I Cogitate
| Recent Posts | My Best Blogs | Archives | Favorite Quotes | Links | Contact |
Should the Catholic Church Receive the Death Penalty?
It's in the news yet again.
This time it's Monsignor Eugene Clark (now make that ex-monsignor) from St Patrick's Cathedral in New York who has been caught frolicking with his (now, soon to be not married secretary.
In addition, according to the New York Daily News, Monsignor Clark has also lost his television show. You know the one:
"...The Eternal Word Television Network also pulled the plug on Clark's weekly "Relationships" television show. During the half-hour broadcast, Clark often lectured about marital fidelity and railed against Hollywood, homosexuals and others he deemed "the enemy of Christian marriage..."Hypocrisy reigneth.
Add this to the recent headlines of ordained and affiliated Catholic Church sexual predators running amok for decades in this country and the shrug of response issued by far too many in the church hierarchy.
Mix in the 'dispensations' and 'blessings' granted by Popes of yore in return for jewels, baubles and filthy lucre, plus the political conniving during World War II.
Don't forget the persecution of Galileo Galilei for challenging the supreme authority of the Holy Scripture (actually the Catholic authorities) and replacing it with the 'heresy' of scientific truth.
Keep in mind the Medieval and Roman Inquisitions.
Maybe the Catholic Church needs a timeout. A long one. At the very least, a period of time adorned with sackcloth and ashes.
Actually, the Catholic Church needs what the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) administers to rogue schools that demonstrate a lack of institutional control: the death penalty. That means shutting down a specific sports program at a school for a specified period of time. The Southern Methodist University football program received such a penalty for its continuous flouting of guidelines and by-laws.
Really, hasn't it come to this with the Catholic Church? Shouldn't it disband it for a few years and then modestly re-start.
Yes, it not just the Catholic Church. There are Jimmy Swaggarts, Robert Tiltons and now Eugene Clarks sprinkled everywhere in the non-secular world. The secular world for that matter.
But the bar should be at least a notch higher for the repeat offender religions and religionists, those who deign to instruct and model behavior for the flock?
And the Catholic Church, despite many devout adherents and numerous good works, has been among the most incorrigible.
top
RSS feed
| Recent Posts | My Best Blogs | Archives | Favorite Quotes | Links | Contact |