Post #1

Watching the controversy that is gripping the Catholic Church, one can’t help but look at this picture and see at least a huge part of the problem. This is a procession in Toronto with Archbishop Tom Collins at the rear, preceded by his auxiliary Bishops in their pointy white hats with their gold pectoral crosses. The further removed I become from active Catholicism and transit more into a personal, Christ-centered spirituality, this becomes more silly looking all the time. It’s almost as if Mr. Dressup has escaped from the Tickle Trunk.

To me, this is part of the malaise affecting the church. The costume, whether it be the heavily embroidered chasuble worn by the Bishop or the pointy hat or the gold pectoral cross, attitudinally elevates the man wearing it above the faithful. For too many priests, bishops or pope, this puts them in a position where they are the knowledgeable, faith-directed leader while the rest of us are followers. It brings with it a class system that I’m not sure Jesus envisaged for his followers.

It is this attitude that has led the Catholic Church to the place in which it finds itself, the subject of criticism and ridicule from all sides, including even the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury who was recently quoted as saying that the Catholic Church had lost its credibility in Ireland because of the sex abuse scandals, “"And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society suddenly losing all credibility – that's not just a problem for the church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland." Critics were quick to jump all over the Archbishop of Canterbury for what he said but I’m sure most of them knew that while he wasn’t politically correct, he was right.

In Rome, the Vatican has turned up the response to the criticism big time to try to deflect media focus and public attention away from the Pope. One aged Cardinal went so far as to call the talk “petty gossip”. I’m sure that resonated well with the children and others who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.

More to come.