2025-1-21
I keep thinking of the line: “…thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (KJB Matthew 16. I’ve switched to the KJB after finding that it follows Tyndale’s Bible closely. I still use other Bibles for the Apocrypha.)
The gates of hell do seemed to have penetrated the Vatican….it couldn’t be that the Vatican represents THE church Jesus was referring to.
But the gates of hell do seemed to have penetrated the Vatican. And so…it couldn’t be that the Vatican represents THE one and only church Jesus was referring to.
But it also cannot be that 1.2 billion Catholics aren’t part of the church. Low level priests risking martyrdom serving the lowest of the low must be part of the church Jesus was taking about. The church simply must be bigger. It must be a mystical entity that survives despite rather than because of the Vatican.
Lament
Today I tried to have a conversation with people praising Pope Francis. I told them that he appointed McElroy to the position of Archbishop of DC. This man covered up ritual rape during the liturgy.
I am reeling from the lack of response. A good Christian response would be shock or a commitment to research the issue. It would be an affirmation that should that be the case it would be bad. It would be anger that this happened. It would be disgust and revulsion.
Nothing like that happened. Because Catholics already know this is the way things are.
I was admonished for not being respectful to the pope who had just died.
Respecting a man who enabled abuse (all the while presenting himself as God’s representative) is more important than the sanctity of the liturgy. It is more important than the sanctity of the human being.
Rape is part of Catholic culture. This is rape culture. And it is alive today.