“It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen. As I read the histories of those victims it is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betrayed in this way. Their mission was to give healing, to give the love of God to these children. We are deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible that this cannot happen in the future. I would not speak at this moment about homosexuality, but pedophilia which is another thing. And we would absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. Who is guilty of pedophilia cannot be a priest.”-- Pope Benedict XVI, claiming to be shocked - shocked! - at the (now common) mixture of religion and sexual deviance.
The fact that the Pope still finds it difficult to understand how this could happen suggests that it is probably going to continue. It happened because it has been standard practice to keep 'open secrets' in the RC Church. Open secrets are violations of rules that everyone agrees to keep quiet because everyone wants to have the freedom to violate some rules some time when they are feeling squeezed. This happens when organizations/societies set up rules that restrict people's basic freedom for self-determination. RC laypeople cannot hire and fire their clergy. They have to accept whoever is given them. This nullifies self-determination of parishes, not to mention killing accountability. Protestants aren't more moral than Catholics, they just get to see the resume and check references. They still get caught with their pants down a lot, usually once though. In China, abandonning baby girls is an 'open secret'. I actually first heard heard non-academic use of the term 'open secret' in China. It is as necessary as air to them to survive there. In Iran, I am sure that visiting protitutes is an open secret. The beaten general in the other post surely pissed someone off. Maybe he didn't keep another 'open secret', and this was payback. Maybe one of the prostitutes he has used or abused got fed up and offered to expose many more than him. If people are benefiting from the open secrets, they will continue to keep them as long as they are necessary. Living in a free society, we still seem to crave the titillation of sharing open secrets that cult practices require. The lower standards of other societies pull us down like gravity. If we resist, we risk being 'unpopular in the world'. Lonely? Maybe sometimes, but free. Not 'special', just normal. No flashlights under the covers needed. We can do it with the lights on here in the U.S. Nothing mystical about it. What value does the Pope put on this ordinary kind of freedom? His 'non-answer' , wrapped and obsured in theology and grandfatherly affect, will help explain why he 'can't understand how this could happen', and why he is avoiding meetings with victims of clergy abuse during his visit. And most will keep the 'open secret' with him. Many will claim 'not to understand' either. And they can enjoy the good feeling that having the Vicar of Christ on earth is supposed to give you. And cash in on open secret for generations to come.
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