The corruption of the Roman Catholic church

Guest post by Kinsla

When you are looking for the key word regarding the Roman Church's recent difficulties in the US, Ireland, and now Austria (et al), the one to focus on is not 'Celibacy,' but rather 'Docility'. Back in 1910 or so, there was much concern in the Vatican about RC clergy in the US becoming too 'liberal'; this is when the phantom heresy of 'Americanism' was first bruited about. It was decided to institute a system of delators (informers) in the US seminaries in order to keep an eye on students who might become too independent minded, in order to prefer those who appeared 'docile' enough always to orient themselves about the official party line.

The more intelligent of the latter were sent on to Rome for study at the North American College for Priests or at the Gregorianum where their nascent personal 'formations' were given some Romanità for polish and they could begin to understand how the career game was to be played by those who most stood to benefit from it. No doubt this same policy was applied in Ireland, England, etc. and it resulted in a self-perpetuating policy of recruitment which emphasized qualities found in immature and passive individuals with a certain requisite level of intelligence, though not a lot of emotional understanding of others.

As the Jesuit historian Monsignor John Tracy Ellis noted, it was not until after the Second World War that there were any Catholic bishops in the United States either of whose parents had received any higher education. This deliberate 'dumbing down' of the Catholic clergy had an unintended by-product: the development of a culture of passive-aggressive individuals who were adept at cloaking their victimization of younger or weaker persons with apparent obedience to their superiors.

Since the superiors were cut from somewhat of the same cloth, they had an inherent blind spot to this growing sub-culture of abuse and molestation, and indeed were inclined to think it only an occasional 'lapse', or perhaps something which they themselves had once been tempted by or even indulged in. Hence it was not made much of, and was hushed up, overlooked, and generally treated as something amenable to a little 'therapy' or by moving a priest to another parish.

Celibacy has almost nothing to do with all this except that it serves as an excellent shelter and breeding ground for people of this immature passive-aggressive bent. If you look at pictures of groups of diocesan clergy in the US Roman Church you commonly view pictures of large, overfed men who have been taken care of for all of their adult lives in a very protected environment, often by indulgent female housekeepers and parishioners. Given the semi-magical view of the priesthood happily embraced by members of that fraternity, it comes as no great surprise to discover that many of them felt that their own behaviour was above the moral laws which they taught to their congregations.

That which ye sow is that also which ye shall reap. The Roman Church is not founded upon that 'rock' which was the faith of St.Peter, it is founded upon a legal system based on the Emperor Justinian's codex and administered by an Italian version of the original predatory Byzantine eunuchs.

And its aim is Imperium, not salvation.