Monday, June 21, 2010

RECOVERING FROM CATHOLICISM


The recent reports out of the Vatican resurface the bitterness and irksome feelings I have toward the Catholic Church.

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From Huffingtonpost.com:

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone this week linked homosexuality and pedophilia, and implicitly blamed gay priests for sexual abuse. This came in the midst of the gravest crisis to face the Church in the last 100 years: the rising tide of revelations of the crimes of sexual abuse of children, primarily boys and adolescent males.

In a news conference in Chile, Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State, said, "Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia." They do believe, however, "that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia," he said. "That is true. ... That is the problem."

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Being gay does not make one a pedophile - this should be clear to any rational and educated person. Betrone's comments are made to shed light on the numerous accounts of sexual abuse the church has been ignoring for too many years. Placing blame on the gay community is an easy scapegoat, especially since the Vatican has never really supported the gay community.

The Vatican/Catholic church officials don’t hate gay people, they hire them as priests. They don't believe in allowing gays to marry, in fact they financially support political groups who believe marriage should only be between heterosexuals.

Now the Vatican's Secretary of State is blaming the numerous accounts of sexual abuse they have been sweeping under the rug for decades on the homosexuals they've employed as leaders of the church.

Contradictions, lies, fallacies, damaged children and partridge in a pear tree...Why are people Catholic again? Why does my dad give a portion of his well-earned pay check to fund a house of worship that treats his gay children like second class citizens, allows priests to potentially molest his grandchildren and steal money right out of his wallet? (The last part is in reference to a priest at my dad's church who stole a great deal of parishioner money to support his gambling addiction - after apologizing for his actions he was moved to another parish.)

I attended Catholic grade school, was an altar boy, a leader within my youth group, volunteered as a Eucharistic minister and my parents paid for me to go on a bus trip from Illinois to Colorado to see the Pope. I was raised VERY CATHOLIC.

I had nothing but great experiences with my church while growing up – I still have many great memories of community, friendships, education and family.

Today, when all of the cards are stacked against me as a gay man and watching all of the political and hurtful shenanigans rolling out within the leaders in the Vatican, this once happy place quickly became a big ugly sham. I was a good Catholic boy and now I’m a good gay recovering Catholic man.

With the blinding light being shed on these sexual abuse scandals, what's the call to action for the Catholic Church? What is the Vatican going to do differently to solve these glaring problems?

When the shit hits the fan you look at the men on top – the leaders - to find a common sense solution or at least a game plan to resolve everything. Unfortunately all I currently see is a bunch of the same lies, erroneous blame, cover-ups and looking the other way.

1 comment:

Adolfo said...

I wish we could separate the Catholic hierarchy from the actual Catholic religion. I haven't attended mass in over a decade, but I still think of myself as a devout Catholic. I think your commentary was excellent. Good job, buddy.