In the January 15, 2009 issue of Commonweal Magazine, Undertaker Irish Catholic, Thomas Lynch preaches to the bishops which they have had a long time coming.
Any fair, objective observer has known for years that the Roman Catholic Church is morally deficient. This can be concluded from the way they have defended their pedophile priests, sided with militaristic secular powers in their immoral wars, and discriminated against minorities and women for centuries.
Since the time of Constantine, the Roman Church has supported the immoral, oppressive, subjugating exploits of the secular powers with a wink and a nod if not full fledged support, manipulating the faithful to do the bidding of the rich and powerful.
There have been exceptions by courageous souls but they usually have run afoul of the church they love rather than been supported by it.
In my life time, it has been the Berrigan brothers and Dorothy Day, and other brave souls who have struggled to live the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth while the church has gone its merry way oppressing and screwing people over. No condoms in Africa says the Pope dooming millions of people to the HIV virus. No birth control for Americans even though the church is largely disregarded in its teaching on reproductive health perceiving a bunch of old white guys out of touch with marital lust and life.
Thomas Lynch is a wise and articulate man. I have enjoyed his essays and writings for years. His preaching to the Bishops comes at a time when they need preaching to.
Here is part of what Mr. Lynch has to say in his essay:
In Ireland, the shoes of the fishermen are on the other foot. Coincident with the worst flooding in memory, budget woes and recession, and nationwide public-sector strikes, the report of Judge Yvonne Murphy on priestly abuses in the Dublin archdiocese is not so much a reiteration of old news about pedophiles as it is a stark indictment of the up-line of hierarchs who colluded with civil authorities to provide cover and protection for such criminals. Some bishops, it turns out, behaved like “company guys,” obstructing inquiry, hushing complaints, covering the tracks of abusers, protecting the interests of the world’s oldest merger-and-acquisition firm from any whiff of scandal. Their calculated malfeasance has done permanent damage to the faithful and to faithful priests who will spend the rest of their lives trying to repair trusts they never had a hand in breaking. The Murphy Report and the stonewalling from Rome have occasioned calls for the removal of the papal nuncio, for the immediate sacking of bishops (four subsequently resigned), for the removal of public schools from diocesan sponsorship, and for the church to be once and forever disentangled from the civic life of holy Ireland.
Do the bishops of the Roman church suffer from Moral Deficit Disorder? Yes, big time. They would protect their power and the organization and jeopardize the faithful rather than do the right thing. More than the evil which they perpetrate, the evil that spreads due to the hypocrisy is the most offensive and outrageous. Indeed, when you can no longer trust the self proclaimed representatives of God on earth who can you trust?
The fact that the institution is criminal has been found over and over again in secular courts in multiple countries the most recent in the United States and now in Ireland. The civil fines and settlements have bankrupted several dioceses. This is as it should be, but as a former Roman Catholic converted to Unitarian Universalism while these events validate my reasons for a change they still sadden me and leave a huge mountain of shame and anger because this is not how things are suppose to be nor how I was taught they supposedly are.
I have not lost my faith, but I have lost my trust and in that is the beginning of a true spiritual journey.
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