A week or so ago I stated that I am Catholic to the core of my being.  As if to taunt me, the Vatican comes out almost immediately with a statement  –  a double whammy regarding pedophilia and women’s ordination and practically equating the two – that makes me want to sit down with a large spoon and enough ice cream to kill a gorilla to try to figure out how I can continue to call myself Catholic.

So here I go again.  Facing the evil that is the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church.  How can I stay?  There is no defense for the actions of the Vatican.   How can I stay? The present Pope is a travesty.  How can I stay? The response to the pedophile scandal is pathetic.  How can I stay?  And the absolute insanity of these old misogynistic men in Rome regarding the ordination of women is unspeakable.  How can I stay?

I can stay because they are false, and I am true.  They and their power hunger and fear and misogyny are not what Jesus Christ intended for this Church; Christ intended love for his Church.   Their view of humanity is hateful, the view of humanity of true Catholics is loving.  I stand with the women who are already being ordained and refusing to deny their Catholicism.  It is their birthright.  They have been baptized in the eyes of God.  I saw a headline that said something to the effect that only God can fire the Pope.  Well, the Pope can’t fire them or me, only God can fire me, and she has no reason to.   Truth can’t be fired. 

Why this Pope?  Why these controversies?  For me, there can be only one answer: because only by evil rearing it’s ugly head can things change.  Only by these decrees, one more outrageous and downright stupid than the last will all but the most blind Catholics’ eyes be opened.  I wrote earlier that the contributions to higher education by the Catholic Church that have advanced the intellectual capacity of humanity should not be underestimated. It is that education, that gift of intellect that the Church has afforded men AND women that will ultimately allow for its correction.   Hoisted by their own petard. (One of my Dad’s favorite sayings, which tells me he’s nodding his head from the hereafter, sticking his two cents worth into this discussion.) 

As for me, I say “bring it on” Pope Benedict and your evil cronies.  You will not take my Church from me.  It might not happen in my lifetime or yours, but this wrong WILL be made right.  Women WILL minister in the Catholic Church.  As for your part in the pedophile scandal, you may publicly continue to hold your head high in a sense of false pride, but in your darkest most private moments you know the truth.  We all know the truth.   I ultimately am grateful for your example of how not to live the precious gift of life we have been given.  I couldn’t ask any more than that from my spiritual leader.