1 Boring Old Man

Scandal’s shadow touches pope’s German years
[The Boston Globe] New York Times
By Nicholas Kulish and Rachel Donadio
March 13, 2010

BERLIN — A widening child sexual abuse inquiry in Europe has landed at the doorstep of Pope Benedict XVI, as a senior church official acknowledged yesterday that a German archdiocese made “serious mistakes’’ in handling an abuse case while the pope served as its archbishop. The archdiocese said that a priest accused of molesting boys was given therapy in 1980 and later allowed to resume pastoral duties, before committing further abuses and being prosecuted. Pope Benedict, who at the time headed the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, approved the priest’s transfer for therapy. A subordinate took full responsibility for allowing the priest to resume pastoral work, the archdiocese said in a statement…

Problems in the German church have already come close to the pope, whose brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, 86, directed a choir connected to a boarding school where two former students have come forward with abuse claims. In an interview this week, Ratzinger, who directed the choir from 1964 to 1994, said the accusations dated from before his tenure. He also apologized for slapping students. At a news conference following a one-on-one meeting with Benedict yesterday, Zollitsch said the pope was “greatly upset’’ and “deeply moved’’ by the abuse allegations, and had urged the German church to seek the truth and help the victims…

“What is at stake, and at great risk, is Benedict’s central project for the ‘re-Christianization’ of Christendom, his desire to have Europe return to its Christian roots,’’ said David Gibson, the author of a biography of Benedict. “But if the root itself is seen as rotten, then his influence will be badly compromised.’’ When a sex abuse scandal broke in Boston church in 2002, Pope Benedict — then Cardinal Ratzinger — was among the Vatican officials who made statements that minimized the problem and accused the news media of blowing it out of proportion.

But as the abuse case files landed on his desk at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, his colleagues said he was deeply disturbed by what he learned. On his first visit to the United States as pope, Benedict met with abuse victims from Boston and said he was “deeply ashamed’’ by priests who had harmed children. But victims’ advocates accuse the pope of doing little to discipline the bishops who permitted abusers to continue serving in ministry. The case in Munich, which was brought to the attention of the diocese by the daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, was a result of “serious mistakes,’’ the archdiocese said in its statement…

I’m particularly taken with this from the second reference: "Men who used women for sex as a pleasure object would lose respect for them. Once men treat women as an object, it leads to emotional abuse, physical abuse, and rape." because it could apply to all of the young boys whose lives have been ruined or compromised by being seduced by their priests. I saw such a person once as a patient. He had put a stop to things before actually being molested, but just the lead-up seduction  was enough to work havoc in his mind. It is unlikely that his brother, an actual victim, will ever move on with his life. This was some years back. The priest was sent off to a monastery, then resumed his duties [and yes, the priest did it again].

Several things stand out to me. First, the celibate male clergy is making pronouncments about human sexuality, something they know nothing about, or at least nothing worth knowing. Second, they claim to be championing women, yet they are in fact men who are sentencing women to a fixed life experience with no time off for good behavior. Finally, both celebacy and the ban on birth control are based on the premise that the important thing is the fate of the church – not the fate of their parishoners or mankind as a whole.

And then there’s this cryptic comment, "When Pope Paul VI died in 1978, Pope John Paul I was elected. He said he was going to allow birth control and do a sweeping reform of the Vatican. He only lasted 33 days before dying in mysterious conditions." His untimely death has given rise to a number of conspiracy theories, claiming he was murdered by the "Masonic Cardinals." I know nothing of that, but the reversal of the church’s stand on birth control would have been a "Godsend." And what of this? "In 1966, there was a Papal Commission on Birth Control. This Commission voted 30-5 to relax the concerns on birth control. But in 1968, Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae reiterated the anti-birth-control stance." His arguments for overriding the Commission [below] are forced and do not rely on scriptures but on the opinions of the Pope. I think that’s the hardest part for non-Catholics like me to grasp is why is what the Pope thinks any big deal? Papal Infallibility is a dogma of the church that was another late-comer [1870].

"Papal infallibility is the dogma in Roman Catholic theology that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals as being contained in divine revelation, or at least being intimately connected to divine revelation. It is also taught that the Holy Spirit works in the body of the Church, as sensus fidelium, to ensure that dogmatic teachings proclaimed to be infallible will be received by all Catholics. This dogma, however, does not state either that the Pope cannot sin in his own personal life or that he is necessarily free of error, even when speaking in his official capacity, outside the specific contexts in which the dogma applies."

If the last Pope says something infallibly, then how could the next Pope change it? That’s the kind of malarkey that runs throughout the pseuodological dogma of the church – the notion of dogma as absolute truth. It’s a tricky, slippery slope trod by Popes, Mullahs, Ayotollas, Rabbis, fundamentalist protestants, and too many politicians – the elevation of an individual’s opinions to the level of truth. While Papal Infallibility has only been officially claimed once [Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII, 1950, defining the assumption of Mary], the existence of the dogma lends an absoluteness to the pronouncements of the Pope on all matters – the "Holy Father" has spoken.

The celibacy of the clergy has spawned a culture of pedophilia that probably goes back centuries. The prohibition on birth control and the notion that the human sexual drive is for procreation only is so misguided that it defies explanation – particularly in the third world. It’s hard to understand why it would continue, or even why the church is in the sexual morality business in the first place. But the church’s doctrine is unlikely to change – towards homosexuality, birth control, or celibacy. And in the face of an increasingly shrinking clergy and escalating awareness of the childhood seduction meme of  a large number of priests, one wonders where all of this is heading.

[2] Catholic Church and Birth Control: The Catholic church has said since its beginning that birth control was "wrong". Birth control was known at least since the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans. During these days birth control came in the form of animal skin condoms and various poisons to be used as spermicides. The first mention of the ban on birth control was in Genesis 38:8-10. In this story, Onan is ordered to sleep with his brother’s widow. He "pulled out" to not get her pregnant and was slain as a result. Death is a pretty serious penalty.

The next mention of birth control being wrong is in Deuteronomy 23:1. It says "He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of the Lord." Pretty nasty ways of sterilization, those! This message is reiterated many times in subsequent years by church leaders. Clement of Alexandria (AD195) says, "Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted"… Over the centuries, all groups that broke off of the church agreed with the birth control ban as a "normal" part of life. It was never even thought of to change this mandate against birth control.

"Since, therefore, openly departing from the uninterrupted Christian tradition some recently have judged it possible solemnly to declare another doctrine regarding this question, the Catholic Church, … in order that she may preserve the chastity of the nuptial union from being defiled by this foul stain, … proclaims anew: any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin. "

• The commission was not unanimous. It would be wrong on such an important issue to force church members who were strongly against a drastic change to accept it. Especially when the church was 100% steady on this issue for almost 2,000 years.
• If the church said that birth control was a moral thing to do, it could lead to governments forcing sterilization on people. For example, the government could force mentally challenged men to be castrated, and mentally challenged women to have their tubes tied. Governments could force sterilizations on "undesireable races" to prevent them from having children. It wasn’t that long ago that Sweden force-sterilized 21,000 people.
• If sex was not about creating children in a loving family, then sex would solely be about pleasure with no responsibility. Men who used women for sex as a pleasure object would lose respect for them. Once men treat women as an object, it leads to emotional abuse, physical abuse, and rape.
• God created sex to create children. That was his specific desire and mandate. Man should not second-guess God and interfere with His system.

The Rhythm Method deserves a special mention here. The rhythm method is what they call not having sex on certain days in a woman’s ovulation cycle. A woman isn’t fertile every day of the month. She is only fertile on maybe 3 to 4 of the days, based on her ovulation cycle. If a man simply does not have sex with her on those specific days, a baby should not result. The Rhythm Method once was banned, but is now considered by most to be a valid option. The church called this "Natural Family Planning". However it is important to note that there are many priests who still argue that the rhythm method is a grave sin. The whole point of the rhythm method is that it has sex for fun and specifically tries to avoid the "proper result" of children. Aiming for sex without any chance of children is against God’s laws to many Catholics. Every sexual act should be done with the expectation that a child could result.

What if you simply stop having sex altogether? Even abstinence in a marriage is apparently wrong, according to many. Married people should follow God’s will to try to have children. It is part of the mandate of marriage.

When Pope Paul VI died in 1978, Pope John Paul I was elected. He said he was going to allow birth control and do a sweeping reform of the Vatican. He only lasted 33 days before dying in mysterious conditions. The next pope was Pope John Paul II, from Poland. He was born in 1920, and was extremely powerful during his years of being Pope from 1978 to 2005. In 1995 he published the Evangelium Vitae. In this he spoke against abortion and contraception as both being evil slayers of potential children God intended to create. He even says that developed nations who try to bring contraceptives to third world nations are doing it out of "selfishness" – that they want there to be fewer third worlders around so there is "more" for the wealthy people. He says children are the "supreme gift of marriage" that any couple should be waiting for gladly. He was very fond of the Virgin Mary and felt that all women should have children as often as God sends them.

John Paul II made sure he brought in believers to surround him who held these same beliefs. When his successor was chosen in 2005, and Benedict XVI took power, there was little hope that anything John Paul II had set into motion would change at all. In fact, in 2007 Pope Benedict XVI came out railing against the Italian people who he feels are having too few children and therefore causing the downfall of the Catholic religion (i.e. fewer kids = fewer paying Catholics growing up). He said this was "dangerous individualism" causing women to choose to do things other than kick out a new baby every year. Those women should dutifully be producing millions of new Catholics for the Pope.