I can't tell if he is truly worried more about the humiliation of the church, because such a heinous thing happened, or because it's just a huge PR mess
Yeah. My problem is that (a) he seems to be claiming that only now do we think child rape is a really bad thing, which I think is a way of minimizing the horror of what priests did for decades to the children in their care; and (b) he seems to be simultaneously claiming that society is now degraded and that's why we have child abuse and pornography.
Both of which operate to avoid accepting the Church's responsibility for the harm it has caused. I want the Church to accept that responsibility and change itself so that it never does such a thing again. The more the blame is cast on the demon of social change rather than the toxic way the Church protects its own and clings to moral authority, the more likely it is that this shit will just continue.
Or, you know, what everyone else said.
STOP PASSING THE BUCK, POPE.
I also think it could be read as part of the ongoing effort to discredit liberation theology.
I'm going back to Suri's Burn Book. It's the only thing that makes sense in the world right now.
Seriously, I'm stuck there. I'm on an important conference call, but Suri's got my attention.
I will just point out that my great-uncle was sexually assaulted by a priest at a boarding school in the 1930s, and his parents took him out of school, because they knew nothing would happen to the priest. Per my grandmother.
I don't know what liberation theology is.
I'm so woefully ignorant of the church, and most religious stuff in general.
I'm going back to Suri's Burn Book. It's the only thing that makes sense in the world right now.
This. Well, this and the scrambled eggs that I just made for lunch using the very dregs of my fridge are really amazing.
I know some really amazing Catholics and it makes me sad that they or more like them are not in charge.
