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I’ll Have What He’s Having
Remember the last time you looked forward to a cocktail party? Neither do I. But, if you were a seminarian in Newark, NJ under Theodore “Uncle Teddy” McCarrick you certainly didn’t go back for seconds unless you like drinking drinks with an umbrella in them. New allegations today at Catholic World Report:
Published in Religion & PhilosophyThree Newark priests independently gave CNA nearly identical accounts of being invited to these parties when they were newly ordained.
One recalled that he attended a cocktail party, thinking he had been invited to a simple priests’ dinner. “I was led into the room to a chorus of wolf-whistles,” he said. “It was clear right away I was ‘on display.’”
Another priest told CNA that he was also invited to a party hosted by the priest. “They were all carrying big mixed drinks, pink ones, it was like something out of ‘Sex in the City.’”
He recalled that after asking for a beer, he was told by his host, “you need to try something more girly tonight.”
All recounted overtly sexual conversation at the cocktail parties. “I was fresh meat and they were trying me out,” one priest said.
All three said they left quickly upon realizing what was going on. “Everyone was getting loaded and getting closer on the couches, I wanted out of there,” a priest told CNA.
“Everyone kept calling me a ‘looker’ and saying they had to ‘keep me around’ from now on,” a third Newark priest told CNA.
Depends on what the definition of “chastity” is.
In the Middle Ages there were specific brothels in Rome to cater to the exotic tastes of the clergy. The Roman Church has been its own worst enemy for a long, long time.
Lord Jesus, help us to protect your sheep.
Who in his right mind would want to be a priest today and be associated with people like that?
If the church does not respond forcefully right now, we will see mosques in place of Catholic churches, just as has happened in Western Europe.
This is nothing new for sure. Since the 11th century at least, there have even been Popes known to have had sexual affairs both hetero- and homosexual, and to have fathered illegitimate children. What a cesspool.
But as my mom used to say, the church is full of sinners. That’s why we need it.
There is no Protestant denomination that can pick up the slack as a moral leader in the world, and I write that as a Protestant.
My mother always said that the celibacy requirement was a huge driver of Protestantism. It’s one of those trends often missed by historians because it’s done rather than written about.
I’ve told this story before, but I had a gay best friend in my 20s. He told me of a hookup he had one night, where it wasn’t until the next morning that they got around to asking what each other did for a living. The guy turned out to be a priest. My poor friend, who was Catholic and had been an altar boy, was so traumatized by it that he never really recovered, and he was an adult when it happened, and it was obviously not forced or anything. He was just so creeped out and filled with a mixture of remorse and revulsion.
I kinda owe my existence to that. Martin Luther was one of my ancestors.
From the article:
This is a huge part of the problem – hush up or we will blackmail you.
Too many Protestant denominations have gone over to the left, especially United Methodist, and the more fundamentalist ones often tend to be a little nutty or to take the Bible literally etc. Oh well, all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.
I thought this piece by Michael Knowles was interesting.
Should I have known:
or:
My Godson and I had a long conversation via Skype recently (he was on a mission in Ireland)
He was undecided whether to join the priesthood or go to college first. He’s young and extremely bright. I successfully convinced him to go to college first (I am sure I was not the only voice in that regards) and get his degree in finance, then go to seminary.
I never spoke of any of the scandals, but I was very concerned about someone so young (and a little naive) being possibly thrown into a situation he wasn’t prepared to handle.
I know that’s true. But it doesn’t get the Church off the hook for me simply because I need the Church to consider itself called to a higher purpose than the rest of us.
I don’t know where it goes from here.
Vatican II was a lot about confronting the criticisms of Protestantism–notably, to say that there were extraordinary ways to get to heaven, in addition to the Catholic Church way.
The Church needs a Vatican III. I can’t imagine what it will do.
I forgot to add: It wouldn’t break my heart if he changes his mind. Nor his mother’s, who is one of the most devout Catholics I know. As I reminded him, being a priest is not the only way to lead a Godly life and do good.
The Church needs to get its house in order.
I completely agree, and Knowles says something similar later in the piece. It’s just that I don’t believe those points have been brought to light in much of the discussion of the issue. There are no “excuses,” but some context is important.
If that part about Protestants was in there, I don’t think it took. I’ve had Catholic girls discuss right in front of me how Protestants all go to Hell.
As usual, it’s not the crime, it’s the cover up, and even when they got caught covering up, they kept covering up. It’s beginning to look like the hierarchy just plain doesn’t care and is fine with the abuse continuing. Wherever you go, there are always a few bad apples, but this is way beyond that.
I’ve argued elsewhere that what this really points to is an organizational and institutional discipline problem, much more than it is (or was) a sex problem. The crimes were awful, of course, but the coverups, denials, and institutional protections was what allowed them to get to the large scale and still stay hidden. Abuses will always happen, be they in a church, a school, or a business. But do those organizations have the means and willpower to uproot them when they happen, or the safety barriers in place to make them more rare?
I’ve noticed, for instance, in my own business, when an employee is breaking or bending procedures in order to get something done, that it can often be an indicator of that procedure’s weakness. It could be one of efficiency, in which case we need to re-examine everything to tighten things up. It could be one of laziness or forgetfulness, in which case that shows we need to put checks in place that cannot be so easily evaded. I could also be a case of employee stupidity or malfeasance, in which case I have to bring out the big guns. But in no case can I afford to ignore such instances.
Where did they come from? I grew up Catholic in the 1970’s and 80’s in Massachusetts; we were basically told that pretty much everybody except Hitler would get into Heaven :)
I don’t think it requires a lot of study and analysis to discover why they did it; they did it because they thought they could get away with it.
And they did.
Ms. Angles, that story is almost too good to be true. Now, now, don’t be mad. I said “almost” too good to be true.
That’s the part that I find the most disconcerting. That there are sinners is no shock. But as you say, the cover up …
I had words with a priest many years ago about this subject. He was standing behind me in the bar line and overheard me say something negative about Cardinal Roger Mahoney.
He literally stuck his finger in my chest and said, “what you people don’t understand is that years ago, sending a Priest for treatment was thought to be effective.”
I replied, “What you people don’t understand is that I don’t care about the priests and what if any treatment they received. The diocese has sacrificed countless young people to protect your priests from being prosecuted.”
(while I put that in quotes, I probably wasn’t as articulate, but he got my message)
The priest, somewhat chastened, asked me to pray for the priests. I told him there wasn’t enough hours in the day as I had too many victims to pray for.
On a side note, I have no complaints about my parish. If there’s been a whiff of scandal, I never heard it (and I probably would have). When Mahoney passed the hat to the parishes for money to pay the lawsuits our then Pastor (a good friend of mine) refused to make the decision and took it to the Parish Council. Who in turn refused to make the decision and took it to the parish with a series of town halls.
We didn’t give a dime.
If Hitler and Eva Braun repented in that bunker before they died, they must have ended up in Heaven. Wait, they committed suicide, didn’t they? I think that counted against them. Hell, I don’t know where they ended up.
The Catholic Church as a Venerable and Ancient Institution protects itself.
Roger Mahony is utter, contemptible scum.
My vocabulary does not have the words I need to describe how I feel about him. And I have a very big and colorful vocabulary.
Yup. My in-laws used to reassure me that they didn’t think I would going to hell. They thought the Church was wrong about that. But their lifetimes spanned Vatican II, and they didn’t get the memo. :-)
And it went both ways. My daughter’s best friend was a devout Baptist. I was driving them somewhere one day when my daughter’s friend–I forget the context–said, “Of course, you’re not Christian, are you.” What!
I only know about Vatican II and Protestantism because my sister-in-law, a radical Catholic who embraced the South American social justice arm of the Church–gave me a wonderful book about Vatican II. It ended with the statement, “Okay, Protestants. We have addressed all of your valid criticisms. Now what do you say?” There has always been an arm of the Church that believed Christian unity would be a good thing. My husband always laughs at that because it’s pulled from something in Revelation that assures us that if that happens, the end of the world is nigh. :-)
I am not as concerned about the child abuse scandals as others are. I think 300 cases over 70 years isn’t a condemnation of the entire Church. I saw a much higher incidence of all kinds of abusive behavior in the public schools and youth groups I volunteered with.
I am upset about the drinking and homosexual practices described in the original post.
I know this is a strange thing to focus on, but what stands out to this (still faithful) Catholic is how some of the offenses constitute not merely crimes, but actual blasphemy. Specifically an incident with holy water which I won’t repeat due to the CoC, but which I’m sure most of us have heard of by now. It blows massive holes to claim that they were trying to avoid scandal (in the theological sense) when they apparently have no respect for holiness itself either.
Blaming the Devil is a cop-out. These men did what they did because of their own depravity. The evil is in their own hearts.
Is it that or do they genuinely want to observe the innocent-until-proven-guilty standard? Did they cover it up, or did they simply deem the evidence sufficiently credible to pursue it with a police investigation? Living in the Witch Trials state, it would make the hierarchy pause before assuming someone’s guilt without a formal presentation of evidence and a chance for rebuttal.
I’ve always wondered about this.