When regular reader and commenter Diane G. sent me a link to an unbelievable piece about sexism in the Catholic Church, I didn’t have time to write about it but still wanted to publicize it, so I asked her if she could write a short article. She kindly obliged, and here’s her piece:

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Feminophobic Cardinal Chirps: Women Are Ruining The Church

by Diane G.

When Professor Ceiling Cat turfed an article I’d submitted back to me and asked if I would do the write-up instead, my first reaction was, “Me, write?” But the more I delved into it, the less daunting it became, this being the classical case of material-that-writes-itself.

An article in Tuesday’s Washington Post by reporter Terrence McCoy, “Former highest-ranking U.S. cardinal blames ‘feminization’ for the Catholic Church’s problems“, naturally caught my eye.  In it McCoy  summarizes a demoted Cardinal’s misogynist lament for the Roman Catholic Church’s missing manliness, and you should read McCoy’s article if my write-up here (as it inevitably will) ends up in tl,dr territory.

Most of McCoy’s material comes from an interview Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke gave last week to Matthew James Christoff, apparent founder—and possibly the sole member—of  “The New Emangelization“  (my emphasis–you can’t make this stuff up). I spent a lot of time clicking around that site to be sure it wasn’t actually some offshoot of The Onion or Landover Baptist Church, sporting nuggets such as these:

It requires a certain manly discipline to serve as an altar boy in service at the side of [a]  priest, and most priests have their first deep experiences of the liturgy as altar boys.

First of all, be manly yourself. In other words, cultivate your own manly qualities, because the priest is first and foremost the spiritual father; he is a man. You need to have manly qualities of selflessness, chivalry and discipline to avoid situations improper for a priest.

But amusement dissolves when he gets to the heart of his thesis (emphases mine):

I think there has been a great confusion with regard to the specific vocation of men in marriage and of men in general in the Church during the past 50 years or so. It’s due to a number of factors, but the radical feminism which has assaulted the Church and society since the 1960s has left men very marginalized.

Unfortunately, the radical feminist movement strongly influenced the Church, leading the Church to constantly address women’s issues at the expense of addressing critical issues important to men

Which inexorably led to:

“… a period of time when men who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity had entered the priesthood; sadly some of these disordered men sexually abused minors; a terrible tragedy for which the Church mourns.

Yes, folks, the whole pedophilia thing was just a tragedy that befell the church, entirely the fault of those radical feminist interlopers. (Where would we be without such helpful logic to explain this “tragicle“?)

And if I might add a bit of an aside…how the heck do  Burke and Christoff not realize how much their  rhetoric screams homoeroticism?  Nowhere is it more obvious than at “The New Emangelization”‘s  page entitled “The Perfect Manhood of Jesus Christ.”   There we find a page that lists “The Physical Jesus Christ” (do see the image there) where we learn that among his attributes are that  he :

-Is physically attractive

-Has a penetrating gaze

-Wore attractive clothing

-Has a powerful voice

-Is physically strong

-Has significant stamina

-Is physically tough

-Has physical charisma

-Can be physically imposing

-At times presents a supernatural physical presence

But back to the Cardinal, with one more quote from his interview:

Men are facing great temptations, particularly, as I mentioned due to pornography and confusion about sexuality and desperately need to be taught how to battle these temptations in Christ.

Men with uncontrollable sexual appetites, Catholic nuns in their burqas: does this remind you of any other religion?

Burke was apparently Pope Benedict’s acolyte, and has fallen out of favor with the “liberal” Francis, which has only made him more outspoken. Thus continueth the Sturm und Drang of the present beleaguered  Catholic Church, innocent victim of feminists.

So you thought that Pope Francis was a “modern” pope, resolved to drag the Vatican, kicking and screaming, into modernity? Well read this bulletin from CNN that just landed in my inbox:

Freedom of expression is a right, but there are limits when it comes to insulting faiths, Pope Francis told reporters today, referring to events surrounding the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.

“One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith,” Francis said. Likewise, he said, people have religious liberty, but “one can’t kill in the name of God.” He said this after a reporter asked him about religious liberty and freedom of expression.

The pope made the comments on a trip to the Philippines.

“Onc cannot make fun of faith?” What world is he living in? Has Bill Donohue gotten the Pope’s ear? Sorry, Pope, but people have been making fun of faith for a long time, and it’s not going to stop. But Francis could at least reduce the level of derision by curbing the ludicrous tenets and excesses of his faith. How about de-classifying homosexual behavior as a “grave sin”?

If you are one of those who is fascinated by the pronoucements of this Pope, you can see more about his interview at the Catholic website Crux. It adds this about the Francis’s interview:

In particular, the pope said, one shouldn’t abuse freedom of expression to “provoke” or “offend” others deliberately, and also shouldn’t be surprised when they react to such taunts.

Even in the case of a dear friend, Francis said, “If he says a swear word against my mother, he’s going to get a punch in the nose. That’s normal.”

Do you think Francis would really punch someone for that? Jesus wouldn’t sanction such violence! Crux adds:

. . . Every religion has its dignity … and I cannot make fun of it,” the pope said. “In freedom of expression there are limits, like in regard to my mom.”

In sum, the pope appeared to be saying that while nothing can justify the kind of violence witnessed in the Paris attacks, that doesn’t mean “everything goes” in terms of how to present religion in public.

h/t: David