It was indeed outrageous that Reverend Raniero Cantalamessa, in his Good Friday homily at St. Peter's Basilica, with Pope Benedict in eyeshot, compared the public denunciation of the Catholic Church hierarchy for harboring child molesting priests to the homicidal viciousness of anti-Semitism.
But there was another reason to be troubled by that homily: Cantalamessa also talked about the need to end violence against women, which is crucial, but he did so without any acknowledgment of the Church's own culpability in the abuse, endangerment, and intimidation of women.
"Much of this violence," he declared, "has a sexual background." Yes, let's start there. In 2001, a year before the pedophilia crisis hit the news, the National Catholic Reporter analyzed internal Church reports written by two Catholic nuns -- a physician who was a Medical Missionary of Mary, and the AIDS coordinator for the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development -- documenting the sexual exploitation of nuns by priests in 23 countries on five continents.
One of the most stunning allegations concerned a nun impregnated by a priest, who forced her to have an abortion that killed her, and then officiated at her funeral. Priests were alleged to have raped young nuns who approached them for the required certificates to enter religious orders; to have told nuns that oral contraceptives would protect them from AIDS; and to have used nuns as "safe" alternatives to prostitutes in countries plagued by AIDS -- with some priests going so far as to demand that heads of convents make the nuns sexually available to them.
And it is not just nuns, of course. Like the recently reported case of a 14-year-old Minnesota girl allegedly molested by a priest who was not removed from ministry but simply transferred to a parish in India (this after the Vatican supposedly toughened up its policies), thousands of girls, from infancy through adolescence, have been molested by priests. Writing Good Catholic GIrls, I found that adult women had been subject to clerical transgressions from sexual exploitation to harassment to rape to beatings to potentially negligent homicide. Many sexually active priests have left a trail of wounded women and fatherless progeny in their wake -- testament to the hypocrisy in the claim of a celibate priesthood.
Cantalamessa expressed great concern about violence "in the relationship between husband and wife," crediting "many associations and institutions" that provide women with support. Yet the founders of those associations and institutions were not Catholic clergy, but secular feminists, whom the Church hierarchy regularly and ruthlessly condemn. And if domestic violence is such a priority for the Church, why did Pope John Paul II beatify Elizabeth Canori Mora, a beaten, abused woman who had been subjected to both physical and psychological violence at the hands of her errant husband, for her "absolute fidelity" to the sacrament of marriage?
And what of the Church's policies, so well known, that endanger women worldwide?
1) Its condemnation of birth control, despite the fact that voluntary family planning not only prevents maternal deaths (which take the lives of half a million women each year) by helping women delay risky early pregnancies, space births, and reduce HIV transmission, but also increases the survival of babies, who are most likely to survive in the developing world when they are adequately spaced.
2) Its refusal to approve condoms to prevent AIDS, a position that 60 nuns calling themselves Sisters for Justice of Johannesburg publicly decried several years ago on behalf of women and girls. They urged the oblivious Church fathers to change their life-threatening theology and recognize that 14- to 19 year-old girls faced the greatest incidence of new HIV infections because of the "high incidence of forced or reluctant sexual intercourse" and that women were at great risk of infection due to "abusive, oppressive or desperate relationships or circumstances."
3) Its absolute condemnation of pregnancy termination, leaving 60,000 women to die each year from botched procedures, a position so extreme that they excommunicated the mother of, and the doctor who ended the pregnancy of, a nine-year-old girl raped by her stepfather.
Cantalamessa pointed out that intimidation is violence too, empathizing with the "wife and children [who] live under constant threat of Daddy's anger." Yet this Church, this Pope, this hierarchy continue to threaten any woman in the Church who dares challenge authority and call for radical change. And make no mistake: it is women in the Church who are the ones clamoring for change.
It is Catholic women who have written about gender-inclusive prayer language and been fired for it; defended the rights of gays and lesbians and been silenced for it; fought for women's ordination and been excommunicated for it; blown the whistle on priest sexual shenanigans and been relieved of their duties for it.
Many of these change-makers are nuns. Witness the 60 leaders of religious orders, representing 90 percent of the 59,000 Catholic women religious in the United States, who defied the American bishops and supported health care reform, insisting that legislation that helped pregnant women was "a REAL pro-life stance."
Representative Bart "I-don't-call-up-the-nuns" Stupak -- who at that point, like the bishops, opposed health care reform for being insufficiently pro-life -- tried to minimize their power, but it is real. It is why the Vatican has launched two confidential investigations into the lives of American nuns, not American bishops. One is examining the "quality" of their religious lives; the other is focused on their alleged "doctrinal" failures -- like questioning an all-male priesthood.
In relationship to that angry dad, Cantalamessa suggested reminding him that "the word addressed to Eve after the fall, 'He (the man) shall rule over you,' ... was a bitter forecast, not an authorization."
Someone ought to tell the Church fathers that.
This piece originally appeared at Women's Media Center online.
Follow Angela Bonavoglia on Twitter: www.twitter.com/angiebona
To see the truth, all she needs to do is take a close, candid look at photos and videos of the Holy Father and his retinue of cardinals, bishops and acolytes in full regalia; his participation in gatherings with the rich and powerful while the common man views the spectacle from afar (the 2008 mass in Washington’s baseball stadium, for example); the ring-kissing ritual; the elaborate ceremonies; the sumptuous vestments; the host of saints, effigies and graven images; the inscrutable theological jargon—all undeniable evidence that the Church not only is in blatant violation of the First Commandment, but that its man-made splendor bears not the slightest resemblance to the simple message and humble image of Jesus Christ.
it should, therefore, surprise no one that Catholic priests who abuse children feel that as ordained members of the Holy Church they are endowed by God to do so with impunity.
I am not a man hater...on the contray, I adore men...but one of the main reasons I left Catholicism was because of the way they treat women. This ludicrous idea that using birth control is a sin is just cartoonish! Utilize the sense God gave you and just QUIT this good old boy God- network. Take notice of how badly they need you to believe their utter nonsense. This is a VERY powerful organization, run by men ONLY! They are using you, so wake up and just say no more.
Great article BTW.
http://stopbaptistpredators.org/index.htm
I simply do not under catholic women. I have a friend who was molested by her bishop for her entire childhood, but she refused to blame him or accuse him, and still acts insulted when I suggest it. He was a holy man, she offers, and only the holiest of holy men are tempted by Satan. Such rubbish. Worst of all, was all the nuns in her parish knews about this man and warned the young girls to 'stay away from him.'
To those nuns I say: If you were not part of the solution you were part of the problem.
I also have an aunt who is devout catholic but is the meanest, most ungenerous person I know. She is in 'good standing' with the church, while being an alcoholic, blashphemous, abusive mother to her children, and hording her money to the detriment of friends and family who are starving. Catholics such as she are a disgrace to any church.
How terribly odd? Considering it was the nuns who cleaned up their scandalous messes...
If your a woman and care about Equal Rights, but supported any gop politician in the last 30 years you should look in the mirror and point your finger at yourself.
Here's a test, name one piece of gop legislation in the last 30 years that unselfishly benefited/supported women? It must be a gop created, pushed and AT least truly tried to get it passed. Secondly there can't be any pretend legislation, i.e. they can't give something AND then take twice as much away.
For the most part you girls are going to have to STOP supporting the gop, if you want Equal Right, period. The dems will bend with pressure but not when they have the gop breathing down their throats.
Secondly you will have to stop thinking men will get it done, not saying there aren't men who support women because there are some of us BUT the majority of men can NOT put the society above their egos.
Since I know MOST women don't even know the state of Equal Rights:
There are 35 states support the resolution, 15 mostly southern racist, sexist gop states who do NOT of these 15 we only need THREE more.
Good luck, really I hope someone can prove me wrong because I don't like hating what the gop has turned into in the last 30 years or blaming women.
But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master.
It is astounding that ANYONE looks to the church for morality anymore.
Are you serious?
Sounds more like the Church pulls out this lame line whenever it cannot manipulate the faithful in any other way.
Yeah, I'll admit I'm stumped. I can forgive people without torturing them. Why can't god? If he created us, why does he hate us so much? Yes, these ways are completely beyond my understanding. And I'm grateful for that.