Ratzinger’s finest hour
Brothers and sisters, join with me once again in reading the holy and most sanctified letter of the bishop of Rome to his beloved members of The Church in Ireland, and see with your own weeping eyes how he places all the blame gently but firmly on them, pretending with all the oiliness of a can of sardines and all the unction of a tube of BenGay that the higher ups in Rome knew nothing whatever about it and were going about their business in innocent piety and pious innocence while those Celtic ruffians were making a dog’s breakfast of things over there on the edge of the known world. We have read it before, my dear siblings, we read it when it was first issuéd last March, when the shit first hit the whirling blades of the air-circulator, but let us read it again, that its wisdom and compassion may strengthen us in these our great tribulations and griefs as we behold the agony of our Irish flock.
Part 11: To my brother bishops
It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at times grievously, to apply the long-established norms of canon law to the crime of child abuse. Serious mistakes were made in responding to allegations. I recognize how difficult it was to grasp the extent and complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information and to make the right decisions in the light of conflicting expert advice. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgement were made and failures of leadership occurred. All this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness. I appreciate the efforts you have made to remedy past mistakes and to guarantee that they do not happen again. Besides fully implementing the norms of canon law in addressing cases of child abuse, continue to cooperate with the civil authorities in their area of competence. Clearly, religious superiors should do likewise. They too have taken part in recent discussions here in Rome with a view to establishing a clear and consistent approach to these matters. It is imperative that the child safety norms of the Church in Ireland be continually revised and updated and that they be applied fully and impartially in conformity with canon law.
Is that not touching and holy and beautiful? You would not know butter had ever melted in the mouth of the utterer. You would not know he had ever had the faintest idea that priests had been raping children in Ireland. You would not know he had known all about it for years and years or that he knew perfectly well that it was the church in Rome itself that told the Irish bishops to keep the whole mess in house or else.
Ad maiorem dei gloriam, my dear siblings.
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To his beloved members of the Church of Ireland.
The letter was not addressed to the Irish people, it was addressed only to mass-goers; you could only get it if you went to mass — saying he could “share” mass-goers’ sense of shock and sorrow at the revelations. As if he only just found out! We all know he was aware 20 years ago. We all know too that there are plenty of those who were abused by the religious are not active churchgoers. Some of the churchgoers, in fact, treated victims/survivors, like they were the criminals and not the religious. Such hypocrisy. Doesn’t the letter have not only a sanctimonious sound to it but indeed a very sacrosanct feel to it? Beloved – how are you?
Perhaps not quite all–in section #8, “To the Parents,” he almost seems to be trying to shift some blame to them, as well:
Gaaack!
I’m rather fond of part 4. It was the people of Ireland’s failure to submit their whole persons to the Church to the extent of previous generations. It was the Second Vatican Council. It was the loss of respect for the priests that were raping their children.
It was, in short, that whole liberalization thing. Personally, I know nothing of the Church in Ireland, but I’ve spent some time in recent decades with the Catholic left. Politically radical, these folks are among the most virtuous people I’ve known, the antithesis of the Vatican-deferent fascists who feel no accountability and are actually responsible for these crimes.
Good Catholics need to recognize that, precisely to the extent that they are good, they are bad Catholics.
“mistakes were made”
Exactly.
Part11,in my opinion, is a denial of the secular state’s jurisdiction over the Church-
(1) “….continue to cooperate with the civil authorities in their area of competence”, the devil’s in the details here,particularly in regard to the definition of the term ‘area of competence’.
(2)”Clearly religious superiors should do likewise” “Should”? Surely His Slipperyness means “must”.
He also says that he’s planning an Apostolic Visitation. That means he’s going to Ireland, yes?
(I think we’ve had this point before, but the “Church of Ireland” is the Irish Anglican church.)
In other words, carry on as before. Canon law takes precedence. eurghhh!
I don’t envy His Oiliness. What a task!
It’s like trying to mend a custard pie after it’s been through a concrete mixer.
‘With this Letter, I wish to exhort all of you, as God’s people in Ireland, to reflect on the wounds inflicted on Christ’s body, the sometimes painful remedies needed to bind and heal them, and the need for unity,
‘It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, he still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church.
‘But it is in the Church that you will find Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and for ever (cf. Heb 13:8). He loves you and he has offered himself on the cross for you. Seek a personal relationship with him within the communion of his Church, for he will never betray your trust! He alone can satisfy your deepest longings and give your lives their fullest meaning by directing them to the service of others. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and his goodness, and shelter the flame of faith in your heart.
‘In solidarity with all of you, I am praying earnestly that, by God’s grace, the wounds afflicting so many individuals and families may be healed and that the Church in Ireland may experience a season of rebirth and spiritual renewal
‘It is my hope that, by drawing on the expertise of experienced preachers and retreat-givers from Ireland and from elsewhere, and by exploring anew the conciliar documents, the liturgical rites of ordination and profession, and recent pontifical teaching, you will come to a more profound appreciation of your respective vocations, so as to rediscover the roots of your faith in Jesus Christ and to drink deeply from the springs of living water that he offers you through his Church.
‘© Copyright 2010 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana’
What intrigues me about this letter is not so much the obvious cynicism and political rush to deal with a crisis, but the appeal that is made really to one image that has really become a bullying cliche: the suffering body of Christ on the cross. That powerful and intimidating image lies behind the whole letter, and it is being used, as it generally is, to pretend that the suffering of ordinary human beings is nowhere as great as that of Christ’s was: ‘Was ever grief like mine?’ Yes, it bloody well was, and is, and will be. The question is why such an image should have such power that – almost, one feels – it is employed as the last, unanswerable resort and redoubt towards which the faithful, at least, can only genuflect.
I added the copyright quotation, because it nicely points to a modern, secular and petty state of mind.
And I want to add – in addition to saying that neither ‘really’ in the first sentence of the penultimate paragraph should be there – that what strikes me most about the letter is – again, not its cynicism or it obvious objective – but its sheer childishness (an ironic quality, perhaps, in the circumstances, but also, surely a dangerous and distressing one: grown men surely shouldn’t be so childish).
‘It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, he still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church.’
This is nauseating hypocrisy. RCC Inc. was the sole cause of all this pain. You would think that the Rattenfaenger would remember the words of scripture – “God is not mocked”. But then, of course, judging by their deeds rather than their words, most of the senior executives of the corporation don’t actually believe there is a deity.
The invocation of Yeshue bar Yussef is interesting; was it not he who said “by their fruits you shall know them”?
<blockquote>What intrigues me about this letter is not so much the obvious cynicism and political rush to deal with a crisis, but the appeal that is made really to one image that has really become a bullying cliche: the suffering body of Christ on the cross. That powerful and intimidating image lies behind the whole letter, and it is being used, as it generally is, to pretend that the suffering of ordinary human beings is nowhere as great as that of Christ’s was: ‘Was ever grief like mine?’ Yes, it bloody well was, and is, and will be. The question is why such an image should have such power that – almost, one feels – it is employed as the last, unanswerable resort and redoubt towards which the faithful, at least, can only genuflect.</blockquote>
Yeah, it’s utterly bizarre that one guy can have an admittedly very bad weekend, and it’s fetishized into the greatest sacrifice ever, and the most important event in all of history. It’s nothing on the scale of human suffering—billions of people, almost all of whom suffer lots more over their lifetimes, and many who suffer about as intensely for at least as long. And he gets to be an ominpotent god, forever?
It’s the tokenest of token sacrifices.
Offered the same deal, I’d swap places with him in a heartbeat—a couple of bad days for an infinity of Godhood? Infinite return on investment? Oh yeah, I’m in for sure.
Seriously, so he had a bad weekend and got all better real quick, two thousand years ago. <i>So?</i>
Get over it, people. Move on.
Welp, you’ve put me off sardines for awhile now. Thanks a lot…
@ No9 “Church of Ireland” is the Irish Anglican church.)
I too was drawn to that terminology. I suppose, given subject matter to hand, the RCC probably wanted to remove itself from the smut.
Cardinal Brady kept his mouth closed on the oath of secrecy that abused children were required to take. Yet some months ago, he nearly fell over himself trying to state the European Court of Human Right’s ruling on the rights of Irish mothers to have their lives protected does not in his opinion have to be made Irish law. The very same bishop, despite his silence and inaction over these secret oaths, has the gall to refer to himself as “a wounded healer”.
Well, if he does, it’s his own damned omnipotent fault. Fucking whiner. Just get your daddy to kiss your boo-boos and make them all better already.
To my brother bishops.
Note in the heading how he endears himself to the bishops by calling them brothers. The words he employs are crafted to perfection by the Vatican spin-doctors to send out the right subliminal messages. He probably makes the bishops eye-lashes twitter with this kind of evocative language, He has the capacity to bring them to their knees, to worship and adore him, after all, he is the next best thing to what they gave up their lives for indeed. These men, who are professors and masters of philosophy and psychology and theology are reduced to humble crumbling weak servants and he can therefore twiddle around with them with his ringed oily BenGAY fingers..
Ok I amended church of Ireland, pedants. I just didn’t want to say “Catholic Church” right after bishop of Rome; I was attempting to avoid otiose repetition.
I recall that, recently, a group associated with the church here in the States, stated something to the effect that, ‘since the letter from the vatican instructing the Irish church to withhold evidence from civil authorities was an Irish matter – that the letter could not be used as evidence of complicity in pending American suits’.
The fact that the letter addressed the situation in Ireland does not limit its use as evidence here since it was a statement of vatican policy – it is this policy that would be used as evidence of the vatican’s intent, wherever these cases may arise. Are we to believe that an American bishop would see that policy as being applicable, only to the Irish dioceses? This is not a matter of Irish law being applied in an American court, but one of a criminal Vatican policy, and, as we know, vatican policy does not apply to one country alone, but to all countries including the US. The Vatican must take responsibility for its policies – it can’t weasel-out of this by saying that the letter was sent to only one nation’s church it would therefore be inappropriate for other countries to use it as evidence in their courts.