As the World Turns...

I have been relatively quiet on all the shenanigans going on in the news with regard to the latest round of scandal involving the Roman Catholic Church. I decided I would rather spend my Holy Week on the blog focusing on things eternal, rather than temporal.

But all bets are off now, especially after the Archbishop of Canterbury has weighed in on the scandal in Ireland, which is the scandal in Germany, which is the scandal in the United States, which is the scandal in.... (OK, you see what I'm saying). It is far too easy for me to launch into my own criticism of the Roman Catholic Church, good little Episcopalian that I am. I think the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd put it best when she quipped that the Roman church had given up credibility for Lent.

Honestly, the closing ranks to defend the Pope from those meanies in the media who wouldn't stop asking questions about the hide-n-seek method of dealing with priestly pedophiles reached the height of absurdity on Good Friday when the Pope's priest at the Vatican actually compared the reporting on the scandals to the persecution of Jews. Wow! Jews have been killed and tortured for who they are, for their religious beliefs. Is pedophilia an immutable trait and a religious doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church?

(See, I said it was too easy!)

But let's get back to ++Rowan. He criticized the situation in Ireland on the BBC. He bemoans the "loss of credibility" of the church there, and he is pretty sure now that all those conservatives who've been so hopping mad in England aren't likely to defect from Anglicanism to align themselves with the RCs now. I agree with Archbishop in his analysis that what this scandal in the Roman Church does is taint just about everyone who is Christian just because Roman Catholicism is so pervasive as the "face of Christianity" throughout the world. Still, I scoff at the Archbishop making any noise about anyone else when he must look at himself in the mirror knowing how he has lost credibilty amongst many of us on this side of the pond. He will sputter and stammer on about +Gene Robinson and soon-to-be +Mary Glasspool... but give only very lukewarm commentary on Uganda. He has offered an apology to the LGBT faithful for any appearances of not respecting our human dignity. But continues to offend with suggesting that we are not worthy of the office of bishop. Sadly, the ABC keeps falling short. He is, in my mind, a little like the apostle Peter before Pentecost: opening his mouth, and just when you think he's 'got it', he says something that makes you shake your head and say, "Oh, Peter, Peter, Peter!"

It will be interesting to see what happens when the Pope arrives at Lambeth Palace. Wonder if we'll see a different photo emerge than the one in this entry?