Ireland, the Pope, and Crappy '90s Musicians

Reuters is reporting monumental news today. It's news that could very well bring the Catholic Church to its knees. Sinead O'Connor wants the Pope to resign!

The androgynous '90s has-been from Ireland is apparently so cheesed off at the Pontiff over Ireland's Catholic sexual abuse scandal that s/he wants him to quit being Pope. Well, shit!

This kind of narrow-minded, hateful, ill-informed bloviating is dispiriting. However, it's also kind of funny. It's funny because no normal person gives a rat's ass about what Sinead O'Connor thinks. Good luck bringing down the papacy, Sinead. You may have found some faux "bishop" to ordain you, but generally speaking, nothing you do is front page news. I somehow doubt that you have the political capital to destory major world religions.

I'm not just saying this because I happen to be Catholic and believe that Pope Benedict XVI is a great Pope. I'm saying this because Sinead O'Connor is a laughable monument to the awfulness of 90s' alternative rock, and an avatar of radical silliness. Her words are charged with the usual pompous entitlement used by all crappy activist musicians in such situations. "I demand the Pope stand down for his contemptible silence on the matter and his acts of non-co-operation with the inquiry," says s/he. Demand? Well, how about I demand that you lick a toad?

I guess I shouldn't be so dismissive, as this is a serious and heartbreaking situation. Stil, it is obvious that Sinead's accusations are false, and that they are representative of a radical, Catholic-bashing few. The Pope does care about abuse victims, not just those victimized in Ireland but all over the world. Does no one remember the meeting between the Pope and several American abuse victims that occurred when he visited New York in 2008? Clearly, the man's heart is with those who were hurt. Any reasonable person can see this.

I am in no way defending those who perpetrated or covered up these horrendous acts of abuse. Genuine criticism of Church leaders in Ireland is fair game. Bomb-throwing, while it is to be expected, is not. Therefore, it's a shame that the public discourse has been hijacked thusly.

I happen to live in the Archdiocese of Boston. From 2001 until well into the last few years, the Church in my area was rocked by a similar scandal. What preceded the scandal? Decades of laxity. Decades of touchy-feely, pot-smoking, effeminate '70s ideology being presented as truth at the seminaries. Decades of a top-down refusal to foster a genuine, healthy masculine culture among priests. I won't get into it further in this post, but order this book and you'll get the straight story.

Therefore, it would seem that the very same permissive modernist ideology that Sinead O'Connor seems to embrace is the same ideology that has led to scandal in the first place. Let's not forget that before 2001, pedophilia was actually something that the liberal establishment wanted to legitimize. They previously defended it as an institution that isn't neccesarily damaging to the children involved. They don't dare do it (openly) anymore, because they would lose all credibility with the average American. One cannot argeu, however, that they used to.

Overall, my hope is that the neccesary cleansing of the Irish Church can take place, accompanied by a just and fair public discourse. Outrage will be an important part of that discourse, and rightfully so. However, as the Sinead story shows, there will inevitably be those who use the scandal as an opportunity to attack the Church and its teachings. It will not be the pursuit of justice, but rather mere hatred of the Church, that will ensue if the Sineads of the world take seize the microphone on this crucial issue.

P.S. Reinforcing my earlier point, I like this piece by Guardian commentator Gerald Warner. His article describes how the new age, touchy-feely religious movement is to blame for the current Irish problem.