children who are suspected of being homosexual are pushed by their families into becoming Buddhist monks. I found this an interesting coincidence.

Now the sheer number of children who have been abused by Catholic priests and other church officials may be enough to bring the church to its knees financially. And the settlements just keep coming. In addition, the number of dedicated parishioners are declining. Many of them are people like myself, whose parents were involved with the church, but their children have found it holds no interest for them. And why should it? When most of us want to be present in today, with an eye on the future, the Catholic Church wants to take people backwards. Human lives are linear, and the only direction is forward.

The historic crimes and atrocities of the church have been written about extensively, by men far more researched and scholarly than I. The part the church played in The Crusades is well-known, as is their historic (and ongoing) oppression of women. As a gay man, and considering what we keep learning, the church is more than a little hypocritical of my sexuality, and singling out a group of people for attack is just plain wrong.

But aside from the church's current abhorrent and inexcusable behavior, and their half-baked attempts to cover it up, there are hundreds of years of political intrigue, abuse of indigenous cultures and their beliefs, and trying to force human beings into a twisted sexual dynamic that is unnatural and unhealthy for the human psyche. And as the incredibly vast dark side of the Catholic Church is brought into the Light, we will become more contemptuous and dismissive of the Vatican and all it represents.

What destroyed the Roman Empire, and the empires that came before it, is the same thing that will destroy the Catholic Church; slavery, killing, subjugation and repression, excesses and abuse, the never-ending hunger for power and gold. As I said, I will be happy when the day comes that the Catholic Church can no longer hurt people. That day will not happen in my lifetime, barring something extraordinary. But I am not "happy" or pleased with myself to bear witness to the first dominoes falling, neither will I grieve for an institution that has done so many bad things.

Because, like it or not, the Catholic Church does a lot of good in the world. Their Catholic Charities are a good example of this. I may not like the way they do their good works, but it would be unfair to the church to fail to mention the good it has done around the world. Throughout history the church has furthered the world of science, art, music and literature. There is not one American alive today, Catholic or not, that has not been affected by the church in some way. The church has kept Latin, the primary base of the English language, alive for centuries.

Other than people who are angry with the church, the feeling we should have is one of great sadness. This is a once-great religious institution that could have been so much more, and could have had a bright future. But as with many organizations started by man, power and greed corrupted the church very early in its history. That they have remained this powerful and this present in daily life for so long under the ever-increasing weight of that corruption only shows how massively powerful and wealthy the Vatican has always been.

Yes, we are witnessing history. Hopefully those who have been abused will get some measure of justice, or at least find a way to live happily in today. I also hope that the great art and culture will survive, that the things of beauty will outlast the grave of the Catholic Church. I expect that its end, when it finally does come, will be bloody and violent. But then, blood and violence are also a major part of the church's history.