Abandoned Altars

With Pope Benedict’s arrival in the US just days away, interest is growing in his role in the clergy sex abuse scandals. A British documentary revives the charges that he led the cover-up.

That is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg, I’m afraid. Recent historical research for a book I’m writing has convinced me that Joseph Ratzinger is largely responsible for the scandals erupting in the first place. And he is directly responsible for their ending. Details can be found here.

That’s right. The scandals are over, folks. You just have not realized it yet.

Why is this important? First of all, they are over because the cover-up is in place even worse than before.

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In the middle of April, Pope Benedict XVI will be coming to the United States for a visit. He will hold huge public masses, meet political and religious leaders, and even address the UN.

Doubtless the sheeple will be filled with joy. But what about the rest of us?

For those not blinded by the papal aura, this pope is not an attractive figure. Aside from looking as evil as the Emperor in Star Wars, Joseph Ratzinger, whose last job was chief enforcer for the Vatican, has turned the clock back to the Dark Ages.

Gone are any dreams of a truly ecumenical Church, the ordination of women, the inclusion of gays, the use of contraception, or alleviating poverty and class injustice through inspired social activism. He’s subtly insulted non-Roman Catholics of all denominations and sure hasn’t made friends with the Muslims or the Jews, either.

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For over a decade, victims and survivors of sexual and other abuse within the Roman Catholic Church have been struggling for justice and reform. Grassroots organizations, such as SNAP and the former Linkup and other have led the long, hard fight for recognition, compensation, and safegaurds for future generations.

It’s been a difficult and thankless struggle and a great deal of work needs to be done. Yet, the strides made have been great. The public is now aware of the problems within the Church as never before. Despite a great deal of denial, the hierarchy has acknowledged the evil has been done. Many victims have won handsome settlements. And the laity has been aroused and many are asking questions.

Maybe it’s time to change tactics. Maybe it’s time to celebrate our accomplishments — and in so doing, take the movement to a whole new level.

World Catholic Abuse Survivors Day is a proposal for such an event, put on by survivors and supporters around the world. It’s a simple idea, but it embodies a revolutionary new strategy of engaging the Church.

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Anyone’s who has actually read this blog has probably seen it coming. And it’s happened at last. My time as a priest is up.

I have now officially retired as a priest (archpriest, actually) in the Church of Antioch. This doesn’t mean I lose any of the powers of the priesthood. But then again, not even the Pope could take them away, even if I were a Roman priest.

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The summer movie season is in full swing, and so far two films have gained my notice for their clerical characters: The Da Vinci Code, where prelates plot with murderous monks to conceal juicy secrets about Jesus, and Nacho Libre, a light-hearted comedy about a monk who becomes a Mexican wrestler.

Not much reason for the cardinals to go to the matinees these days. Long gone indeed are the days when the film industry catered to the Catholic crowd with safe and morally uplifting propaganda like Going My Way.

For the last several years, I’ve been working on a list of movies, which I call The Fallen Priests Film Festival. Every feature film or TV mini-series I could find that had priests or nuns or indeed, any kind of Christian minister in trouble is included there. I’m sure there’s many more, but I think I’ve found the most important ones by now. I’ve found quite a surprising amount.

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