Quote of the Day
Since the primary motive of evil is disguise, one of the places evil people are most likely to be found is within the church. What better way to conceal one’s evil from oneself, as well as from others, than to be a deacon or some other highly visible form of Christian within our culture? In India I would suppose that the evil would demonstrate a similar tendency to be “good” Hindus or “good” Muslims. I do not mean to imply that the evil are anything other than a small minority among the religious or that the religious motives of most people are in any way spurious. I mean only that evil people tend to gravitate toward piety for the disguise and concealment it can offer them.
Martin Buber, Good and Evil
August 7th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
This is everything I said about the child abuse issue.
August 7th, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Absolutely right Tony, but where the Church really erred was not in having evil in their midst, but in trying to cover up the same.
I have learned from bitter experience that Catholicism is very tribal and they will work together to protect anyone within the tribe, irrespective of their terrible conduct.
I suppose it’s in a misguided attempt to protect their church, but evil must come in to the light, be exposed and then dealt with appropriately.
And it’s in the covering up that the world is angry with the Church.
August 8th, 2012 at 1:21 am
Think there is some confusion here the evil is not in the subverted institution it is in the sociopathic manipulator.
To link the manipulator’s crime with the targeted institution be it the Church or say a secular institution reinforces the perpetrators concealment and scapegoating.
The politically motivated conditioned overreaction to particular crimes when in the service of malevolent third parties weaponizes those crimes and makes them ten times more evil and destructive.
August 8th, 2012 at 7:30 am
“I have learned from bitter experience that Catholicism is very tribal and they will work together to protect anyone within the tribe, irrespective of their terrible conduct”
Has that been your recent experience on social media sites? I feel many of us have noticed a wrong and shone a light on it.
Others have, as you say, acted to defend the wrong.
With the child abuse issue, you’re correct, the way it was handled has amounted to a cover up (yes I know I look as if I am doing it now) but for the vast majority of practising Catholics, while shocked, dismayed and amazed at what has been bought to light, they are glad it has been.
They also react to the handling of it the same way as anyone else ‘what did they do that for?’ But in the mean time have just continued with their Catholic faith in their Catholic lives