If Roman Catholics Aren't In A Crisis Of Faith They're Not Paying Attention

Roman Catholics can read and understand the scriptures on their own without having to  depend on priests, bishops or even popes.  By invoking a more independent stance on teachings, dogma, etc. Catholics are less likely to display excessive deference and thereby become victims.


The interviews  4 days ago on CBS News of  four of the Fortney sisters were almost too painful to see or hear.   Carolyn Fortney - seated at the far left, pain etched on her fair features-    was younger than 2 years old when she was first sexually abused by a priest in the Harrisburg diocese.  Her sisters were also abused.  Patty said she was 13 when the abuse started. Lara was 10. Teresa was in first grade. Carolyn was barely a toddler.  Sometimes, they were abused in front of each other

All five Fortney sisters were sexually abused in the 1980s by the Rev. Augustine Giella, who served at St. John the Evangelist church in Swatara Township, Dauphin County.   One of the 4 sisters appearing in the segment talked of "soul murder", that was how she experienced what happened to her.

Their parents, Ed and Patty Fortney, reported the abuse to the diocese in 1992 after another child in the family found a box that contained nude photos of Carolyn. Another sister called child services and the abuse was reported to the police.   Giella was arrested on charges of sexual assault and child pornography. He died before the trial.   The family settled two civil lawsuits with the diocese, but the four sisters said they never received a direct apology

What happened to the Fortney sisters is among tens of thousands of similar crimes perpetrated across decades  on children by RC sexual predator padres, from Chile, to Honduras, to Australia, the UK, Germany, Ireland, the U.S. and likely many other nations.  In the case of the Fortney sisters, their perp also emerged when a grand jury in Pennsylvania released a sweeping report that the church had covered up the abuse of more than 1,000 minors by some 300 priests over 70 years

 Pope Francis himself acknowledged the global scale of the problem when he issued a rare letter to Catholics worldwide  in which he laid much of the blame for the sex abuse crisis on "excessive deference to the church' hierarchy."   In other words, laying the blame on the "faithful" for being too respectful and gullible of padres' (and bishops')  moral authority

Given the odious, perverted nature of these crimes it was almost inevitable that there would be pushback on some levels, and indeed, wrong -headed ethicists even claiming there is no "crisis of faith". This, though they do admit to  "ecclesiastical corrunption".   In one recent write -up ('A Crisis -  But Not Of Faith', WSJ Review, Sept. 1-2, p. C3),   George Weigel * made such reference and also  wrote:

"In this summer of nightmare, with the bad news by no means all out, the gag reflex of many Catholics is understandable.  But that doesn't or shouldn't make it a crisis of faith".

Why on earth not?

"Friendship with Jesus Christ is where Christianity begins...To learn from Christ and to be fed by him in holy communion is the primary reason for Catholic worship.  If Catholics lose sight of that, the awfulness that has come to light about some of the people of the Church, can cause what might seem at first blush a crisis of faith."

Well, I beg to differ.   First, if "learning from Christ" is a primary reason for RC membership, then that in itself is redundant because one can "learn from"  Christ independent of any intermediary (priests, bishops, etc.)   That was the whole putative basis for Martin Luther’s 95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences which skewered the unsavory and cynical Church racket of  selling  "indulgences" but at the same time mocked  the theology and undermined the business model built upon it .  That is, that a whole hierarchy of intermediate clergy were required for a member of the faithful to gain salvation.  The intermediaries organized the indulgence racket, just as they organized the doctrinal infrastructure embedded in the Church's Canon Law, deciding what offenses merited eternal punishment, and which did not.

But again, one can obtain such "friendship" independent of padres and popes. That is the subtext of Luther's 95 Theses.

Luther basically posited that the whole indulgence business was an unseemly scam, given the pope himself could tweak offenses and punishments. In the end, the faithful didn't need priests, bishops or popes any more than they needed indulgences.  They could gain access directly to  spiritual insights in scriptures if they so desired, and thereby to God. Priests and other clergy were unnecessary middle men, expendable.

 Given it is the intermediaries (no matter how many or how few) who are the problem with the ongoing sex abuse, then the clear solution is to do an end run around them, i.e. to ditch them entirely.  If you accept the existence of a divine entity go to that entity directly! You don't need a frickin' padre to provide a special back channel, no matter how pious he seems!

That, I submit, is the core of the problem.  The placing of padres and other members of the Church hierarchy on some kind of pedestal, and thereby placing too much stock in what they say or preach. In so doing, people sacrifice their brains and gonads and render themselves more susceptible to being victims. Not just of sexual abuse, but also emotional and what I'd call religious exploitation and indoctrination. No surprise philosopher Daniel Dennett has compared the effects of religion to that of a parasite invasion of a human brain - altering its behavior, e.g.

This brings us to Weigel's ambiguous reference to "some people in the Church" when it is in fact the clergy, the padres, the bishops etc who are the "some people."  In other words,  we're talking about the intermediaries.  For any number of reasons Weigel is unable to see that if a severe betrayal of trust is evident in even a subset of these intermediaries the resulting crisis of faith - which is really a crisis of trust - must affect all. How can that young person of whatever age trust that smiling priest again, no matter how noble or pure he appears? He cannot.  The crisis of faith then inheres in misplaced faith in the intermediary establishment of the Church, specifically the ability of that hierarchy to convey truth.  In Weigel's words:

"It is important to refocus on the basis of Catholic faith, which is trust in Jesus Christ."

But he fails to make clear or elucidate that it is the intermediaries, the priests etc. who are supposedly the "representatives of Christ on Earth"..  But if one cannot trust the priests, how can he extend that trust to Christ?  The only way possible is to divest from the intermediary entirely as a useful or needed representative and approach Christ directly -  which means trusting Christ directly- absent of priests. Only in this way can  the criminal, perverted doings of the padres be prevented from contaminating the believer's trust in Christ.

In his dodge, Weigel attempts to divert the faith issue to one of scriptural basis and accepting Christ.  For example, writing at one point:

"Catholics were reminded at Mass on Aug. 26 of a very old scripture story they heard.   Although it was prescribed for that Sunday by an accident of the Church's triennial cycle of scripture readings."

He then cites a passage in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of St. John, i.e. with Christ declaring himself the "bread of life" on which disciples must feed.  Being too hard for many accept they left whereupon Christ asks Peter if he will leave too and he responds "Master to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life."

But then  conflating this with the basis of Catholicism, i.e.  "That conviction is the reason to be a Catholic to stay a Catholic, to make every effort to redeem the Church as an institution."

To which I say, hogwash.    There is in fact zero reason to "redeem" or preserve the institution at all because it has shown itself incapable of protecting the weakest and most vulnerable - like the Fortney sisters.  If it cannot protect these most vulnerable, subjecting them instead to  "soul murder" on what viable basis should this structure exist? There isn't any, not one.  As for scriptural citations, in the current context how about this one from Matthew 18:6?

"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Indeed, Weigel toward the end of the piece admits a large element of blame redounds to the fact that "keeping the institutional Catholic  machinery ticking as smoothly as possible, by compromises with truth...was deemed more important than offering friendship with Jesus Christ."

Thereby,  again,  offering every reason to ditch the institution and its intermediaries. Trust in Yeshua? Do that on your own, you don't need padres or popes.   Reading scriptures?  You don't need to attend Masses to wait for the specific "triennial" cycle of a specific passage to appear, you can get a bible and freaking read it on your own, as a conscious, thinking and responsible adult. 

The sad fact, contrary to Weigel's apologia, is that the Church has ceased to be a credible moral authority as well as a credible witness "to the Lord".   Point of fact, the faithful on their own can be credible witnesses to the "Lord' without depending on priests, on Masses or any aspect of the institutional Church with its dogmas and papal encyclicals. . It is purely a matter of will, the will to be an authentic adult -  a critically thinking person  - as opposed to a parrot or puppet for the popes and priests.

Confession? You don't need a padre! You can confess directly to the Almighty from your own heart,  if you believe in an ultimate power.   Confession, when you strip away the nonsense, is merely one more artifact or device for control, to prevent the believer from breaking out of a manipulative cycle of sin and forgiveness.  Indeed, the cynical process was first exposed by former priest, Emmet McLoughlin in his book 'Crime and Immorality in the Catholic Church' (Lyle Stuart Books, 1962) .

McLoughlin gives numerous examples of pre-Confession sin recollection for  Catholic youths, most based on the RC proscriptions against sexual fantasizing (especially those instances which produced hard-ons).  Thereby hyper -sensitive and devout youths were led  to no end of torment via  morbid preoccupations.   E.g. "If I kept this nude Playmate image in my mind for a minute and became excited,  was it a mortal sin? If I don't confess will I face the tortures of Hell, say if I die in my sleep tonight? " The result was millions of kids - mainly young RC males-   sent into precarious and unstable mental states - and always ensuring they were minutes from a confessional.   Just in case.

Pathetic!

No, this sad and sorry institution isn't needed, not one bit.  If my Catholic friends want words to live by, I offer Joseph Campbell's:

“Heaven is everlasting, not eternal, and you find it in the here and now, the present”

----------------------------
*  Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington DC,  and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.

Did The Calvinist Reformation in Geneva Pave The Way For More Militant Atheism?

                                                                             

                     Calvin- A "tyrant" to many but a "holy man" to his followers. 

                                        He aspired to make Geneva the "holy city"

Travel to Geneva, as we did in July, 1997, and you can't help but be thoroughly impressed by this cultural, world class cosmopolitan jewel in the southwest corner of Switzerland. Just sitting on the lake side and watching the Jet d' eau (color image lower right)and you had to marvel. 

                               Janice points to Jet d'eau in background

                                   Me at lake side enjoying the scenes on overcast day

                                   The Jet d'eau seen from our 4th floor hotel window.

Also, if you knew your Swiss history, how this location was a most uninviting place for freethinkers back in the 1530s, 1540s. After all, it was the zealous firebrand Johann Calvin (founder of Calvinism) who was called in 1536 to make Geneva the "Protestant Rome".

Did he succeed? Up to a point. But in his zealous program and reaction to it he may have unwittingly unleashed more militant, aggressive forms of atheism. Consider that even for lax Protestants - far less any Catholics - Geneva from 1541 to 1564 was not a very hospitable place. Committed to his program of rendering Geneva the "holy city" Calvin and his highly motivated minions went all out to do it. Their program included: routine and harsh censorship (i.e. no lewd, nude works of art), regular home visits by the clergy to ensure the faithful were toeing the line, and a network of informers who would have done the Nazis proud. 

The regulation included every aspect of life from the style of women's shoes to the names allowed for children as well as pets. Those who flouted the proscriptions or regulations, such as naming a dog after Calvin, faced more sever punishment including banishment and even execution. Yale prof Carlos Eire, author of the book 'Reformations: The Early Modern World 1450-1650', notes that over the time period indicated no less than 58 people were put to death and 76 were banished. This was out of a town with a (then) population of roughly 10,000.

Eire in his monograph is clear that the most potent force in the Reformation period is Calvin. Too many not au fait with the man (other than the American work ethic stereotype, i.e. forged by strict Calvinism) aren't aware that while Martin Luther spread his influence mainly through Germany, Calvin's spanned all of Europe. 

Interestingly, coincident with Calvin's reign, the Council of Trent (reactionary in itself) assembled over several periods from 1545 to 1563. It is not exaggeration to assert this Council set the program and course for Roman Catholicism for the next 400 years.  One of its offshoots, in fact, was the Society of Jesus - otherwise known as the Jesuits.  While the Jesuits have often been portrayed as the "shock troops" of Catholicism, it is truer to say that the Jesuits proudly reinforced the use of reason and pragmatism that - in Eire's words - "had always been an integral part of the Catholic tradition."

To substantiate this, attend theology (or philosophy)  classes at any Jesuit -run university - as I did from 1964-67 at Loyola University, New Orleans.  Discussions were wide ranging and critical thinking a required commodity.  These attributes served me well even after I'd transferred to the University of South Florida to pursue my degree in astronomy (which Loyola did not offer.)

In fact, as I observed in my June 29, 2010 post, Loyola's Jesuits were in many ways directly responsible for my atheist path.  As I noted:

"my questioning and suspicious mind and approach was only confirmed and augmented with each step I took, including a series of theology courses at Loyola. I'd also gone to hear one of the foremost Existentialist philosophers in the world, Jean-Paul Sartre, who came to the Loyola University Fieldhouse in 1964. And, of course, we learned at that lecture one of the cornerstone avoidances of the Existentialist, is "bad faith".

This was the cardinal sin, if you will. The most serious transgression an authentic being or person can make. By "bad faith", Sartre meant going against your own interior barometer, to "go along to get along". It made life relatively easy (few conflicts) but ultimately led to despair since an artificial life was substituted for an authentic one."

Given this, it doesn't appear to be a stretch that Calvinism's excesses spawned a vigorous reaction of questioning and criticism from the Jesuits, also the products of the Reformation. And just as my continued critical thinking led me to atheism, that Reformationist reaction might have led to a more ambitious, aggressive form of atheism - as later vindicated by the onslaught of modern science. Who needs popes, Canon law or '95 Theses' when  Darwinian evolution and the Big Bang disclose supernatural agents as redundant?

Eire himself doesn't shy from the negative side of the Council of Trent including the Inquisition, the suppression of deviance, and the supremacy of value attached to celibacy and virginity. But looking at these in retrospect, they would have only incited an even more critical, hostile and militant atheism- of the form that ultimately took hold in the early 20th century, i.e. with philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and others.

Ultimately, I have to agree with Eire  that the Calvinist legacy of the Reformation period incepted Christianity's fragmentation.  With it, the epistemological space thereby created paved the way for secularism, skepticism ....and a hardy, no fools tolerated....atheism.  It is hardly astonishing that since the Enlightenment one finds most physical scientists are atheists. This is not merely a reflection of their ideological choices but also of the recognition that there is no place for supernaturalism in modern physics, chemistry or biology.

Here Come the Devil Mongers Again! Spouting on Exorcisms and Vampires!

"Woe to Ye Who Scoff At Demons!"  So blared one letter-to-the -Editor headline in the Barbados NATION newspaper in 1979, after I'd written an op-ed scoffing at the very notion of demons, the Devil and exorcisms. As I seem to recall I referred to such nonsense as "emanations from brain embolisms" likely spawned by too much hard liquor or drugs.

Well, it's one thing to write or talk of demons in the Barbados context where "Obeah" is still in vogue. It's another to behold demonic references in the supposedly advanced industrial world.  But recent verbal expulsions by assorted padres and even the Pope make one wonder if we've progressed at all from the Dark Ages.

For reference, let's take this recent expatiation:

“There are those who try to turn people into vampires and make them drink other people’s blood, or encourage them to have special sexual relations to obtain special powers,” said Professor Giuseppe Ferrari, head of The Group on Research and Socio-Religious Information, an Italian occult watchdog, at a conference in Rome last week. 

Seriously? Such a dopey group really exists and devotes time to this balderdash? Evidently, as the padre went on:

“These groups are attracted by the so-called beautiful young vampires that we’ve seen so much of in recent years.”

Vampires? I thought that went out with the Count Dracula legends. Don't tell me that this crackpot takes them seriously!   But incredibly Ferrari is no mere fringe exorcist. The guy is actually backed by the Vatican and the Pope himself, who has insisted that dioceses have one trained exorcist on campus to deal with any urgent possessions. (Hmmm...maybe we need to dispatch one to deal with John McAdams!)


Father Cesare Truqui, a Swiss exorcist and protégé of Father Gabriele Amorth (the Vatican’s longtime chief exorcist) who also spoke at the conference, told The Independent  (UK) newspaper that exorcism training is super important but overlooked. According to Truqui:

 “It’s like training to be a journalist without knowing how to do an interview.”

Yes, but see journalists are expected to do interviews about factual events, not humbug or artificial nonsense fabricated by stoners and wackos. (With the possible exception of former NY Times staff reporter Judith Miller  - who almost single-handedly confabulated the march to the Iraq war with WMD propaganda bullshit).

Readers might regard this stuff as flaky but they'd be wrong. In fact, under Pope Francis, who frequently mentions the Devil, exorcisms are booming. Even here in the U.S.last year a new school for exorcists opened in Illinois:. The Pope Leo XIII Institute for the “education & training of priests in the holy ministry of exorcism and deliverance."  If you can believe it! (Well, at least it's close enough to where John McAdams is located to sic an exorcist or two on him if needed!)

According to another padre: Father Francesco Bamonte, president of the Italy-based International Association for Exorcists:

“Diabolical possessions are on the increase as a result of people subscribing to occultism. The few exorcists that we have in the dioceses are often not able to handle the enormous number of requests for help.”

While it is true that exorcism has been taught as part of Catholic theology – as my old Loyola University Theology notes show, e.g.


No truly mature and rational priest or Bishop really believes that. It is merely fed to them, like the whole concept of “sin”, to keep the faithful at the level of malleable infants to be controlled. I left the Church precisely because I wanted to be an independent thinker …and doer. Not bound to any silly, centuries old dictates or dogmas.

But that hasn't halted the new breed of superstitious twits from spreading their malarkey - likely as a tactic to take the heat off the Vatican for the sex abuse scandal.  Cripes, even the Brits - who we usually associate with greater rationality - have invested in this crap.

“Until a few years ago, a significant number of people in the Church didn’t believe in the Devil, but people are now going back to the Scriptures,”

said an unnamed British exorcist priest in an interview with The Telegraph. adding:

“Pope Francis has given a certain amount of encouragement to that. A few years ago at least half the dioceses in England and Wales did not have an exorcist. Now, pretty much all of them do.”

But again, the increase in exorcists doesn't prove there is any bona fide object or entity on which to act. It only proves enough superstitious, paranoid people exist who need the crutch of exorcism to manage their stupid beliefs.

Which is sad and shows regression.  The basic problem with the whole exorcism shtick is that it’s based on primitive, superstitious gibberish.  Namely belief in a demonic entity in the first place. We can probably trace it back to Martin Luther. In his ‘Teufelsbucher’ or Devils’ Books, written from 1545- 1600, he laid out the whole warp and woof of how the Devil involved himself in human affairs.

According to Luther,  the Devil was involved in everything that made life worth living: dressing up, food, party going, dancing to poetry, drama, writing. The Devil was behind virtually all the vices and manifestations of the world. Especially sex! The other bottom line made clear is that Satan was not to be trifled with or taken lightly. Woe to those (like atheists) who did, and all that!

But why the obsession?  Why the need for Satan, devils, or exorcisms at all? Little known by the demon mongering idiots is that in Yeshua's time, before the dawn of modern psychiatry, ordinary schizophrenia and schizoid personality disorders were commonly believed to be manifestations of  "demonic possession". Thus, we had biblical allegories and stories referring to Christ "casting out" Beelezebub from sick people, and even animals. But modern biblical scholars now understand these were metaphors for seeking cures (at that time) for the mental illness that stalked the population even then.

Further,  the Catholic Church's ritual of exorcism was founded and promulgated not on the belief that demonic possession was real, but that the afflicted person believed it was real. Thus, the rite of exorcism was initiated as a memetic template to cure the belief in the person's possession, not any objective possession per se. Up to now, indeed, no one has been able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that any demonic possession has ever occurred, never mind absurd fictional portrayals like those in 'The Exorcist'.

Doubts that possession was real probably surfaced first just after the period of the Inquisition. This is because the tortures and executions of the Inquisition were self-sustaining, because none of the greatest theological minds could figure out how one might exterminate demons or Devils permanently by killing the allegedly possessed humans. Because they could not be killed, and could still possess humans (according to the Inquisition), then whenever you tortured a heretic or apostate to death  the possessing devil or demon would just skip to another forlorn soul, who in turn would have to be killed. With that possessing demon jumping to another ,…..and so on keeping the Inquisition’s fires and torture wheels going indefinitely.

Eventually, the Church's great brains figured out they could potentially slaughter every single living member of the "Body of Christ" yet not be able to get at the demons or Satan himself! In other words, their own feverish delusions were having them on, leading them to excessive actions and reactions that didn't do a damned thing to advance the welfare of the "Body of Christ".

Adding fuel to Satan-mania was the Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer (Dean of Cologne University) and Jacob Sprenger (Dominican Inquisitor General of Germany). This was the book which gave the prescriptions for exposing those possessed, or under the influence of familiars or witches or other demonic entities (succubi, incubi) under a Bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII.

Because this book allowed persecution to spread to tens of thousands of women - as "witches" - it soon became evident to the best and brightest that belief in demonic possession was in fact a recipe for self-extermination, not purification!

At the very least it meant one half of humanity being exterminated, since generally, throughout the Middle Ages, the belief persisted that the female was closer by far to the demonic hordes, by virtue of her enhanced carnality. Indeed, the demise of male virtue as well as mental power could allegedly be traced to female wiles, and what better way to enhance them than using a herb like savin (given by a witch)

Given the “evidence” of any one or all of these the accused witch could be apprehended and subjected to “the question”. This meant usually prodding her flesh with special instruments to locate the mark of “the Beast” (666) or any similar mark usually associated with the Devil. If a first pass wasn’t enough gradually more pressure and torture would be applied, usually ending up in some sort of disfigurement being found eventually and attributed to the Devil. According to author Peter Stanford (‘The Devil’, 1996, p. 162):

“Witches and warlocks provided an easy target for the Church, intent on rallying the faithful with a bout of demonization”

Probably over a half million innocent women throughout the West underwent such appalling tortures merely to appease savage and depraved minds they didn't have a demon lurking inside them.

Thus, the road to rejecting demonic possession was replete with horrible suffering and endless death. In other words, nearly 2 million innocent humans had to be brutalized, maimed or slaughtered, before humans (at least in the West) figured out that retaining a belief in demonic possession did not redound to their benefit.

Sadly, while the curse of belief in demonic possession had retreated in the more enlightened West (thanks to the continuing benefits of rational skepticism and the Enlightenment) these dark ideas now seem to be making a comeback, thanks to anti-rationalists in the Church - as well as a 24/7 media that can't get enough bull crap to broadcast.

Is there a way to cure or limit the spread of demonic obsession as manifested in reviving rites of exorcism and sensationalizing them for the sake of a passing publicity (given how the Church loses more members each year)"

Not too likely. Decades of research discloses only limited value for psychotherapy, and in any case, the true believers and upper echelon (priest, bishops, ministers, preachers) are seldom subjected to treatments, only their forlorn victims.

What is needed is a non-negotiable agreement or contract that obligates anyone who practices religion in any form to reject demon-mongering – including all exorcisms or other manifestations that even indirectly validate the Satan-Hell myth.. And – if they do not – they must submit themselves for "demonic expurgation" by whichever method works the best and drives demonic belief from their brains.

Probably the optimum method right now is electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). Much different from the antiquated version (shown for example in the movie, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'), the new ECT uses milli-amp range bursts for brief periods of seconds to re-energize and renew the brain for improved reality cognition.

I warrant if ECT stations replaced all the exorcists, and people could be treated for their "possessions" 24/7 we'd see a dramatic fall in this bull shit. But, of course, the response of the exorcists and the Vatican would likely be that "demonically possessed people are proposing this as a way to avoid detection".

And so it goes.