Catholicism has all but destroyed itself in one of its most sacred grounds, Ireland. The revelations of decades of serial abuse, sadism, cruelty and neglect of children in its care, and its hierarchy's callous, persistent and evil cover-up of the same, has led many Irish to wash their hands of this corrupt institution entirely. If it were a secular institution that had engaged in this kind of horror, any government would force its immediate closure and prosecution of its top officials. Instead we have this statement from the spokesman for the diocese of Derry:
“There is no good in saying other than the truth. The church at this state has no credibility, no standing and no moral authority. The issue is now one of trust, and that is why it will take the rest of my lifetime as a priest to build up that trust again, because the trust and confidence in the church has been broken on a fundamental level."
At a fundamental level. And yet this perpetrator of a mass conspiracy to abuse and rape children, is now threatening in my own diocese to drop its charitable projects because DC is about to legalize marriage equality. It's like listening to Karl Rove lecture on fiscal responsibility and war-management.