On the Edge of a Moral Panic

It goes without saying that the primary victim of child or youth sexual abuse is the child or youth.  But society is a victim as well.  Trust is eroded.  False accusations are given that much more credence.  And children and youth as a whole are indirectly harmed when good people, particularly good men, are reluctant to work with the young in the midst of a deficit of trust and an abundance of false accusations.

With the current scandal in the Roman Catholic Church and, to a lesser extent, in the Southern Baptist Convention, there is already, at the very least, further erosion of trust.  But I fear the societal harm will get much worse than that. I expect we are about to experience the devastating breakdown of trust and the epidemic of false accusations known as a moral panic.

Moral panics can do greater harm to a society than the sometimes real events that trigger them, although it is hard to imagine that in the current case.  And what is often forgotten about moral panics is that they indeed can be triggered by real incidents.  That most famous of moral panics, the Salem Witch Hunt, occurred in part because there may have indeed been witchcraft on a small scale going on around Salem.  In that case, the subsequent moral panic was much worse, tearing society apart and destroying the lives of many.

Often in moral panics, false accusations are used as a weapon, as in the Salem Witch Hunt.  Of course, one doesn’t get to the point of a moral panic for false accusations to abound and to succeed.

To get more specific and blunt about that, I do not believe the accusations against Cardinal Pell and think his conviction does not pass the smell test.  It is telling that of the three trials against him, only one resulted in a conviction.  I think his real crimes are opposing secularist culture and opposing corrupt LibChurchers in the Vatican.  So very old and questionable accusations were used to stop him.  Of course, I do not know and may be mistaken.  But I sure do know what I suspect.  

Sadly, Pell will not be the last to have his reputation destroyed and freedom stolen via questionable or false accusations.  If we do indeed enter a moral panic, there will be many, and it will compound the harm already done by predators in sheep’s clothing.

A Reality Check on the McCarrick Laicization

The big Roman Catholic news over the weekend was the laicization of now former Cardinal “Uncle Ted” McCarrick.  Yes, it is very rare that a Cardinal is reduced to lay status. Yes, this is actually good news, for a change, from the Vatican.

But a reality check is in order, and it is well delivered by Steve Skojec.*  McCarrick is 88 and very damaged goods well before this verdict by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.  Although very useful in getting Pope Francis elected, he is no longer useful to the Vatican.  So he can be dispensed with.  

Other LibChurchers who have enabled the abuse of children and of the Faith, such as Cardinal Cupich and Pope Francis himself, remain firmly in power.

Yes, I include Pope Francis.  He knew about McCarrick and yet lessened Benedict’s restrictions and increased Cardinal Ted’s power after the Cardinal helped get Francis elected.  

Yes, “the smoke of Satan” is putting it nicely.

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* There is one thing in the article with which I respectfully but strongly disagree.  And I think I should say so.

I do not think statue of limitation laws should be eliminated for child abuse and other forms of sexual abuse.  False accusations are particularly a problem in this area and often are very difficult to combat.  Accusations long after the fact are that much more prone to be false.

As upsetting as it may be that McCarrick and the like are free men and will remain so, it is worse for anyone to endure a trial or imprisonment for something decades ago that did not actually happen.

I realize my viewpoint is getting less and less popular.  And with all the child abuse scandals, I completely understand that.

Perfect. Anglican Communion Ambassador to Rome is a Resurrection Denier.

Archbishop Cranmer is among those provoked that an open Resurrection denier has been appointed Interim Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, which is effectively the embassy of the Anglican Communion to The Vatican. Hence its Director is in effect the Ambassador of the Anglican Communion to The Vatican.

The said Resurrection denier is the Very Rev’d Dr John Shepherd, formerly Dean of St George’s Cathedral, Perth, and Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford from 1980 to 1988.  For Easter, he has said the following and more:

The Resurrection of Jesus ought not to be seen in physical terms, but as a new spiritual reality. It is important for Christians to be set free from the idea that the Resurrection was an extraordinary physical event which restored to life Jesus’ original earthly body.
…
Jesus’ early followers felt His presence after His death as strongly as if it were a physical presence and incorporated this sense of a resurrection experience into their gospel accounts. But they’re not historical records as we understand them. 

There’s video, too:

But Happy Easter anyway!

One wonders if he would have been appointed if he were an open “Climate Change Denier.”  Heck, we wonder no such thing.  We know what would have happened.

But personally I am only mildly provoked by this appointment.  It is old hat really.  And, frankly, the Romans under Pope Franco deserve an insulting appointment like this.  The Vatican has a LibPope who enables and promotes abusing and abuse-enabling LibChurchers.  Really, The Vatican deserves worse than John Shepherd.  I hope Gene Robinson and Peter Ball were given due consideration.

This appointment is also appropriate due to the history of openly apostate bishops in the Anglican Communion, none of whom have been defrocked for fifty years and more if my memory is correct.  John Shelby Spong, David Jenkins, Shepherd, and no telling how many other allegedly Anglican bishops and clergy have openly denied and even mocked the physical resurrection of Christ.  How many have been defrocked? Hmmm?

That has provoked me for decades and still does. But with that history in mind, John Shepherd is a very appropriate appointment indeed.  Canterbury and Rome deserve no less.

Cardinal Burke on Pope Francis’ Hellish Interview

If an interview with Cardinal Burke is an indicator – and let’s hope it is – many in the Roman Catholic Church are through with tolerating the enormities of the current Bishop of Rome and his Vatican tools after Francis denied (or not) the existence of Hell.  Cardinal Burke is more vocal about that than most (Emphasis mine.):

What happened with the last interview given to Eugenio Scalfari during Holy Week and published on Holy Thursday went beyond what is tolerable. That a well-known atheist could pretend to announce a revolution in the teaching of the Catholic Church, claiming to speak in the name of the Pope, denying the immortality of the human soul and the existence of Hell, was a source of profound scandal, not only for Catholics but also for many others who respect the Catholic Church and her teachings, even if they do not agree with them. Furthermore, Holy Thursday is one of the most sacred days of the year, the day on which Our Lord instituted the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist and also the Priesthood, so that He could always offer us the fruit of His redemptive Passion and Death for our eternal salvation. The response of the Holy See to the scandalized reactions which came in from all over the world was also greatly inadequate. Instead of clearly restating the truth about the immortality of the human soul and Hell, the Holy See’s statement said only that some of the quoted words were not those of the Pope. It did not say that the erroneous, even heretical, ideas expressed by these words are not shared by the Pope and that the Pope repudiates these ideas, which are contrary to the Catholic faith. This game-playing with the faith and doctrine, at the highest level of the Church, leaves pastors and the faithful feeling scandalized, and rightly so.

Again, these are the words of a prominent Cardinal of the R.C. Church.  He goes after many of his fellow prelates as well:

Certainly the situation is only made worse by the silence of many bishops and cardinals who share with the Roman Pontiff a solicitude for the universal Church. Some simply say nothing. Others pretend that there is nothing serious going on. Still others spread fantasies of a “new Church”, a Church which takes a totally different direction from the past, fantasizing, for example, about a “new paradigm” for the Church or about a radical conversion of the pastoral praxis of the Church, making it completely new. Then there are those who are enthusiastic promoters of the so-called revolution of the Catholic Church. For the faithful who understand the gravity of the situation, the lack of doctrinal and disciplinary direction on the part of their pastors leaves them feeling lost. For the faithful who do not understand the gravity of the situation, this lack of direction leaves them in confusion and eventually victims of errors which endanger their souls.

What I posted earlier this week is in line with this – how a church deals with bad bishops is of the highest importance.  And the Roman Catholic Church seems to be failing at that.  Sadly, the courage of Cardinal Burke in confronting Francis and his cohort is likely more the exception than the rule.  For the sake of the Faith, let us pray that is changing and quickly.

Pope Francis - A Man of His Word

I got an e-mail yesterday promoting a new movie, “Pope Francis – A Man of His Word”.  Yes, I did wonder if this was a joke or satire.  How many times has the Vatican had to walk back his words?  And we still don’t really know whether he believes in Hell or not.

Should we now expect a sequel, “Katharine Jefferts Schori – A Compassionate Woman of Orthodoxy”?

But see the promotional material for yourself.  Here’s the e-mail.

I love it that the main review is from . . . the Vatican.  Well, I hope they like the movie; they co-produced it:

A rare co-production with the Vatican, the pope’s ideas and his message are central to this documentary, which sets out to present his work of reform and his answers to today’s global questions from death, social justice, immigration, ecology, wealth inequality, materialism, and the role of the family.

Hmm, so the movie covers “social justice, immigration, ecology [and] wealth inequality.”  Is this about a pope or a Socialist Party chairman?

Also quite rich is the beginning of the trailer:

“His words unite us”?  Oh yeah!  Like when it came out during Holy Week that he denied the existence of Hell . . . or not – who knows? – words like that really unite us!

But “who am I to judge?”  Anyway, I chose to laugh at this risible piece of propaganda.  The alternative is less fun.