Brief thoughts on my Church

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Many of you know that I'm a practicing Catholic. Once upon a time, I was pleasantly surprised when Pope Benedict's first encyclical turned out far better than I'd hoped. Recent revelations have shown he did far worse than I ever knew, back when some of us followed the career of Cardinal Ratzinger with trepidation. I am horrified and saddened by

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[aelfgyfu_mead]

Nor should the Pope and the bishops be allowed a free pass; I think Kristof might have emphasized: "Who Can Mock This Church?"-with the other church, as he puts it here and in another column, a valid target for satire. So I think I agree with both Kristof and Savage (ETA: as far as the point about who is a valid target for mockery goes.)

I am disgusted that some of the hierarchy have been shrieking "anti-Catholicism" as a cover. I've seen anti-Catholicism; I've experienced it. Valid criticism is not "anti-Catholic". Indeed, a lot of Catholics are making criticisms (and some are doing satire.)

Might check out the song later, when Small Child is safely asleep. Thanks for the link.

ETA: On thinking further, I must object to part of what Savage says:. "And again, no one is mocking those noble Catholic nuns and priests out there risking their lives in the Sudan. People are mocking those power-hungry, self-aggrandizing bigots in their stupid fucking hats back at the Vatican." That's disingenuous at best, and quite possibly deliberately misleading. I have not heard anyone mock nuns and priests in Sudan specifically-but I have heard jokes about parish priests at departmental meetings, among other places! The mockery takes a cruel and specific form, too: all religious are accused of being sexual abusers, which is not useful satire, and completely unfair. I have also heard mockery of those of us in the pews, because we must be idiots to follow these leaders.

I'd guess that given that I have made no secret that I am a practicing Catholic, people who make jokes like that in front of me, and at a meeting in a public university, probably say worse outside my hearing. Such jokes are anti-Catholic. I have objected publicly to the characterization of all religious as abusers, and that's not a position I should ever be put in-but I'm pretty safe now. What of people without tenure? What of students? If they hear such things at my university, they may not feel free to object.

(I have, by the way, also spoken out against bigotry aimed at Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, and atheists. I don't just defend my own beliefs, nor do I think my religious leaders should be any freer than anyone else's, or than people of no religion, from satire. Indeed, I teach clerical satire on a regular basis.)