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Saturday, April 03, 2010

It isn't just Father Raniero Cantalamessa
Posted by Jill | 6:57 PM
Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Franciscan who yesterday compared criticism of of Pope Pedophile Protector to anti-Semitism. The underlying outrage here is not the trivialization of anti-Semitism, something with which the Vatican is very familiar, given the Church's history of forced conversion and adherence to Catholic doctrine during the Crusades. the Spanish Inquisition, and Bart Stupak. The outrage is the implication that hating those who protect pedophiles is sort of like hating Jews, which means that Jews therefore protect pedophiles.

THIS is why Jewish groups are outraged, it has little to do with trivialization of the Holocaust. And it isn't just Cantalamessa either. Today I took a break from an entire weekend spent working (for a change; this is all I do these days...I don't even know how to cook anymore) and went for coffee with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. She is in her 60's, and Roman Catholic. I asked her what she thought of all this, and she said that her faith is not rooted in the Pope or the Vatican (which of course makes her not really a Roman Catholic, but I didn't want to tell her that), but in her belief in God. Then she said that there is a place for forgiveness, and just as the faith of the Jews was not shaken by what they went through in the Holocaust, her faith isn't shaken by what the Church has done.

That's when my head exploded, leaving a mess all over the wall behind me.

I had to drop it right there, because otherwise I was going to have to confront her on drawing parallels between keeping one's faith when one is targeted for mass genocide, and keeping the faith when the leaders of your church for the last 40+ years are exposed as having either been or protectors of people who rape children.

So here we are.

Enjoy your chocolate bunnies tomorrow.

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7 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Hello Jane,

That is really sad that the person couldn't make the distinction. The other thing that bothers me to a certain extent is that when people say this has only been happening for the last 40 years. It's probably been (being?) going on for much longer.

Regards,
SV
4/3/10, 10:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I disagree with your remark that "the outrage is the implication that hating those who protect pedophiles is sort of like hating Jews, which means that Jews therefore protect pedophiles." The implication isn't that specific. Rather, it's that both the Vatican and Jews did nothing to make people hateful toward them—which is only true of Jews. Otherwise, we see eye to eye. I see that since making his insane, hurtful remark about anti-Semitism, the Pope's defender has resorted to the recent style of non-apology ("...if I inadvertently hurt anyone's feelings...") I wonder whether the Church's hold on people will ever cease to exist. Will the Vatican ever go out of business?
4/4/10, 5:35 PM  
Blogger Cujo359 said...
These days, there's a cerain symmetry to the Catholic church crying anti-Semitism, not to mention delicious irony.
4/4/10, 5:49 PM  
Blogger Jill said...
Anon, I hope you aren't drawing parallels between the Vatican and the Jews who were exterminated in the Holocaust as being Exactly the Same. Or if you are, I hope you aren't saying this is YOUR opinion, but rather that of the Vatican.

Either way, it's a reprehensible viewpoint, and an anti-Jewish one -- to claim that a Vatican that covered for pedophiles for generations, allowing its priests to betray the trust children and their parents put in them to rape said children, is EXACTLY THE SAME as Jews who were just living their lives when they were targeted for extinction.
4/4/10, 6:20 PM  
Blogger Distributorcap said...
what the cardinal said was disgusting, vile, stupid and sadly - typical. remember this is an organization deeply rooted in "christ killers" -- just because that was dropped as a philosophy doesnt mean a lot of the old school still doesnt believe it.

also there is a little matter of Pius XII and his relationship with Hitler......

but the Vatican, like the GOP can only see as far as their power will take them. and while we can wish this as the beginning of the end - that is highly unlikely giving the billion adherents who still think the Pope is the Vicar.
4/4/10, 9:55 PM  
Anonymous jb said...
There was a letter in our local newspaper up here yesterday suggesting that since Catholic/Christian doctrine says that the sinner who truly repents is forgiven, we all need to get off Benedict's back, and the back of any of the priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, because they're forgiven, and when you're forgiven, it's as if the sin never happened.

This is another reason why Christianity is toxic. You can get away with anything. I've believed for years that the idea of ultimate forgiveness actually opens the door for sin. Go ahead and do it now and ask to be forgiven later. It would explain a lot about today's religious nuts.
4/6/10, 7:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I left the Catholic church last week after 55 years.

I can no longer support a church that sexually abuses boys and girls and lies about what they did or did not do to prevent it.

I, too, tried to rationalize like your friend.
But, in the end, I could no longer justify my staying.
Even though the church is the people, the institution is rotten to the core.
If I belonged to a club or group that acted in this manner, I would resign.
How can I excuse the hierarchy of my faith which I am suppose to emmulate? Should they not be held to a higher standard? Should they not be holier and WORTHY of my devotion?

The Catholic church with it's sexual abuse problem and it's lack of respect and tolerance of women well, I deserve better.
I do not see the work of Jesus Christ being done by this church.
4/6/10, 9:37 AM  
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