Monday, February 22, 2010

Suffer the little children

A brief addendum to Ophelia's exasperated comment over at Butterflies and Wheels on the Catholic Church's habitual proclivity to conflate sinfulness and homosexuality - which, as was to be expected, is being wielded as the killer argument in the current debate around sexual abuse committed by representatives/employees of the Catholic Church.

Here's a snippet from a statement to the press by Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, chairman of the German episcopal conference, in which he craftily uses his public apology to the victims as a vehicle to expound the Vatican's views. "Twisted and impervious" indeed, as Ophelia notes. What makes the whole performance even more daunting is the sanctimonious delivery. The guttural lilt, the self-righteous rhoticity - this is what all Catholic priests in Germany sound like.

As Zollitsch asserts smilingly at the end of the video, sexual abuse is not a systemic problem in the Catholic Church, but rather an accumulation of instances of individual deviance. Read (I guess, considering Ophelia's comment) homosexuality.

Which makes you wonder what the heck it is about the Catholic Church that apparently makes it so attractive to deviants all over the world.

6 comments:

Francis Sedgemore said...

"Which makes you wonder what the heck it is about the Catholic Church that apparently makes it so attractive to deviants all over the world."

Anja - For a woman of the world you can at times be rather vague.

The answer is, of course, the ecstasy of divinely sanctioned suffering, dressing up, and a fetish for clean white linen. Note that the latter is an obsession shared by observant Muslims.

https://obscenedesserts.blogspot.com/ said...

"For a woman of the world ..." [who still can't do italics in blog comments] - lol!

But Francis (St? He of the animals?): You seem to speak from experience ("The answer is, of course ..."). Or are you just divinely inspired?

Francis Sedgemore said...

"Beat me harder, Father, for I have sinned!".

Anyways, what's with this Zollitsch fellow. He's supposed to be a liberal deviant, in theological and ecclesiastical terms.

https://obscenedesserts.blogspot.com/ said...

"Liberal deviant"? By which standard? Compared to Mixa or Williamson he might indeed be cute and cuddly, but that's not saying much.

I don't know nothing about the ecclesiastical terms, being completely illiterate in that regard.

Though since spanking is the English vice it probably shouldn't be blamed on them innocent Catholics. "Flaggelation? Us?"

Francis Sedgemore said...

Zollitsch once denied the doctrine of the "Paschal sacrifice", and thinks that clerical celibacy is unnecessary. He also has a reputation for being women and gay-friendly.

joel hanes said...

"Which makes you wonder what the heck it is about the Catholic Church that apparently makes it so attractive to deviants all over the world."

For some, confession.

For some, absolution.