Monday, July 30, 2018

Catholic Right Goes All In on Gay-Bashing Analysis of McCarrick Story — As Stories Break of Nuns Abused by Priests and Priests Fathering Children


As Sarasi points out in a comment here this morning, the homophobic Catholic right is having a field day now trying to exploit the Cardinal McCarrick story to attack what it sees as the sexually louche culture of the 1960s, which gave women access to increasing control of their reproductive lives and opened the door for gay folks to come out of the closet. The Catholic right wants women back in their kitchens baking Betty Crocker confections for their hard-working men, and gay folks shut fast back in their dark closets.


The Catholic right wants men (white ones) on top again. Straight ones. And no amount of factual information about the abuse crisis in the Catholic church — how it orginates in and is deeply rooted in a clerical system that places all Catholic governing power in the hands of the ordained and gives none to layfolks — will change the "minds" of the Catholic right. Nothing ever derails the homophobic analysis, because it's part and parcel of the need to pretend that there was a golden age in Christianity and the culture at large when straight white men ruled the roost, women were in the kitchen baking for their men, and gay folks were shut securely in the closet.

Some of my own musing about this today on Twitter:







Because we say so. We say the problem is homosexuality, and what we say is the final word — contrary fact be damned. 

On the #MeToo moment with nuns reporting sexual abuse by priests, see Nicole Winfield and Rodney Muhumuza two days ago in "'It opened a great wound inside of me': Nuns report abuse by priests."

Here's a smattering of commentary (much more is available, if you look for it) on the growing discussion of priests fathering children around the world: 




For further information and resources, see Coping International, an organization set up to help children of Catholic priests connect to each other, tell their stories, and found support. 

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