Didn't Justice Kavanaugh graduate from Georgetown Preparatory School where--his words--"What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep,That's been a good thing for all of us."
2
Oh, gee, now that America's right-wing wealthy Catholic ideologues fear some sanity being infused into Catholic dogma by the Pope, it's time to fork out millions, hire an army of researchers, and expose the rot, especially any priest who is innocent but guilty nonetheless because of being gay. I have little doubt that these private right-wing parties with their untold millions to spend have two goals: severely undermine/get rid of Pope Francis and get rid of "the gays" who, right-wingers believe/want to claim, are solely responsible for the rot in the Church.
It was 2002 when the rot was publicly exposed in a big way, when the Church was still firmly in the grip of hardliners. Now it's all Pope Francis fault? A too-all-familiar right-wing pattern.
4
Predator priests, president, supreme court justices and coaches. It is sanctioned by the highest offices in the land. It's an evil time now and good people must raise their voices. Vote. Drive them out.
7
Ross, it appears you are calling on the Pope to do something, anything about allegations of sexual abuse. Question: How many affidavits of corroboration of sexual abuse and police reports does he have in hand?
As the late Senator Moynihan said, we are all entitled to our own opinions but not to our own facts. Douthat is as entitled to believe Vigano as i am to disbelieve him, but let's get the facts straight on alleged "stonewalling"
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/francis-orders-thorough-st...
1
I don't recall Douthat ever condemning Pope John Paul for his much worse negligence and obsfucation. One example being the Maciel scandal. Same goes his take on Pope Benedict.
5
A very thoughtful and objective piece, I think.
1
Mr Douthat
Why do you waste so much time and energy in trying to comprehend the acts and words of madmen who make zero constructive contributions to modern society ?
Don't you get it ? The supremacy of science is what makes the world go round in every sector of our existence. Even certain more daring thinkers in the hi-tech field are seriously contemplating overcoming corporeal death by finding a way to upload human consciousness on computer hardware.
The Catholic Church's refusal to acknowledge the veracity of science makes this institution of ignorance and obscurantism a dangerous body to try to preach to the world how adults should regard the functions of their genitalia. As a former Catholic, I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever, your church's threats of eternal damnation do nothing but show the abominable nature of its clergy and believers who are sick with self-righteousness and obstinacy.
2
Conservative Republicans care mostly about power and money for the elites and the oppression of women. The rest is hypocrisy. Trump is a prime example. In Europe the people have enough of it. They run away from a corrupt church. Republican America is still in love with the trumpian man. Why should any woman with children stay in the powerhouse of old men who don't give a fig for them.
4
Still waiting for pope Francis to attack trump for insulting the Mother of God. The pope silenced Sr. Joan Chittister if he lacks the courage t0 defend a woman he should let Sr.Joan speak
1
Mr. Douthat, I am suffering from whiplash. Today you are a victims' advocate?
2
Fault Francis all you want. Me, I hold all American District Attorneys to blame for dismissing claims of victims to curry political favor. More importantly, no prosecutors have filed RICO and conspiracy charges. Just as the Russian hackers were treated, so should all the Vatican officers up to the Pope be prosecuted for moving child rapists from jurisdiction to jurisdiction to avoid charges. Some went to Rome to avoid the law.
2
I am wondering here at the parallels between the Pope's refusal to confront the sexual crises and the Senate's ability to do likewise with the recent Supreme Court battle. The outcome is highly likely to be the same. ...permanently in fiames.
Huge update: Cardinal Marc Oeullet responds to Viganò.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2018-10/letter-ouellet-v...
A sharp response defending Pope Francis in some detail. Mr Douthat, are you in dialogue with serious Catholic theologians, to better understand these sorts of issues? Or are you an 'agenda columnist'?
4
Another disingenuous, bald conflation by Mr. Douthat. There is no relation between the populism of Trump and that of the Pope. It's almost as in Ross is trolling for support from centrists of the Right (if there are any) and the Left (those on the Left are lily-livered).
The fix is in when he refers to China as a 'communist' country. It is no such thing!. China is an authoritarian nation with a strong and controlled form of capitalism and the corruption that milks it. Not much different than what the U.S. is becoming.
So, Ross, before you write another insipid article about religion and politics, be honest, for God's Sake, if not for your own...
1
Ross, your op-ed begins with an unhelpful question: "Can Francis change the church while stonewalling on sex abuse?"
First of all, one of your conservative heroes, John Paul II, certainly managed to change the church "while stonewalling on sex abuse." Also, he was the one that shielded and promoted one of the most notorious enablers of clerical sexual abuse--Cardinal Bernard Law. So, changing the Church can obviously can be done while stonewalling. Second, and more important, you provide no evidence that Francis is actually "stonewalling on sex abuse." Sources for your assertion are publications with varying degrees of anti-Francis bias--nothing from sources such as National Catholic Reporter, America, Commonweal or U.S. Catholic. Third, you compare Francis to Trump when there is nothing to compare. Francis has no record of being a misogynistic narcissist, a person that lies multiple times a day, or someone who is ignorant with the attention span of a very young child. This pope does not insult poor and desperate refugees and migrants.
Can you distinguish fact from fancy? Think your ideology is poisoning your prose.
1
Shorter Douthat : Pope is bad, too liberal. Trump not GOOD, not really a conservative. Must really be a strange universe that you inhabit, Sir. I made a bet with myself that you would write about your Church, AGAIN, after the events of the past week. I won.
Cheers, more wine.
10
Adults need to take responsibility for themselves. If you belong to an organization where you are not respected, you should leave.
Continuing to whine about religious organizations that are controlled by men only is childish.
Thinking go-betweens dressed in brocade and lace are necessary to communicate with invisible beings is . . . what it is.
Priests are not necessary. More important for a priest than celibacy is getting a job. A real job. To support himself and his family. The early Jesus movement was made up of real people with real jobs: fishing, making tents, collecting taxes, etc. Their meetings were in real houses with real food, real wine, real songs. The meetings were presided over by women and men.
So grow up. Stop allowing men who are less educated than you are to push you around and pretend to believe stuff they don't believe. (Would any priest or bishop take a lie detector test on the tenets of the religion?)
4
The Catholic Church is a shamelessly patriarchal institution. What a slap in the face the RCC is to women - no women priests and women should have no rights over their own bodies. I cannot respect any entity that doesn't treat women as equal to men.
6
Lucifer in the guise of 'BlueBeard' arrived earlier, based on Gilles de Retz, a 16th century warrior saint, under the wing of Joan of Arc, who turned satanic when she died condemned as a witch at stake. Naturally, the nuns in my youth at school never mentioned this historical figure. 'Oxford' writes that he only had one wife and she left him.
If Catholics continue to leave the Church, and use Pope Francis as a scapegoat, it is probable that faith in God was not well founded and planted in their spirit and heart. Brother Francis has asked that we not judge, or detach ourselves from The Human Condition.
It is the example of the Pope and that of a Muslim friend that make this world challenging and rich at times for this Deist. One might say a prayer for this condemning Archbishop. While I do not believe in Satan, 'Stupid' walks in our midst and is dangerous in many ways.
As an act of good faith, I would forward to Mr. Douthat in a universal web, a 'Dance Around the World', but he would not understand.
Pregate por Me, Papa Francesco, and Guard You from all Evil.
1
Ross, what no one among the anti-Francis cabal is speaking about is that sexually abusive priests in the church long had a protector in Pope St. John Paul II, who refused to believe accusations made against his great friend and supporter, Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionnaries of Christ, whom Pope Benedict finally removed from his office and from public ministry. Pope Francis would be able to silence his critics, including yourself, in short order were he to declare St. John Paul II the patron saint of pedophile clergy. But he’s too much of a gentleman to do that, bringing shame on one of his predecessors.
3
Romans 1; 24-29. Our Pope said God is silent and God is. God's thoughts about the current church leaders were penned in the above reference.
1
Despite the fact that it was only the "Three Marys" who were present at the iconic early moments of Christianity- the Crucifixion, the Empty Tomb and the Risen Christ- the Roman Catholic Church is a monument to white supremacist misogyny and patriarchy. The Pope and his accusers are a boys club and the Vatican is still a boys town.
Moreover, Mary was immaculately conceived and we naturally know that she was Jesus mother. While Joseph was neither. Until the discovery of DNA, identifying the father could be based upon supernatural myth and natural trust.
3
If the Vatican is coming to terms with its clergy's sexual abuse and coverups involving 10s of thousands of children over just the last 40-50 years, then it would seem those crimes likely have roots going back far longer... what, maybe 400-500 years? Longer? And if the victims worldwide have numbered in the low millions over that latter period, then the church not only ruined those lives but also many generations of their progeny, not to mention their potentially toxic impacts on all the contemporaneous people around them. The Catholic Church should be liquidated and, in a just world, would be.
3
It is almost amusing to see Douthat, a true blue right winger in his religion and politics, attack his Pope for not rooting out the sexual predators and perverts in his church’s hierarchy. Not surprisingly, this diatribe is the exact opposite of his support for Trump and Kavanaugh despite their crimes. He clearly doesn’t care about predatory pederast priests, or predatory Republican politicians, he just doesn’t like a Pope who isn’t sufficiently reactionary against the always frightening to the inflexible mind of the true right-winger modern world. Luckily for him, flaming hypocrisy isn’t on the list of deadly sins.
3
The fact that there are so few opinions written on this subject shows me how less relevant the Catholic Church has become to most people today. I grew up Catholic and saw firsthand how humans get in the way of ideology. This is probably the only place left for pedophiles and abusers in our society. The fact that it requires men to be single with no children should stoke fear in everyone's hearts and souls. I wonder how much abuse has occurred over the years? I would never let my children around any of these perverts.
2
Huh. The Church keeps this horrible secret for literally generations but we're going to the whole thing at the feet of the (slightly) liberal pope. Huh. How will these Christians justify their endless, ruthless cynicism when they're finally face to face with God?
1
Why does the New York Times not have a liberal Catholic columnist to represent the millions of American Catholics who are both politically and religiously progressive?
It is simply not fair or just that this considerable "other side" does not have a regular voice in the Times.
There are scores of possibilities out there. How about a woman who is a lifelong Catholic rather than a convert like Ross whose view of the Catholic Church will be different from his simply on the basis of personal history?
There are countless women theologians and scripture scholars out there, but I suggest someone like Jamie Manson. She is a columnist and books editor at the National Catholic Reporter. She is editor of Changing the Questions: Explorations in Christian Ethics, a collection of writings by Margaret Farley. Her writing has won numerous awards, and her activism on behalf of women in the church led her to receive the Theresa Kane Award for Women of Courage and Vision.
She would be a perfect choice as a counterpoint to Douthat.
It's now 7 a.m. and there are only 33 comments. Please, NYTimes "comments gatekeepers," do not hold my suggestion for hours to bury it, as is often the case with comments of mine suggesting a change at the newspaper that would provide more balanced, inclusive opinion on the op-ed pages.
9
Arnold Toynbee admired Catholicism while noting that it had aspects of an arrested culture. Papal “supreme” and “immediate” (canon law description) “power” is not something Christ mentioned but was added on by humans...and causes arrestation. God is using this very flawed Pope to make it clear that traditionalists have historically overstated the papal wisdom at the every month level...”the ordinary magisterium”. Pope Francis makes that ordinary fallibility very clear.
While Christ saw Judas only ...only in dire terms verbally, Francis prefers a statue in a church that has Christ smiling as He carries Judas...and he prefers the statue to what Christ clearly and actually said. I wouldn’t leave a young person alone with Francis for five minutes of instruction. But God is using him to make a point to conservatives...you’ve overstated papal wisdom...now here’s the proof.
As a non-Catholic, it's simply bizarre to see Catholics try to make the ongoing and endless crimes of hiding child rape a matter of conservative vs. liberal. The Catholic church has been hiding and obfuscating the rape of children by its priests for decades. There is no left or right here, there is just an institution that places its own welfare over the welfare of its victims.
3
So a bunch of elderly men wearing dresses were holding a conference to discuss the needs of young people. Got it.
2
Thanks to a relentless and ruthless media campaign, including this effort by normally accurate Douthat, more than 90% of Americans, doubtless, think that McCarrick has been carry out unspeakable crimes for decades.
The near totality of our population also thinks that while McCarrick has been raping little boys since back in the 20th century, the Catholic Church ignored the many reports of his crimes from lower clergy.
The assertions of the media and Douthat are inaccuracies. To say the least.
The beliefs of the population, which the false news has generated, are vengeful and accompanied by a severe outbreak of anti-Catholic bigotry. Just read the Comments.
Fact one: Nothing illegal was alleged against McCarrick until this summer, when he was accused of molesting two minors. Not one crime in the 20th century. Not one crime between 2000 and 2018.
Fact two: What the fuss is all about is dozens of reports that McCarrick had consensual sexual relations with seminarians and young priests. It is stipulated by those asserting the acts that the seminarians and priests were adults.
Legal acts: these were not crimes back then. There were no non-consensual aspects. Some of the young adults involved say they were pressured.
Well, get out of there. You were not kidnapped. You could leave. If you stayed and submitted to a sexual act to keep your career, that's a payment, and there's a name for your action.
To use the crazies' word, this is Fake News. Knock it off.
The Catholic Church is run by an elderly celibate male club who rely on historical wishful-thinking and folklore to dictate right and wrong to the faithful. The anomaly of this pseudo Roman Empire existing today is pitiful. Who cares what they do or don't do?
2
Give it a generation, two at the most, and all of this nonsense will be gone. If it isn't, the foolish will be preaching to a few of the foolhardy.
Yes, sex, money, intrigue and power. Surely Jesus would have cast out all of these men from the temple.
“My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves (and rapists)"
3
I would like Douthat to answer what he thinks priests do with their desires. And yes, they have them. Serious studies suggest that half of all priests are sexually active.
So... they all know in some way. So what do they do? (And please, to any women who do not feel the same desires, just sit on your hands, men feel strong desire for sure). Do they pleasure themselves? Seek sex with partners?
So the issue of a single Cardinal is meaningless compared to the rotten whole.
1
"The new Rome" is spot on. Rome in decline...with thieves and vultures and crude religionists at the door. And within.
McCarrick was elevated to the rank of cardinal by the conservative Pope Saint John Paul II at a time when many knew the rumors of his abuse. Why is it that the conservative Douthat does not demand that "Saint" John Paul II be un-sainted for his despicable and cynical elevation of this unfit man? Of course, the answer is that Douthat is just as cynical.
2
Pope Francis is a conflict of interests, on one hand he is a liberal who recognizes homosexuals as God's creation & deserve love and respect as any other member of the Human Race.I truly believed he would bring the Catholic Church into the 20th century. Then he hit me with a stunning insensitive move, when he canonized Pope Pius the 12th, more commonly known by critics of Pope Pius the 12th as Hitler's Pope, who's silence during the Holocaust, gave tacit approval to genocide of the Jewish people.
There is nothing wrong with Gay Priests, & it should be noted & emphasized that Gay people are no more likely to be pederphiles than Heretosexuals and should not be Scapegoated as the cause of sexual Child Abuse in the Catholic Church.Pedaphiles look for vulnerable areas where they can fulfil their sexual desires, & the Catholic Church offered such a venue.After all who would ever believe a Priest would commit such heinous acts, and vulnerable children were in abundance.
The Catholic Church does much Good in the World & Pope Francis Is basically a Good Man , but like all of us mortal.
1
I have the feeling that you wouldn't be so annoyed with the current pope's inaction on sexual abuse in the Catholic church if he weren't so left wing. That's way worse than someone using your Christian god to prey on little kids, huh?
I know this is snarky and I'm not accusing you of approving what has gone on in the Church, but that was the initial impression I got from this commentary.
2
Conservative voices in the Catholic Church suffer from the same problem that Trump Republicans have in the US: they are so wedded to their bizarre, ultra-right wing weird orthodoxies that no one even moderate can take them seriously or is interested in joining them. At almost any point. Decoupling their constant, universal linkage of pedophilia with homosexuality might be a good place to start if they want to be taken even half seriously.
1
The employees of Catholic Church Inc, which sells morality, raped thousands of kids around the world. Take a moment and picture that in your mind. Then they covered it up. What more do you need to know? The rest of the discussion is very, very boring.
1
Father Douhat could teach Popey a thing or two about stonewalling on priests raping little boys.
As an aside, did Father Douhat distinguish his denial of Justice Kavanaugh’s rape of Dr Ford from the millions of little boys they were raped in the last 40 years by priests on the grounds that these crimes were not reported at the time? Did he offer the crazy right wing response to the Kavanaugh rape that it was someone else and the child rape victim misremembered their attacker priest — the defense he offered to Kavanaugh on Twitter? Or the details of the crimes? Hypocrite.
1
History will not be kind to this socialist pope.
Just dissolve this sick, anachronistic, criminal church. People who still want Show and Tell (Mass and Confession) can become Episcopalians. You know, the religion founded on the family values of Henry VIII>
1
The pope used to be able to go to places and lecture people on improving their bad “habits”, whether they be human rights, crime, mafia, corruption, et al. Now, he, and the Catholic Church, have lost that morally righteous pulpit as those he criticizes can respond with “clean up your own house, first”.
1
I've tried to give this columnist his due. But the implicit slander and overt hypocrisy in this article (in particular) are too hard to take. If you want to know what a true reformer thinks of Douthat's hero Vigano thinks, listen to this:
http://www.stmgaparish.org/latest-news/separating-fact-from-fiction-in-t...
2
The deshaming we saw last week of victims of sexual violence will speed the collapse of the Roman Catholic Church's power.
Nice little tidbit, Ross, about the German news magazine Der Spiegel casting a cold eye on the pope in an article.
Did you ever cite that very same news magazine when it had a headline the day after the 2016 election: Trump. The Fog of Horror?
Did you ever cite it when it was one of the first to use the f-word- fascist - re this president's ideology?
Did you ever describe its cover that showed President Trump in a boat with the sail of a KKK cap over his head after he said there were "good people" on both sides during the Charlottesville Neo-Nazi marches?
As a good Catholic you certainly know that a pope has to elected by two thirds of the conclave, and cardinals over 80 years of age can't participate.
As a good Catholic you seem to have no problem with a man who is only in his early 50s, has been accused of sexual assault, but can be elected by a simple majority of one to sit for many decades on the highest court of the land - including old white men over 80.
If the senate had the same no-voting over 80 rule as the Conclave, 6 Republican senators - all men - and one single female Democrat would not allowed to vote for a man who'll change the future of our grandchildren.
It seems that very conservative catholics like you are attacking Pope Francis not because they think he was complicit in suppressing sexual assault accusations, but because he is too progressive re homosexuality, marriage and divorce, and caring too much about the most vulnerable among us.
1
Ross's phrase, 'the largest donors' makes it sound like a political or any of a dozen other organizations where the monies given intend to influence the direction of the organization. If the church is a religious organization shouldn't if be different? The people in the pews I'm sure do not think of themselves as 'donors', so just what class of catholics does Ross know?
And again, what is it with the obsession with sex in the church?
1
Ross doesn't like this pope, as this pope is too liberal: washing Muslim's feet, prisoner's feet, straightening out the banks, reforming the church as he can. This outsider Jesuit pope walks the walk, talks the talk, and has done more to modernize. He has made public speeches about elitism in the church, about damaging little ones, and very vocal about being against abuse. Douthat finds fault with the guy out of relax. The last pope RESIGNED rather than face all the church's problems. This pope is the greatest hope for the future of Catholicism.
1
It has always struck me how only now are some considering a Pope responsible for addressing these scandals, scandals that have been widely known my entire adult life (presumably longer, but not a subject that came up much before then in my life). It looks extraordinarily suspicious that this is the first person some (such as Viganò) have decided the public should hold responsible.
This isn't to say Francis's feet should be excepted from holdings to the fire, as it were, but that this commentary is overdue, and should include the fact that he's continuing a tradition in this respect, and it's not something new, but a persistent sin.
Of course, none of this addresses the fact that Viganò came out last trying to convince those politically opposed to him to dislike Francis for a reason that Viganò theoretically would have liked him--his alleged response to Kim Davis. Truly the most bizarrely transparent act: "He did a thing I encouraged and think is great--but don't you all hate him now because he did a thing I think is great? Don't you want to get rid of him, now that I've revealed this great thing he did that you, unlike me, think is awful?"
That should've been enough to ignore most any proclamation he made, and pursue any of these issues without any further input from Viganò.
The Catholic Church in Australia cared more for their abusive clergy and the reputation of the church, than the welfare of victims of clergy abuse.
Instead of assisting victims and bringing offending clergy to justice, the church moved on abusive clergy, to continue abusing in another parish. Victims were the ones who were targeted, not the abusers.
It is time that those who protected pedophile clergy, to face the consequences of their actions. The thousands of victims of abuse, need justice, and nothing less than the full cooperation of the church, will be accepted by the wider population.
1
Douthat is throwing in a wild card by calling for an 'American investigation.' Given a government that is currently controlled by conservatives, most of whom are Protestants, this is a dubious idea.
Why the Pope doesn't perform a 'Roman housecleaning' makes one wonder. It's in every interest of the Church for him to do so, except that he is short on clergymen. But as Jesus said, if one's arm offends oneself, cut it off. Pope Francis should follow that simple advice.
I don't see why Francis is getting all the heat for failing to solve the sex abuse crisis. Popes John Paul and Benedict were in charge while most of the denial and denigration of victims was taking place. Francis needs to address the problem boldly, but most of the problems happened before he became Pope.
Pope Francis cannot change the Church without addressing the scandals that have rocked it globally because the scandals have been the direct result of both firm and immutable tradition of selecting only celibate males and the fundamental corruption of power and politics in the ranks of the clergy.
If you cannot reform either, you cannot change the Church, or resolve the issue of clerical sexual abuse.
He has been willing to fight the power structure, but not the central issue of expanding the pool of potential priests - and possibly getting a more stable set of candidates - by opening it to married people and women. The reasons against both married and female priests seem both anachronistic and foolish, but old school Catholics are nothing if not anachronistic.
So, Mr. Douthat, the answer is no. Pope Francis cannot change the Church without ** really** changing the Church.
How small and irrelevant does Catholicism have to become - as more of us retain our faith but jettison our Church - before the Church decides how it will react?
1
A housecleaning? Are you kidding? If the pope did that there would be 3 guys left and at least 2 of them would be planning a scism.
Corruption is too entrenched in that rich enclave. Biblical teachings were long ago abandoned by a rich bureaucracy in love with the spectacle of elegant ceremonies, flowing robes, gem-encrusted, golden chalices and high-priced real estate. The shiny mise en scene long ago replaced The Sermon on the Mount. What's left is a Christianity manquee of sorts that Jesus wouldn't even recognize.
2
I'm not a Catholic so fill me in please. In this opinion piece I seem to only read about the doings of men who don't appear to be much different than what I saw in the Kavanaugh debacle. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Catholic Church based on the teachings of Jesus Christ? If so then maybe they should just start all over, no?
It's been bothering me for the past two weeks as I religiously read Ross. But as I listened to my senator Lindsey Graham rage last week it became clear. Lindsey and Ross are cut from the same cloth: true blue Bloviators of the First Order.
1
Hate to say it, but sounds like both sides are politicizing the sexual abuse scandal as part of larger war of liberalism vs. conservatism. It just so happens that the liberals may currently be greater enablers and defenders of abusers just because of internal politics. And looks like the Pope has failed to follow through on investigations and purges because that would leave him weakened politically (I don't know how to say this politely, but such purges arguably should target violators of celibacy vows by priests, and well, what kind of priests are you going to lose if you do that?).
On the other hand, are you sure conservatives are not only interested in the abuse scandal insofar as they can weaponize it against their enemies?
The "Red Hat Report" is a complete travesty. Imam (Catholic for three years, and unacquainted with the history and institutions of the church) is funded by the same right-wing, libertarian Catholics who have ruined my alma mater by cooperating with its ultra-right-wing president and provost to pack its faculty with high-paid reactionaries, many of whom are in the new and mediocre Business School. They oppose Francis not because of his alleged protection of McCarrick, not mainly because he is more flexible in matters of sexual morality, but because he does not support the vulture-capitalist propaganda of these Catholic Trumpites. Douthat belongs to this right-wing fringe in the American Catholic church, which includes the journal First Things and the Institute, and he is only a little better-educated about its history and institutions than Imam. Unlike the pope, who does seem to be interested in Jesus Christ, Douthat and his ilk seem primarily to be interested in the politics of the church itself -- and how well it can be conformed to the Republican Party.
If you want to change the Catholic Church you must cut off their access to the only God they worship: Money. No more government grants, no more foundation grants, no more private donations, no more coins in the collection plate. The way to get this started is to revoke their non-profit status. No deductions = no donations. Then we must insist on change: Admitting women to all church offices, allow marriage of priests, no priest shall be alone with someone under 18. Lastly there is the accountability: Your are forgiven, but there are consequences for your actions. The priests who did the crime, the bishops who covered it up, the cardinals who approved the policy and the pope who presides over the entire criminal enterprise, must be arrested and tried for their crimes. If found guilty they must be sentenced for their crimes to long prison terms.
IF this is done, then maybe, the Church will change. If it is not, then we will see more Catholic dodge and weave, with no change. They will claim just as Flip Wilson did all those years ago "The Devil Made Me Do It!"
1
One would think that the best thing Pope Francis could do for the Church is resign but that would, more than likely, result in another politically oriented, morally corrupt Cardinal to become Pope. Rather it would be better if all the moral and financial corruption in the Vatican and Catholic Church as a whole were to be exposed in it's entirety by government and other kinds of investigations.
Hopefully, once this has been accomplished a humble, poor and politically powerless Church could get about the business of preaching the message of Jesus.
1
Funny you equate the Popes problems with our own present ones. I believe they are both caused by the prominence of the "good old boy" network running things. Both Francis and trump came onboard by saying they were not part of it however seeing is believing. Maybe we can change America with the ballet box but the church is stuck in the middle ages I am sorry to say.
1
The facts seems to show that the Catholic Church is set up in Rome and downward to protect pedophiles and reward those who protect this horrific secret best. Anyone in a position of power in the Catholic Church surely has known pedophiles and approved claims paid out for victims' silence. The Spotlight team at the Boston Globe revealed as much and consequently the pope whisked Boston's Cardinal Law away to the Vatican to avoid criminal prosecution. More than a decade later nothing has changed. The Catholic Church's criminal conspiracy has crossed state lines and international lines. And yet Ross expects the church under its current leader and hierarchy to clean its own ranks.
How is it proven these men of God have assaulted these victims? It is by one child's word against a priest? How does one then condemn a priest? Should he not be presumed innocent without further evidence of guilt? Mr. Douthat you indeed selectively apply standards when it is convenient.
I don't think Ross ever criticized Francis' predecessor who actively protected abusers and was probably forced to resign as a result.
After an adequate column on the Kavanaugh appointment, Mr. Douthat is back to his usual combination of weak logic and ignorance. Mr. Douthat doubts that Pope Francis' critics are attempting to displace him because of the minimal effects of the allegations. Since when is incompetence a measure of motivation?
Mr. Douthat seems unaware that the biggest threat to his vision of the Church would be conservative success in deposing Francis. If failure to deal with clerical sexual abuse justifies overthrowing a Pope, then the existence of clerical sexual abuse justifies radical reform of the Church. Given the that this phenomenon is the product of traditional practices, it's unlikely that a return to the conservative Church that Mr. Douthat desires will be an acceptable reform.
If Francis enabled cover-ups of clerical abuse, even indirectly, he should resign. The consequences, however, are not likely to be what Catholic conservatives anticipate.
1
Ross, this post is a bit over the top, even for you. A Church in flames? Look back over the history of the papacy from Pius IX to Francis. If the Church did not perish during the scandals of Pius IX (he left the Vatican because he wanted to be King of the Vatican States, the kidnapping of Edgardo Montara etc.,), Pius XI (his deals with Mussolini), and John Paul II (his protection of a serial abuser Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ), I doubt whether the Holy Spirit will abandon the bark of Peter because you have a Pope who is human and is trying to address the needs of the so many of the marginalized Catholics throughout the world. Of course Francis' record in Argentina on sexual abuse was no more sensitive than, for example, any other cardinal archbishop in the world in the last 100 years, e.g. Francis Cardinal Spellman. Yes the Evil One rejoices in the attacks against the Chair of Peter. Vignao and EWTN seem to relish in their doctrinal purity by point out Pope Francis' shortcomings. But I am not sure how either archbishop Vigano or those at EWTN (e.g., Raymond Arroyo et al.) are successful in masking their rigid doctrinal stance as genuinely pastoral. The threat to the Church is the rot, not Pope Francis.
We are living in a poorly constructed simulacrum. The failings and nefarious intrigues of the Catholic Church have become a Dan Brown novel that is writing itself. As a famous atheist said in his final interview, “Only a god can save us.”
Just like the crisis American politics are in, taking as impartial a view as possible makes the solution to the Catholic Church's problems seem so obvious to me. The Church needs to take meaningful and permanent action to eliminate sex abuse and punish any future sex abuse criminals within the Church. Instead they bicker over far more petty squabbles for maximum political benefit, all the while ignoring the root of the problem. So too it is for U.S. politics, where no matter the issue, be it sexual assault and harassment, police violence against people of color, immigration, taxes, trade, health care, etc., each issue is not addressed in a meaningful way but instead calibrated for maximum political effect. For example, instead of bringing Kavanaugh's alleged sexual assault to light as soon as Sen. Feinstein learned of it in order to give the accusation the proper respect such a serious allegation deserves, the information was held until just before a committee vote on the nomination for maximum political effect and minimum justice. Is there any question that if there was more time to discover the truth that the truth could have been discovered? Another example is health care, where instead of the GOP's promised repeal for which they voted 38 times for maximum political theater, instead we end up with no change to Obamacare other than cynical tinkering from within by the Trump administration. Again, maximum political gain, minimum positive impact for Americans.
Reading “The pontificate of Francis and the Presidency of Trump have been odd mirrors of one another for some time” enrages a moderately progressive Catholic and American like myself. Francis, the church leader who preaches the stewardship of our planet and the care for the poor are the pressing issues of our time, and further teaches personal “sins” such as homosexuality and contraception are better left to the individual and their God. Trump, the climate change denier; the purveyor of flawed economic theories that exploit the poor for his own benefit and the benefit of the rich and influential; and, the champion of an evangelical war on modernity.
If Douthat wishes to look for a nexus of the crisis facing our politics and the Catholic Church, he need not look further than a cadre of rich Catholics joining rich secularists, to promote an extreme conservative and nativist agenda. Think Leonard Leo and Charles Koch: Leo, a devout Catholic who is now credited with elevating 4 to memberhip on the Supreme Court—3 of whom are Catholic—has joined with Koch to support and influence the academics of the Scalia Law School at GMU and the Tim Busch School of Business at The Catholic Universy of America. Leo is a Trustee of CUA, the flagship university of the Catholic Church in America. Many, like me, see the university recently taking a sharp turn to the right, now providing a platform for those like Douthat who challenge the legitimacy of the Papacy of Francis.
There is only two ways to read this column. Thie first is that Jesus as the head of the church, is watching this all play out in his name is either powerless to stop it or simply unconcerned. The second is that Jesus is a fictional carachter and Christianity is a creation of the Romans.
The second of course, is the simplest and most plausabe explaination. The Romans created Christianity and used it to control an illeterate peasant population. For the Romans it was every bit as effective as the military it replaced if not more so. It was also wildly successful, outlasted the Roman Empire and still has a presence today, even in the editorial pages of the New York Times.
It is not surprising that the corruption Mr. Douthat speaks of is present at the head and the center of the church. Christianity is entirely make-believe and there is a huge vacuum where a non-existant god should be. It is entirely unsrprising that this vacuum is filled with the worst and most human corruption.
Child molesters infested the church from distant times - probably going back to the very "reforms" which made celibacy mandatory. I recall a moment in the mid 1940s when a schoolmate warned me against becoming an altar boy because a priest liked to touch kids. I am grateful to my schoolmate for keeping me out of harm's way.
To blame Pope Francis for an age old wrong is unfair but inevitable because he has the power to clean up the church. If he does, doubtless he will make mistakes but regardless of what he understood was his mission when he became Pope history has given him this one.
He has an option to join what he started out to do -- open up the church -- to the task of cleaning it up. End the requirement that priests be unmarried, now become a curse upon the church. I would also like to see the priesthood open to women -- the prohibition is cultural, not theological = but maybe that remains a bridge too far.
Assume the Pope in Buenos Aires was aware predator priests existed and didn't do much about it. One reason conservative attacks on the Pope fail is that conservative bishops are as guilty as liberal ones for covering up priestly depredations and, in some instances, being predators themselves.
The simplest explanation for Benedict's resignation is that like Kurtz he saw "the horror, the horror". Francis can also resign but I hope he will take up the cross now thrust upon him. No better time to start than the Synod.
1
Douthat is doing precisely what he says he's not doing- giving the sex scandal more oxygen to derail a liberalizing pope. All allegations of sex abuse deserve to be fully investigated as do allegation of complicity through silence. But Douthat wants the investigation of the pope to be so omnipresent as to prevent him from doing anything else. He is obviously quite upset that the pope has time for anything else than replying to the angry conservatives who are so suddenly champions of the churches' victims.
4
So... the most progressive pontiff in living memory is somehow contemptible for being too slow at cleaning up the mess he inherited from his conservative predecessors?
3
“The most notable of his accusers, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, charged the pope and many prominent cardinals with having knowledge of the crimes of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and allowing him to maintain honor and influence nonetheless.”
Not crimes but adult homosexual activity. That was known by both Benedict and Francis. Douthat might consider homosexual activity to be criminal but it isn’t,
In no other moral and just universe would a human-created institution that has perpetrated thousands of crimes by many hundreds of its members over many centuries, as has the Catholic church, be allowed to exist. The Catholic church and its culture of molestation and assault, regardless of its other benefits to humanity, is to religion what fraternity hazing is to higher education, an abomination and deserving of disbandment. They have spawned a vile and disgusting culture from within. In both cases, their core tenants are good, but their base, perverted and fraternizing culture is often abhorrent. The Catholic church is not a creation of God, it is a human institution. We, as a civilized world (at least that’s out presumption) should insist on its termination in its present form in favor of a more humane institution. To do otherwise is ethical and even criminal benign neglect. The resolution of this issue is not a Catholic issue any more that Fraternity hazing is a fraternity issue, it’s a civilized society issue.
1
The nexus of the powers that be in the Trump GOP and the Catholic Church have converged this week.
When I read about Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, the Red Mass celebrated by the male Catholic justices of our Supreme Court, and the total denial of sexually inhibited deviant and violent behavior of a young Kavanaugh raised in a white elite Catholic prep school environment, I wondered how long before America becomes Gilead.
What I also find frightening is that we've been so focused on the evangelical Christians and their thirty year assault on the separation of church and state that we missed how Catholics have snuck up on us and overtaken the GOP and the entire Federal judiciary.
How many judges on the Federal bench are now Catholics provided by the Federalist Society thanks to Donald Trump? All those hands on Trump prayers at the White House led by Mike Pence were TV events meant to cover the assault of the Catholic church.
Does America want to align with an organization whose leaders have been covering up child abuse for decades? The same Catholic church that committed genocide against native Americans? The same Catholic church that continues to deny women basic reproductive rights and health care? Are there any women priests in this church?
Catholic women in America must lead a revolution against the Catholic patriarchy instead of silently supporting child abuse, oppression of women, and male supremacy.
If Douthat thinks the RC Church would be a tolerable institution if only saints were members he has another think coming. "There are the saints, and then there are the martyrs who live with the saints." (St. Teresa of Avila)
SEXUAL ABUSE Is one of the most difficult challenges to address in any context. Both perpetrators and survivors encounter powerful reasons to fear disclosure: the perpetrators because with open confession, they realize that they will be imprisoned for years and marked for life. Not that perpetrators do not warrant being brought to justice. The fact is, nonetheless, that they have much to fear and little hope of being supported. The survivors, by contrast, are reluctant to talk because of shame, stigma and fear. Often families are torn apart, innocent or injured parties are further traumatized and long term therapeutic support is in short supply. Then there are the institutional concerns of, say, the Catholic Church, that has already lost a great deal due to generations of abusers going unpunished and generations of parishioners, adults and children both, have suffered sexual abuse. It is fair to inquire whether the rates of sexual abuse are lower in churches that permit or even require leaders to be married. Essentially, the question becomes limits to which humans can repress and suppress their sexual feelings, desires and needs. Clearly, overwhelming evidence shows that part of what results is a system where sexual predators prey upon the innocent, which most certainly is NOT the basis for requiring celibacy and chastity. If abstinence is not consistent with mental health, is that sufficient reason to discontinue the practice? Many persons far wiser I question it.
1
Ross, I am so sorry that Pope Francis is not working for you and your timeline. Did you forget to mail him your schedule of expected response dates and expected responses? Do you not think the man is exceptionally busy going about ALL of God's business?
In addition to a worldwide list of papal duties he is investigating these sexual predation scandals from within and meeting on them. That has been reported more than a few times in the Vatican press and our own Boston Pilot.
These are serious accusations and all allegations need to be proved as Vigano is leading a 'witch hunt' with his own agenda. This time around this term is applicable unlike the use Trump subjects it to as far as an ongoing official DOJ investigation serving American justice for all and not just a corrupt president who is all about the care and feeding of felons surrounding him.
Don't let the global hue and cry come to mean that all accused are guilty. I am sure there are some being accused for political reasons which is disgusting on its own level. Vigano comes first to mind, and he may just be a tool for others who want to rise to the top of the Church hierarchy by walking over bodies to get there.
My hunch is that the real issue behind this civil war among cardinals and the Pope is birth control. Francis' position on the environment and global warming implies population control.
Vatican II happened when I was a child. My family was Catholic, and I was shocked that, after being told all my life that I had to cover my head in church and not eat meat on Fridays, it was now all OK. I had thought that these things were eternal truths.
I had to learn the difference between things that did and did not matter.
Perhaps Douthat and other current Catholics ought to assess things according to whether they are related to Jesus and his life and the underlying meaning and spirit of his teachings.
Then, yes, the sexual abuse of children would need to be dealt with, but without punishing Pope Francis for daring to focus on the poor, and without insisting that sin is primarily about the pelvic issues.
Maybe then they could repair the enormous error that equates godliness with physical denial rather than outpouring love.
45
While this Pope is cleary a humble, decent man, the problem in the catholic church rests in its male dominated hierarchy that keeps women in subordinate positions while these men play power politics that holds no value to the mission of any church. This church has always wanted to be a government, speaking for God and telling their minion parishoners what to do and where to donate their money. The church has been revealed to be the duplicitous institution it is by these so-called conservatives attacking the Pope’s drive for humility amid a church and its bloated leadership that, above all, wants to retain its position of wealth snd power.
Women should be ordained. Parish priests, bishops and cardinals should take vows of poverty, as the nuns and order priests do and clergy should marry if they choose to be married. All these power players in the catholic church should be transferred to assignments working with the poor. They have lost their ways.
33
Ross, I did tear myself away from the Kavanaugh debacle, but I find myself as a born and raised Catholic within an ever-closing vise, the Church and State on either side. I am threatened by both, my roots and foundation.
As saddened as I am to say this, the Church at this point is irreparable. We are witnessing the fruition of decades, even centuries, of cover-ups, power-plays, profound hypocrisy, corruption, greed, patriarchy, unrelenting misogyny, and pedophilia. In defense of Pope Francis, he tried to emulate his namesake, but he too is of the old entrenched order...too brainwashed by 2000 years of speaking Christ's name while simultaneously turning its back on him.
So what do we do? Perhaps, when enough of us refuse to adhere to its warped teachings by walking away from this institution and looking toward the universal moral code to guide us, it will get the message.
27
Oh, gee, now that America's right-wing wealthy Catholic ideologues fear some sanity being infused into Catholic dogma by the Pope, it's time to fork out millions, hire an army of researchers, and expose the rot, especially any priest who is innocent but guilty nonetheless because of being gay. I have little doubt that these private right-wing parties with their untold millions to spend have two goals: severely undermine/get rid of Pope Francis and get rid of "the gays" who, right-wingers believe/want to claim, are solely responsible for the rot in the Church.
It was 2002 when the rot was publicly exposed in a big way, when the Church was still firmly in the grip of hardliners. Now it's all Pope Francis fault? Now the hardliners insist on resurrecting the Inquisition? An all too familiar right-wing pattern.
38
Why single out Pope Francis? It seems that popes have been stonewalling on sex abuse for a long time, given the disgusting history of accusations that go back as far as recorded history.
Perhaps a group of men who sign up for a lifetime of celibacy aren’t the best ones to speak on aberrant sexual behavior, or investigate sexually deviant predatory priests. Maybe men who eschew marriage and take an oath not to have sex with women are telling us something that should be rather obvious about what happens when such powerful urges are sublimated.
You’d think it would be a predator’s paradise, with the secrecy inherent in the ritualistic lifestyle and the virtual immunity from secular oversight. Stories are emerging that chill the blood, and which must have been known by the hierarchy since the beginning of this all-too-human boy’s club that pretended to be serving a great benevolent power in the sky.
Mr. Douthat isn’t crazy about Pope Francis because he’s trying to modernize, or even slightly secularize the Church. Douthat thinks that married people should be yoked to each for life, regardless of the earthly misery they must endure. Divorce should deny one’s partaking of the most crucial sacrament offered by the faith. Love is pain, and if the faithful won’t self-flagellate, we’ll do it for them.
It’s a tempest in a non-existent teapot. And while men in dresses are arguing about dogma, children are being raped.
205
@gemli
An old joke told about a priest carrying a ceremonial incense burner........
Love your dress, but your purse is on fire.
3
@gemli
A sick pathological religion which has no place in the life of educated adults in sophisticated societies. I posted back my sacramental documents to the diocese of my birth with my letter of apostasy. I encourage ALL Catholics today to do so.
2
I am scratching my head at the notion that there was ever a time when the Vatican was not a hardball, political battlefield. Not by my reading!
The only differences now are the 24 hour news cycle and the 2nd nature ubiquity of social media.
Secular minded friends (non history buffs) were baffled when I told them that I was study the history of The Church. Then I explained that you can't study the history of Western Civilization without understanding the political history, and that, for many centuries, the Church was the very center of European politics.
Suppose there are no "clean" churchmen (I know this is a real stretch!). Does this mean that none of them can ever do the right thing, however belatedly? Even if the right thing is fraught with internecine warfare, blackballing, and public character assassination, isn't the right thing still worthwhile?
A better debate would be: what is the right thing, and how can we all agree on that?
2
"The pontificate of Francis and the presidency of Donald Trump have been odd mirrors of one another for a while — populist leaders"
Pope Francis is as utterly unlike Donald Trump as any two men could get without actually committing the murders on 5th Ave. that Trump spoke of.
Failure to see that is inexcusable. Starting with them as like images, in a mirror or otherwise, is an ugly way to push ideology, and an ugly ideology too.
23
For non-Catholics, the internal workings of the church are important only in so far as they affect humanity as a whole. The Pope has spoken out strongly in favor of action on climate change and protecting the environment and in support of the church's traditional teachings on social justice. Kudos. But those aren't the issues that set him apart from his opponents.
On the issue of population control/birth control, the Pope and his conservative opponents have taken utterly irresponsible positions, given a world of 7.2 billion people and counting. Ever-increasing population means ever-increasing demand for energy and other resources, undermining whatever hope we have for controlling climate change.
The human race can't afford to cut its IQ in half by preventing women from achieving their potential. And these days at least, only priests become bishops, and only bishops become cardinals, and only cardinals become popes, which means that a church without women priests will continue to be ruled from the point of view of old, sort-of-celibate males. Unjust, bad example, bad leadership from both the Pope and his opponents.
So while I can sympathize with people for whom issues like whether or not divorced Catholics can take communion are personally important, for the world at large the differences between the Pope and the conservative prelates who oppose him are insignificant.
10
I am not a Catholic, but it has been hard to escape the revelations that have been coming out in recent years about crimes covered up by the church going back decades. (Going back centuries by some reckoning.)
To hold Pope Francis solely responsible for the sins of the Church is inevitable and inescapable, given that the Papacy is as close to an absolute monarchy as can be found anywhere these days. But, Francis is as much a prisoner of his power as anyone.
The cost of cleaning up and reforming the church is simple: reject the authoritarianism the church has embraced for centuries, and recognize that it is accountable to its members in this world as well as the next.
To save the church, it will be necessary to dismantle much of it - against the huge vested interests of those who benefit from keeping it just the way it is. (Those condemning Francis most loudly include some who are using those accusations to destroy him before he can act.)
A system built on making power the privilege of old, mostly white men is ripe for abuse and corruption - which doesn't take us all that far away from Trump, the GOP, and Kavanaugh when all is said and done.
I am beginning to have serious doubts about placing my faith in this God person (by whatever name he is going by) when I see the kind of people who claim to be following him and compare it to their acts.
We hear a lot about a crisis of democracy. We are also having a crisis of faith when you see who the allegedly religious embrace.
17
Well, the election of the next Pope always has been a "contested political space." Francis is well along in years, and Vigano and his allies are mobilizing for the next conclave.
3
Ross is merely suggesting steps that deal with surface problems in it dealing with human sexuality. To address the root cause of the problem the Church will have to abandon the requirement that priests be celibate. Most other religious denominations that allow clergy to marry do not suffer from dysfunctional dealing with issues of human sexuality. Abandonment of celibacy will then cause the Church to confront realistically a number of other issues such as birth control and divorce and remarriage. Celibacy must go. It is that simple. I am afraid that as a recent convert to Catholicism Ross cannot deal with the root cause of the problem because doing so impacts a number of other issues he has likely embraced as “eternal truths.” Those of us who grew up in the Church have less problems with abandonment of a number of ill conceived man made rules.
48
I do not have a position about celibacy, it is part of the Church's tradition, but not part of the dogma. So it could easily be done with. But to tie celibacy with pedofilia is not accurate. Pedofiles networks are full of married people. This is a serious problem, and should be address with accurate figures and a broad-minded approach.
1
Everyone has an opinion, and Mr. Douthat has a unique position as the 'Catholic' voice on the nation's premiere opinion page. Unfortunately, his opinion on this particular matter on this particular matter have taken over 'Catholic' social media and the 'Catholic' press.
But all opinions and teachings do not have equal weight. It is a matter of our confessed belief that the position of Pope was established by Christ Himself. The Pope is selected through the intercession of the Holy Spirit to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. I guess we have an obligation to listen to him, even when he is silent in the face of Archbishop Vigano's allegations.
From the writings and workings of the US Conference of Bishops, to the weekly homilies of most priests, the official Catholic Church in the US has become entirely political. And only the Republican Party (regardless of the President) has any standing. They would work tirelessly on the off-chance that Roe vs Wade would be overturned before they would say a word about unjust war, torture of prisoners, child separation, refugee bans, or any government-sponsored form of discrimination,
I believe that was Pope Francis' message on his trip to the US: Catholic citizens and govenrment leaders should separate church and state issues. (Archbishop Vigano committed an unpardonable act of partisanship by blindsiding the Pope into meeting with Ms. Davis).
Is the Pope failing the Church, or is the Church failing the Pope?
31
Sadly, there is little evidence as of now that Pope Francis will actually face and deal with these allegations against Cardinals and Bishops. This will leave him with little credibility when it comes to other important issues that he and the RC Church could weigh in on. So much for his being a great humanitarian.
8
Progress in the RC church matters to all of us because it is still a world-wide influence on issues like contraception and abortion and much else.
Odd that many of us see it as rather shabby in the moral sphere when it ought to be a otherwise. Umm, when you look at other religions (and esp their right-wing sub-groups), I guess the church has lots of company there.
16
Ross, while not directly on point, I nonetheless feel it appropriate here to begin by relating to you that one of the great letdowns of my cultural life took place decades ago, after finally taking the time to sit through the original television production of Brideshead Revisted.
Yes, the production values and acting were exquisite - but the grand climax of the story line, where Lord Marchmain returns to Catholicism on his death bed, after having no use for the religion for the vast majority of his adult life, thus prompting his daughter to renounce romantic happiness with the man she loves, because he is a divorcee (for shame!) - with the implication that she had done something noble instead of stupid, left me underwhelmed - and frankly disgusted with the idiocy of Catholicism.
Instead of being content with instilling the inspiring values enshrined in the authentic ministry of the historic Jesus in the hearts of its parishioners, a clergy of repressed sexual renunciants instead thought it best to obsess about other people's sex lives - as if they were not in denial of their own profound sexual dysfunction and imperfections (while, of course, submissively ignoring every violation of Jesus' authentic economic ethos in the hearts and minds of the Church's money-grubbing, power hungry, status-obsessed aristocratic patrons).
Ross, seriously, how could this not but end badly?
55
Well, Ross, the Pope (as I understand it) is in his position for life. Sure people may now be wondering if there's something dark in his past, but at least he's pro-life. That is the one and only thing that matters, right?
So no worries.
13
@Matt. Be careful about calling. Pope Francis pro-life. He dismissed the entite Pontifical Academy for Life and left it without replacement for months. He threw out the pro-life oath, and even hired an Anglican who believes in abortion up to 18 weeks. I believe his words are one thing and his actions are another. They may belie his true beliefs.
It is very easy to take on Pope Francis and make Archibishop Viganò a heroic whistle-blower. The sex scandals are of no interest to the right wing Catholics who would like to bring back Benedict and put Francis in a retirement seat.
Mr. Douthat knows very well that the sex scandals are rooted mostly in the past of the Roman Catholic Church and were well hidden by Francis' predecessors, mostly right-wing and Curia representatives and even saints.
The major McCarrick scandal was apparently known well before Francis and there was no Viganò libel to denounce it.
It is very easy to attack Francis for the sex scandals he has no responsibility for, while he has the unbearable task to save the Roman Church from the ruin.
In reality, Francis has raised the fears and resentments of the right wing Catholics content of the Curia and the void ancestral rituals of a minority Church speaking and singing still in the beautiful Latin.
So, the 'stonewalling' of Pope Francis is perfect to destroy his image and ideas to renew the Church.
46
The strength of the Church has been, and always will be, the credible personal witness of local pastors of people who know them, and see them celebrating the Eucharist for them, day in, day out. Most practicing Catholics say their prayers, love their families, work out their own salvation, and wisely see ideology left or right as little more than posturing. Certainly, there have been parishes heartbroken by the credible accusation of a few priests, but the vast majority of Catholics see hard-working pastors who, despite their personal unworthiness, seek to serve the people entrusted to them. What means nothing to them are junior-college sociology analyses by smarties who think they will never die.
8
@MorrisTheCat Oh, you're worried about going to hell. Those of us who reject religion are worried about hell on earth.
1
I'm no longer a member of the Catholic Church, but when I was a child in a Catholic school I was taught that the Pope was infallible in matters of faith and morals. Peter was the rock on which the Church was built. Perhaps the greatest advantage of being a Catholic was that in the unbroken line of the Apostolic Succession we had a connection to Christ himself and his teaching authority. When we were unsure what was right, the Church had the answers. We thought it was sad the way Protestants were always squabbling among themselves about one point of theology or another and dividing like amoebas into conflicting sects. At least that was how we lay people saw it. I'm sure it's a lot more complicated if you consult theologians.
I understand that "conservative" Catholics now contend that the Pope is leading the Church astray when he preaches about sexuality and marriage. If even the Pope is insufficiently Catholic, wherein lies the special authority of this Church? How is it more than just one more Christian denomination, albeit the largest?
9
Douthat, a convert, is a conservative catholic. He dislikes recent Popes who have tried to liberalize the Church, people like John XXII and now Francis. He does not seem to understand that institutions need to change with social, cultural, and political changes. An institution such as the Church which is old, large, and complex with long traditions, needs to change slowly. But it must change if it is survive. It must adapt to homosexualty, to birth control drugs, to abortion, to changing views about celibacy and the role of women in the church. It must deal with the need to recruit new priests, with pedophile priests.
These are enormous tasks, and any Pope, regardless of his judgment, knowledge, far-sightedness, will fail at many of them.
Pope Francis is a reforming Pope in the tradition of Leo and John XXIII. Whether his papacy will be considered a turning polnt cannot be known by the clouded vision of Ross Douthat. It will remain to his successors at the New York Times and elsewhere.
86
If you want to know how confused some of the smart set is these days, how they have brought us to extreme partisanship, just consider Ross's problem with this Pope, (it is not about the kids, Ross and the rest have looked the other way for years; only now, Ross thinks he can dump this Pope over the abuse, when, really, he wants him gone for other reasons). Ross's real problem with this Pope is his emphasis on being loving to others, and disregarding doctrine. Now when those that follow Jesus are upset with others because they are being too loving, and not enough concerned with doctrine, then you know that they have really lost their way. Ross is really upset that this Pope is being too understanding of divorced folks. Being too loving! He also believes that the church and it's faith was rejected because others chose the secular liberal path. No. It is this unloving stance that was rejected by the so-called liberal/secular; they rejected the church on religious not secular grounds, because the foundation of religion is being loving to others.The truth is this: the world and it's people are working through the upsets of marriage and family, and quite successfully. It is the doctrine folks that have lost their way.
70
Douthat and other conservative catholics want to drag the church back to pre-Vatican II days. As someone who was brought up in that church, I can testify that it would be a disaster. The predatory priests are a part of that era and more needs to be done to ensure that that never happens again. But for Douthat and his conservative bishops this is an issue to be weaponized against the effort to reform the church.
64
@Robert Hurley
Predatory priests are predominantly a post Vatican II byproduct. According to the John Jay report 10% of all US priests graduating from the seminary from 1968 to 1972 (post Vatican II) were credibly accused of sexual misconduct with minors. I was a student at a small Catholic college from 1968 to 1972 and saw the utter chaos among the priests there. When I started, one quarter of the faculty were priests. When I graduated, almost all priests in their 20s and 30s left the priesthood, most to get married. The median age of Catholic nuns is over 70. Most of the major religious orders reformed themselves out of existence after Vatican II, whereby nuns in their orders lived a life no different from lay women. The few religious orders that maintained a pre-Vatican II lifestyle are thriving with median ages in the mid 30s (for example the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia). The only good thing to come out of Vatican II is Mass in the local vernacular language. The rest is disaster.
5
@smmdmd In addition, after Vatican II,Catholics were left with few if any nuns or priests to instruct them in their faith and many had to seek out learning more about their faith through reading or finding adult instruction classes on their own. Devotional services and practices were practically eliminated and the rich spiritual traditions of the church obscured. Catholic colleges and universities accepted Federal funding as a result of which their Catholic character was either diminished or removed completely. Today we are seeing the results of the effect of that on our young people in so-called Catholic colleges. Students have become secularized and adhere minimally to Catholic teaching. Catholic colleges today for the most part espouse the PC agenda e.g., Georgetown covering the image of the cross when the former president came to speak there.
Liberals within the church and in the political world love Pope Francis because they want his support for their causes which he happily supplies as he appears to put his social and political interests ahead of dealing with the problem of sexual abuse by members of the clergy and the hierarchical coverup within the church.
@smmdmd
Your assertion is false. Priest abuse goes back centuries; there are documented cases. My own parents, ages 80 and 95, report that, in their childhood, it was fairly common to see a priest suddenly and quietly transferred, after rumors spread that he abused children. Ignorance and submission prevented people from reporting to the authorities. According to my mother, many people did not even have the vocabulary to describe sex abuse, and used expressions such as "the priest annoys children" and similar.
Wherever there is power, apparently, there is also the abuse of it. And while conservatives would like to blame the acceptance of homosexual persons and/or gay marriage for the abuse of children, teens, and seminarians by priests, it's important to note that sexual abuse in the church long predated liberal politics. My gay friends and relatives do NOT condone sexual harassment or abuse of any kind. You don't have to be straight to know that it's wrong to have sex with minors or with your adult students. You just have to be a decent human being.
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@Motherboard And it's not just sexual abuse. I luckily managed to escape that in my Catholic education here and abroad in the '50's and '60's (though I did get a curiously intense tickle once, that on later reflection I realized had repressed sexual motivation), but not physical abuse and emotional abuse. And these people preach love?
@Motherboard
My great concern is the average pedophile doesn't wait the 7 years of philosophical and theological training to get their hands on the kiddies.
Pedophilia is plainly rife in all our communities, but seemingly useful only to those that would do down the Church, and have been doing so for 500 years.
"Who am I to judge?"
These words said by our humble and loving pope possess deep resonance. They should continue to remind all judgmental people to continue to internalize more "humility" in their everyday lives.
Yet, we have arrogant narcissistic leaders everywhere -- in every institution -- who are certain -- only they -- have the Truth.
But, the word "Love" is not mentioned in this opinion, and that absence signals a deeper warning. The question remains; does this opinion oversimplify? Or does it complicate? Most times, I'm never quite sure where Mr. Douthat takes his readers.
It's certainly not all about sex and abortion, yet many Catholics I know voted SOLELY for Mike Pence -- hoping Roe v. Wade would be overturned. They could not even mention Trump's name since they found him so repulsive, but yet, so voted for Pence. Figure that out.
Certainly, the words of a rabbi who once said "a few are guilty, but all are responsible" should throw light on the deeper problem confronted the future of humans on earth.
As flawed as all human beings are, I hope someday that all honest humble Christians might someday recognize that if they haven't been in "heaven-on-earth" yet, they may never get there later.
Maybe it begins with a better sense of how to practice humility and love on earth. "Who am I to judge?"
Provide me more kind and gentle people. We have too many judgmental haters demeaning one another. I'm certain of that.
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@Paul Your “humble and loving pope” lashed out at abuse victims for accusing a bishop of shielding their abuser. He has also been accused of shielding an abuser himself, but instead of denying the allegations (you know, like an innocent person would), he has decried a supposed state of affairs in which the devil is trying to “scandalize the people” by making them aware of the very sort of wrongdoing of which he, and the aforementioned bishop, have been accused.
I have no sympathy for the pope’s right-wing detractors, but his left-wing defenders (e.g., you) are just as contemptible.
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@Paul
''Maybe it begins with a better sense of how to practice humility and love on earth. "Who am I to judge?"''
If you do not sit in judgement of great evil, then act on that judgement, you are allowing that evil to continue.
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The Catholic Church has a protracted history of covering up heinous crimes, and those who speak up are either demonised or marginalised or both, and doesn't that sound familiar.
It's interesting that given its extensive history and obvious hypocrisy, the Catholic Church still commands a grudging respect amongst the diminishing but still very powerful parishioners.
It is a source of wonder that a group of inbreed charlatans who wield enormous power over a laity that is either gullible by design or ignorant be choice, still expects and gladly receives fealty, and is just as often rewarded with pious washing of hands as the bowl is passed around.
That this monstrosity has held sway over a good portion of the earth for two millennia does not fill with hope those would hold true that the meek will inherit the earth, not unless the hollow husk that is now those who were once animated in care of others counts. And I fear it does not.
It's difficult to turn a sinking ship, especially one filed with so many passengers who think the course set is true one.
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@Lino Vari
Quite right. When I see the bourgeois French parents continuing to send their offspring to venerable Catholic high schools, I can only shake my head with disgust in realising that they are part and parcel of the problem. They perpetuate the vicious cycle, sending new victims to be ravaged by pathological clergy or lay persons who have the misfortune to enter into contact with minors. Suffer the children indeed.
@Lino Vari
Always amusing to witness the from-whole-cloth diminution of the 1.5-billion strong RC Church by someone with a smattering of ad hoc post modern opinion.
Sorry, friend, but your righteousness is the same disease.
This 2000-year-long 'monstrosity' does more charity work in this world than any other body, governmental or otherwise. Doesn't matter to you, I imagine.
Australia volunteered to kill the innocent in Iraq. Those people had done nothing, and were doing nothing to harm the people of Australia.
I suggest a long look at your own culture, a reassessment of your place in the world, quite a bit more study than is evinced by your comment, and some attempt, at least, to wash the blood off your own hands first.
While I respectfully disagree with Douthat's conservative take on the church -- he consistently mistakes adherence to doctrinal teachings on sexuality-related matters as central to faith and Christian/Catholic identity, and just as consistently fails to recognize the prophetic, gospel-informed critique of modern Western ideologies that is at the heart of this very different papacy -- I find myself agreeing with his conclusion in this piece: "The truth is that Francis can pre-empt the right-wing partisans with a Roman housecleaning, an American investigation, an accounting for both his own record and his predecessors’ failures." Francis strikes me as an unusually humble pope and perhaps this will enable him to acknowledge what even many of us who admire him see: both he and his predecessors -- John Paul and Benedict -- have failed in some significant ways.
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@Stephen Martz
Time will show that John Paul II was a great charlatan whose admiration was just a take away from the final chapter of the cold war. Every campaign needs its stirring mascots....
Beelzebub is now unchained
A saintly Pope is arraigned,
Right wing naysayers
With ill conceived prayers,
A campaign of slander maintained.
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"Whether this is a real investigation or a P.R. move remains to be seen, but it's a welcome change from the initial response, which consisted of sermons from Francis in which the pope likened himself to a silent, blameless Christ and claimed that the Great Accuser, the Devil, was at work in allegations against bishops."
For a second, I thought Ross was writing about the FBI expanded "backgrounder" (straightjacket) of Brett Kavanaugh.
No matter. As always, Mr. Douthat--whose arch- conservative Catholicism is well known (why do converts seem more literal than pre-Vatican II bishops?)--tries to make Pope Francis out to be a heretic.
I rather gather that this columnist is easily offended by the Pope's attempts at liberalizing church teachings on sexuality, contraception, marriage and divorce--changes I view as long overdue.
So let the the investigations into the handling of the "affaire McCarrick" begin. Maybe they will finally uncover the real story so conservative Catholic columnists like Ross might finally stop needling a reformist Pope he clearly dislikes for trying to drag the church out from the dustbin of the Middle Ages.
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@ChristineMcM Brava Christine!
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I often praise the author of this piece but not today.
Upon reflection while highly concerned and determined by the inappropriate confirmation of Mr. Kavanaught, upon reflection, some while trying to write this comment, it seems humbly to me that one really needs to have faith to understand what is really happening for Pope Francis and, therefore, understanding his actions.
I don't know how to say this in summary (though having written books in it) but Catholics are not the Vatican (just as Russians are not the Russian government nor Putin). The Vatican does far more than politics. The Vatican needs to by faith to consider as much of the entire circumstances of anything that might be tried so hopefully helping in doing the right thing.
The writer of the OP piece is an American - does Trump represent him in his everyday relations with reality, with fellow human beings ? I am a Nazarene Jew who was born of holocaust survivors in Canada and for thirty years so far have started and run the largest private human rights NGO in Eastern Europe. I was taught by my parents that "get your boots on the ground" for what we see happening in the present is never quite the full story for it is based on not understanding the fuller circumstances of what it is try to be moral. Poland is trying to lead as it has in the majority of its history to be fight for faiths based on learning from ones own life before trying to figure out what say someone who needs to speak 1.2 billion people can do.
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This Pope likes to pretend he is a humble man of the people. Riding around in the back of that Fiat 500 while everyone else is in a Mercedes limo polishes that image.
But during his trip to the USA, his true nature became exposed. He had to move his entourage from New York City to Philadelphia. Perhaps an hour by train. They could have chartered a four car special from Amtrak. But no, no, no. The Fiat transported the Pope to JFK Airport, where he boarded a chartered Boeing 777 to fly from JFK to Philly. An aircraft built to fly non stop to China.
Popes will always be Popes, first and foremost. Facades are just facades.
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@RM,
In September of 2015, a photo of a car from a friend is sent my way. 'Why are you sending me this, I ask, and where are you. At last hearing, you were on mission in The Sudan'. In Washington, in front of the Fiat transporting the Pope, to attend a mass he is giving. Was asked to welcome and give clearance to some of the attendees - Jeb Bush and his wife seem nice. Joe Biden gave me a wave, and The Supreme Court just swept through because they are automatically cleared.
The first Pope from Argentina, who continues to give hope and food for the soul for some of the lost among us, Brother Francis leads some of us by example to wish to do better.
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Tough times for Mr. Douthat to play the role of defending the incumbent patriarchy in carrying water for the Kavanaugh nomination while also playing the insurgent to challenge Pope Francis
"Lucifer seems to have a lot to work with" applies not only to the issues confronting Pope Francis
Strange days indeed
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The church often invokes natural law to defend its positions. Come on. Nothing is more unnatural than celibacy. The church started and grew for 10 centuries with married priests before it imposed celibacy to keep wealth in the church rather than in the hands of priests’ children through inheritance. Abuse will not stop until celibacy is ended and the church truly conforms to natural law.
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@Robert K.
Nothing is mire unnatural than celibacy for a monkey. The human race would set itself above the monkey.
You seem to think that pedophilia is constrained to the RC Church. Nope. I don't imagine that many pedophiles are willing to wait the 7 years of study.
"The alternative, silence and stonewalling, promises a church permanently in flames."
Please- show some optimism. Certainly their are reasonably good odds, considering the Church's well documented corruption along with an increasingly secular society, that the flames could leave this institution mercifully exterminated about 2 centuries after its relevance has passed.
Culture evolves- that is humanities saving grace and only true hope.
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Obviously, the pope needs to hire Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham as counselors.
It occurs to me, despite the very real possibility of unexpected lightning bolts, that Argentina (from whence he came), has a lot of hot blood, and that perhaps some woman might emerge with no warning but tales of escapades decades old. That probably would complicate his life seriously and make the need for Grassley and Graham that much more pointed. As a just-confirmed Supreme Court associate justice could testify … you just never know.
But this civil war within the Church is quite concerning for those who don’t want an anti-pope again in Avignon, which seems to be where they may be heading. Have we seen anything like it since the 14th century?
However, given the ponderous stability built over two thousand years by the Church, even with its (very) occasional hiccups, the likelihood is high that Francis will right HIS boat … somehow. Yet this is of a pattern with strong tendencies to disunion that we see everywhere globally, as no-holds-barred tactics are emerging by antagonists who are becoming more polarized and extreme every day. Why should the Church be immune?
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