Andrew Sullivan: In the Closet of the Vatican
From Andrew Sullivan in New York Magazine ...
The Corruption of the Vatican’s Gay Elite Has Been Exposed
I spent much of this week reading and trying to absorb the new and devastating book by one Frédéric Martel on the gayness of the hierarchy at the top of the Catholic Church, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy. It’s a bewildering and vast piece of reporting — Martel interviewed no fewer than “41 cardinals, 52 bishops and monsignori, 45 apostolic nuncios, secretaries of nunciatures or foreign ambassadors, 11 Swiss Guards and over 200 Catholic priests and seminarians.” He conducted more than 1,500 interviews over four years, is quite clear about his sources, and helps the reader weigh their credibility. He keeps the identity of many of the most egregiously hypocritical cardinals confidential, but is unsparing about the dead.
The picture Martel draws is jaw-dropping. Many of the Vatican gays — especially the most homophobic — treat their vows of celibacy with an insouciant contempt. Martel argues that many of these cardinals and officials have lively sex lives, operate within a “don’t ask, don’t tell” culture, constantly hit on young men, hire prostitutes, throw chem-sex parties, and even pay for sex with church money. How do we know this? Because, astonishingly, they tell us .....
The corruption in the church is not caused by the fact that there are a lot of gay priests. The corruption is caused by all the lies, dishonesty, hypocrisy, that exist because of: 1) the church's messed up teachings on LGBT people, and 2) the great number of sexually active gay men (and straight men) in the priesthood and the effort to keep this fact from the 'sheep' and the outside world. The remedy is honesty and a reality check. Here's how Andrew puts it ...
The crisis is so profound, the corruption so deep, the duplicity so brazen that only a radical change will help. Ending mandatory celibacy is no longer an option. It’s a necessity. Women need to be brought in to the full sacramental life of the church. Gay men need to be embraced not as some manifestation of “intrinsic moral evil” but as human beings made in the image of God and capable of mutual love, care, and support ....
Andrew thinks Pope Francis is working to make this happen, but I'm not as optimistic as he is. Pope Francis will not make celibacy optional and allow married priests. And the pope is a sexist who will never allow women to be priests or even deacons. And he has been a big disappointment in fixing the sex abuse problem. I think the church will not really change for the better under Pope Francis, and that's with him being admittedly better than the little tin gods who preceded him.
The Corruption of the Vatican’s Gay Elite Has Been Exposed
I spent much of this week reading and trying to absorb the new and devastating book by one Frédéric Martel on the gayness of the hierarchy at the top of the Catholic Church, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy. It’s a bewildering and vast piece of reporting — Martel interviewed no fewer than “41 cardinals, 52 bishops and monsignori, 45 apostolic nuncios, secretaries of nunciatures or foreign ambassadors, 11 Swiss Guards and over 200 Catholic priests and seminarians.” He conducted more than 1,500 interviews over four years, is quite clear about his sources, and helps the reader weigh their credibility. He keeps the identity of many of the most egregiously hypocritical cardinals confidential, but is unsparing about the dead.
The picture Martel draws is jaw-dropping. Many of the Vatican gays — especially the most homophobic — treat their vows of celibacy with an insouciant contempt. Martel argues that many of these cardinals and officials have lively sex lives, operate within a “don’t ask, don’t tell” culture, constantly hit on young men, hire prostitutes, throw chem-sex parties, and even pay for sex with church money. How do we know this? Because, astonishingly, they tell us .....
The corruption in the church is not caused by the fact that there are a lot of gay priests. The corruption is caused by all the lies, dishonesty, hypocrisy, that exist because of: 1) the church's messed up teachings on LGBT people, and 2) the great number of sexually active gay men (and straight men) in the priesthood and the effort to keep this fact from the 'sheep' and the outside world. The remedy is honesty and a reality check. Here's how Andrew puts it ...
The crisis is so profound, the corruption so deep, the duplicity so brazen that only a radical change will help. Ending mandatory celibacy is no longer an option. It’s a necessity. Women need to be brought in to the full sacramental life of the church. Gay men need to be embraced not as some manifestation of “intrinsic moral evil” but as human beings made in the image of God and capable of mutual love, care, and support ....
Andrew thinks Pope Francis is working to make this happen, but I'm not as optimistic as he is. Pope Francis will not make celibacy optional and allow married priests. And the pope is a sexist who will never allow women to be priests or even deacons. And he has been a big disappointment in fixing the sex abuse problem. I think the church will not really change for the better under Pope Francis, and that's with him being admittedly better than the little tin gods who preceded him.
posted by crystal | 8:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home