Abandoned Altars

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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The word “privilege” basically means a “private law”, that is, a law not enacted for the good of the general public, but for the benefit of some interested group.

Case in point: the clergy. Historically, the Church has claimed many privileges for its clergy. Here’s what the old Catholic Encyclopedia lists:

“The privileges in favour of the clergy are: personal inviolability, a special court, immunity from certain burdens and the right to a proper maintenance (privilegium canonis, fori, immunitatis, competentiœ). In addition, the clergy have precedence of the laity in religious assemblies and processions, a special place in the church, viz., the presbytery, and titles of honour.”

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Give Guilt Top Priority, Pope Asks Priests

Vatican, Feb. 20, 2007 (NadirNews.com) - At an Ash Wednesday meeting with confessors, Pope Benedict XVI remarked on how the “best racket in the business” is realized in the sacrament of Penance.

The Holy Father was speaking to the confessors of the Roman basilica at a Lenten pep rally. After the officials of the Apostolic Penitentiary, led by Cardinal James Stafford, put on a stunning and energetic song and dance number, the Pope gave his address. “This is our busiest season for welcoming sinners,” he acknowledged, “and a heavenly opportunity to terrify them into submission.” He told them that the priest, as confessor, is a “vital instrument of our control of the sheep.”

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There’s an elephant quietly sitting in the nave that everyone on all sides of the clergy sex abuse crisis have been diligently ignoring, even the victims themselves. No clergy or even would-be reformers have really remarked on it yet, although it should be more obvious with each and every sad story. More importantly, it is a troubling issue that touches on the very heart and soul of Catholicism.

The monstrous truth is simply this: what the clergy sex abuse crisis clearly demonstrates is that the sacramental system has failed.

This is not just a case of hierarchical reneging of responsibility. There’s more to this than some bad apples. This is nothing that a few reforms can fix, some screening of seminarians or more pastoral responses by bishops. It is nothing less than a fundamental challenge to the entire Catholic Church, and it shows that the spiritual principles the whole structure is supposedly based on simply do not work.

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