Tuesday 8 June 2010

This just in from the Department of You Couldn't Make It Up

You may have noticed recently that the Catholic Church in Ireland is in total meltdown. Dozens of priests have been caught sexually abusing children, bishops have had to resign for their parts in covering the scandals up and often moving these priests to new parishes where they carried on abusing, and large chunks of the young population were educated or simply locked up by the church with the approval of the state.

What's the answer to this widespread rottenness?

Why, it's to crack down on liberalism in the Church! Apparently being staffed with rapists isn't the core problem: it's priests who've allowed their congregations to skip confession, buy french letters and take communion while divorced. The sinners!

So if you've slacked off in church attendance because you suspect your priest's a child rapist, they have the answer: more pilgrimages and getting back to Benediction. For you, not for the priest.

The basic message from the Vatican seems to be 'it's not me, it's you'.

I don't know why I care, really. I don't live there and I don't believe a word of the dogma. I guess that this is the burden of the ex-Catholic. If only we could strip out the supernatural stuff and try the basic message ('carpenter's boy promotes kindness and being less judgmental'), we might all get along a little better. And fewer altar boys would be raped.

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