Recent news about the Catholic Church mucky-mucks having a summit to deal with the long-standing, deep-seated, and widespread systematic rape of children by many of them and their cohorts has me feeling profoundly sad for the victims and very lucky indeed that I was not among them.
I use the word rape, because that is exactly what it is (rather than the euphemism child abuse) and there are few things that are as despicable and immoral as raping children. At a tender age, when a child is just trying to make sense of it all, has no clue what sex and the sex act are about, and is wholly dependent on adults, to be attacked in this violent way is a truly soul-destroying experience that leads to a lifetime of emotional pain and suffering, the worst kind of pain possible.
In this modern age the Catholic church and the pope continue to wield incredible power and influence and in so doing, they continue to avoid criminal prosecution for their crimes. They wield such power and influence because they propagate and reinforce the belief that a mysterious, unknown and unseen deity exists, that they answer only to him and anyone who disagrees or criticizes them is “the devil,” an insidious and self-supporting meme indeed.
C’mon! In this day and age of modern scientific investigation, where the secrets of all facets of our existence are revealed to be demonstrably natural in origin and spectacularly fascinating, why does this absurd belief continue to influence peoples’ lives and thereby propagate the power of the Catholic Church to do as it wants?
In addition, the long-standing rule of celibacy in the church, ostensibly modeling the celibacy of the god-son Christ, is a recipe for internal sexual conflict that leads to abuse. It is unnatural, goes against fundamental biology and 3.5 billion years of successful evolution. It is time for the church to admit this and let priests and nuns lead normal biological lives. Until then, all band-aid solutions and punishments will not fix the problem since, as we seem to have to learn over and over again, you can’t fight Mother Nature.
Brent Carlson
Penticton