The Vatican: Hierarchy of Crimes?
I’m sure we each have our own ideas about which crimes are worse than others – and our ideas may differ greatly. I mean there are some obvious ones, I suppose, like most people would agree motiveless murder is a worse crime than, say, nicking a doughnut from the local bakery.
But then there are the more subtle ones. Fiddling your expenses sheet? Is that better or worse than nicking company stationery?
Breaking the speed limit – a crime which could potentially cost many lives – is that better or worse than, say, keeping within the speed limit but talking on a mobile ‘phone while driving (with the same potential consequences)?
They are all crimes, and some of us may have been guilty of one or more of them (I’m don’t think too many of the Birds are serial murderers, but I’m not sure quite how far Ann might go in researching her novels …. )
But, like the comparison between motiveless murder and nicking a doughnut, there does seem to be a general consensus about the relative seriousness of different crimes.
For me personally, the systematic rape, molestation and sexual abuse of children comes pretty high on my list of heinous crimes. Very high. I doubt I’m unusual in the assessment of someone who would abuse their position of authority and abuse, rape and molest children would be, as criminals go, amongst the most despicable.
How about if we were to compare that crime to, say, ooh I don’t know, ordaining a woman as a priest? Where would you put the Bishop who carried out the ordination, and the woman being ordained as criminals in comparison with, say, a priest who had ritually abused choirboys?
That would seem to be so clear cut as to be a ridiculous question.. Wouldn’t it? But sadly not.
According to new rules sent to Bishops across the world from the Vatican, the attempted ordination of a woman is held to be one of the gravest crimes under church law, putting it in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors.
I’ve been struggling with withdrawal symptoms from strong pain killers this week, so I admit my brain isn’t as clear as I like to think it usually is. But can someone explain to me, in words I would understand, why the attempted ordination of a woman is a crime at all, let alone one in the same category as ritually raping and sexually abusing children??
I find promoting religious tolerance increasingly difficult when I read stuff like this. I find it very, very difficult to defend or support such a belief. Can someone help me out and justify it?
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11 Responses to The Vatican: Hierarchy of Crimes?
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It isn’t possible to justify it, because it is clearly insane.
However, I think this article in the Guardian goes some way to explaining what they mean
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2010/jul/14/religion-feminism-vatican
Apparently they divide sins into two categories – moral and sacramental (which are to do with the rites of the church). So moral sins are those that anyone could commit – and sacramental ones are ones that only a priest could commit by virtue of his office.
I think this may in fact be a failure of communication as much as anything.
But it’s still crazy from any normal perspective.
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I am struggling to understand this one as well Jane, following the discussion on Ann's Facebook page. It seems the church are happy to take money from women to support it, but punish men who treat them as equals.
I tried to think of solutions last night, and the only ones I could come up with are positively medievel – tell the church to treat women as equals or lose all it's building and land – very feudal? Possibly the only thing that may change their behavior and bring them into modern times.
Hi Sarah,
the only thing I will say on the subject of Catholicism is their hypocrisy to the commandments
# You shall have no other Gods but me.
# You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
What do they have to do when they meet the Pope is kiss his ring??
So I will leave you with this: Is a crime any crime against humanity worse then disobeying and going against wishes of your GOD.
Hope you are feeling better and catch up soon
I agree totally Jay, there is a lot of 'false' worship – the 'saints', the idol worshipping, the images and all the things that Jesus did not want or encourage (as it seems to me).
All the church seems to do to me is separate people further from God and things like this make it hard to be involved, I am fighting the urge to step out of the church community and hope that God understands.
With as much respect as I can muster Jay (and thanks for your comment, which I'm sure I've misunderstood) – yes, in my book at least, any crime against humanity is worse than going against the word of any supposed God. I'm sure you aren't suggesting that kissing the Pope's ring is more evil than a priest ritually raping choirboys over a number of years?
Twitter: evenbreak
This may sound fatuous though it's not meant to be:
When you think you're talking about a church that
a) Doesn't allow its priests to marry
b) Presumably preaches that sex outside marriage is wrong yet expects its priests to live in and be a part of the community in all other ways (as opposed to monks, for example, who are shielded from temptation)
c) Expects its priests to be able to give marital and relationship advice about an area of life which is necessary for the human race to survive yet they don't and never will have any experience of
Who'd be a Catholic priest let alone a bishop?
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
How are the vast majority of sensible Roman Catholics expected to accept such ridiculous thinking? That's what intrigues me now, in the light of such absurd revelations from their top wallahs. Is it not arrogant and plainly ludicrous that the Vatican should expect its umpty-dump million followers to buy into the ideas they currently are putting forward that castigate the ordination of women but appear to bypass the abuse of children?
I just can't get my head around that. Would someone enlighten me please?
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
I can't help Jane. In my mind these people tend to leave their GOD in the buildings in which they worship. In my minds eye they are no worse than the African witch craft doctors who accuse children of being witches and encourage families to abandon such children by banishing them from their homes and villages!
Get well soon
Funnily enough, I had a conversation about priests and sexual abuse last week. The friend I was with and I could not decide if the Catholic Church attracts men to the priesthood because they already have these base instincts and knew they would be protected by the Church. Or whether becoming a priest and being forced to abjure normal sexual relations while in the midst of normal society (and providing advice etc to its members) actually caused the twisting in the first place.
Sadly, I think it is more likely to be the latter, because I can't believe there would be so many evil men becoming priests on a false pretext.
Perhaps Vatican-licensed prostitutes would be the answer??!!