The Catholic Church; Counter-Culture; and Fitting In

I think this helps explain why 'everybody knows' how icky the Catholic Church and how wrong the Pope is and how nobody who's smart would ever believe that stuff that those Catholics say.

"Church treated unfairly by media because of counter-cultural teachings, cardinal says"
Catholic News Agency (April 23, 2010)

"Pope Benedict and the Church are not being treated fairly in the media coverage of the sexual abuse scandal because his teachings disagree with the relativistic and individualistic culture of today, said Cardinal Ennio Antonelli this week.

" 'It's evident that it is an attack not only against the Pope, but also and especially against the Catholic Church as authoritative moral reference of our world today,' said Cardinal Antonelli, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Wednesday."

"There are various elements that show 'clearly a militant "information" against the Church,' the cardinal asserted. Citing examples of this pattern, he specifically alluded to the 'tone' and 'tenacity' of the accusations, the re-use of past cases that were already public as current news, the lack of statistics in reports and the promotion of the idea that pedophilia only exists within the clergy and not as 'an enormously widespread vice in society.'

"In order 'to darken the image of the Church and compromise its credibility,' he explained, 'it's logical that they seek to strike the Pope in person, even if the firmness and coherence of his commitment against certain criminal behaviors has always been known.'..."

Benedict XVI's firm and consistent stand against what the 'pedophile priests' have done is known: among Catholics who pay attention to their faith, and get their information from reliable sources, as well as this culture's traditional information gatekeepers.

Happily, these days it's a little easier to get around the dominant culture's information filters.

There's more to the CNA article. I suggest reading the whole thing. Particularly since I think what Cardinal Ennio Antonelli said is very unlikely to show up on, say, CNN.

Of course, if you're an American who prefers to keep your ideas conventional and wants to march in lockstep with this culture's leaders: that's your choice. My responsibility ends when I've said what is so.

Here's part of that excerpt from Catholic News Agency again:

"...Citing examples of this pattern, he specifically alluded to the 'tone' and 'tenacity' of the accusations, the re-use of past cases that were already public as current news, the lack of statistics in reports and the promotion of the idea that pedophilia only exists within the clergy and not as 'an enormously widespread vice in society.'..."
(CNA) [emphasis mine]

Priests, Schoolteachers, and the General Public

I don't blame reporters and editors for omitting statistical data in their articles. Quite a few people aren't all that comfortable around statistics - or, maybe, facts in general.

Can't say that I blame them. Facts are like big, hard, heavy, sharp-edged rocks. A person who likes to walk around with his or her eyes closed will run into a fact sooner or later: and that'll hurt.

Besides, since Catholic priests are about as likely to abuse children as schoolteachers are, maybe we'd better start attacking schoolteachers? Better go after the general public first. Somebody from that lot is twice as likely to abuse children as a priest or a schoolteacher. (April 11, 2010)

Haven't heard about that? I'm not surprised. It's one of those big, heavy, sharp-edged facts. And it doesn't make Catholic priests and teachings look bad.

Fitting In With the 'Right People,' or Fitting In With God

I've said this before, but it bears repeating. I'm one of those "close minded fools" who believes that God is real. And, I expect that I'll have to go through a sort of final evaluation.

On the whole, I'd rather explain why I didn't conform to America's dominant culture: than why I defied what God has been telling us for thousands of years.

Related posts:

• Oh! Those Pedophile Priests! Oh!
  • "Is Celibacy Healthy? Actually, Yes"
    (April 14, 2010)
  • "Assumptions About Religion, and American Rules of Etiquette"
    (April 14, 2010)
  • "Oddly, Not Everybody Reviles and Despises the Pope"
    (April 13, 2010)
  • "Relgion isn't Bad?"
    (April 12, 2010)
  • "Pedophile Priests! - or - My Mind is Made Up, Don't Confuse Me With the Facts"
    (April 11, 2010)
    Particularly
    • Reality Check: This May Hurt a Little
  • "Oh! The Pedophile Priests! Oh! Oh! Oh!"
    (April 5, 2010)
  • "Not Saying the Culturally-Normative Things About Pedophile Priests"
    (April 2, 2010)
• Culture and Counter-Culture
  • "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
    (April 1, 2010)
  • "Pedophile Priests, Those Confused Catholics, and the Tolerant Press"
    (April 1, 2010)
  • "Pedophile Priests, 'Evil Pope' and The New York Times"
    (March 31, 2010)
  • "Priests Behaving Badly, Ephebophilia, and Statistics"
    (March 25, 2010)
  • "Being Counter-Cultural: I am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been, a Hippie"
    (January 12, 2010)
  • "Being Counter-Cultural in 21st Century America"
    (March 17, 2009)
  • "Conservative? Liberal? Democrat? Republican? No, I'm Catholic"
    (November 3, 2008)

In the news:

• "Church treated unfairly by media because of counter-cultural teachings, cardinal says"
  Catholic News Agency (April 23, 2010)