UPDATE February 25, 2012 ***Cardinal O'Brien Has Resigned
I heard this on the morning news. Now Cardinal O'Brien will not be going to Rome to vote for a new pope. I'd still like to hear his story. Perhaps, the cardinal will find his voice now in retirement as a number of other bishops have discovered once they are no longer holding an "official position".
I want to offer a word of defense on the part of Cardinal Keith O’Brien. I really do not know much about the man other than what I have read the past few days. He says now he wants to end mandatory celibacy and examine the role of women in the church. I think this is very good. Now why would he advocate such progressive positions?
First of all, from what I am reading, all the accusers were adults at the time. So this should not be confused with child molestation. There certainly is the issue of power involved in the stories of the four men bringing their accusations.
It may be, as Richard Sipe says: “Business as usual.” From some of the other information on Cardinal O’Brien in all these news stories, I would suspect he could be or was a very closeted homosexual. He might still be.
Perhaps, there is some growing personal sense of sexuality with the cardinal. The accusations go back thirty years. There has been much progress in the understanding of sexuality, sexual orientation, and relationships in that time span. I can understand “business as usual” and also see someone caught in a homophobic situation and trying to deal with it, perhaps in a clumsy way.
It would be wonderful if we could come to the point where Cardinal O’Brien could offer some explanation of his evolution of thinking on celibacy and the place of women in the church. I wish he could share that in the conclave. Hopefully, some development of his thinking on gay relationships would not be far behind.
Now this would be extraordinary. Cardinal Keith O'Brien introduces his same sex partner and lover of many years to the cardinals in the conclave.
I am pained by the abuse of children by priests. I had a post up linking to the HBO film: Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. I found one site offering the entire video free. It was embedded with some soft porn which I am sure most readers here could overlook. It did not seem appropriate for me to offer this when there is a serious discussion happening. So I took my whole diary down which I had labeled as my Lenten Reflection. Know there is a free video out there. I am more than halfway through watching it. My opinion is that there is enough right there to explain Benedict’s resigning. With all the talk now of gay cabals in the vatican and the accusations against Cardinal O’Brien the story of sexual abuse of minors seems lost. That story should not be, especially, as the cardinals come to the conclave.
What all this says to me is that we need to keep the issues in focus, and it is past time, if the Roman Catholic Church wants to have any credibility, to open up a serious worldwide discussion on the issue of, yes, sex and sexuality.
The disgruntled men friends conveniently came out of the woodwork once he mentioned that celibacy thing. The Cardinal got sand bagged or Kos-sacked so to speak.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that O'Brien was extremely vocal in his opposition to gay marriage and compared it to a return to slavery. It is also possible that the men with whom he allegedly had these inappropriate encounters were galled by his hypocrisy and decided to out him.
ReplyDeleteancientsky...A good reminder to me...I like to see the statement you reference as a product of O'Brien's high position in the church and a very internalized hate, homophobia. That dynamic makes hierarchs like O'Brien say hateful things to protect his self image and confuse other folks into thinking, oh, the cardinal couldn't be queer.
ReplyDeleteO'Brien does appear to have been open to change on mandatory celibacy as well as being consistent with his anti-gay statements. Ancientsky's comments appear sound. New Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, has a more primitive, derogatory track record. So the battle continues.
ReplyDeleteSir in your response to Mr O Brian he is no longer a Cardinal as he resigned.While he still had the Red Hat he spoke of change in the last few days of his Cardinally.Sir surely you as a priest should know at least some of the vows of obedience he took to uphold the believe of the Church before he recieved the Red Hat. As you seem ignorant of the facts then i will let you know .Just to let you know so that in future you will not be able to plead ignorance if your offered a higher post(God Spare Us). Lets just see the the extended vows he took and his Public Profession of faith.-I having been called to be Cardinal by Pope J.P.2 state that i firmly hold and maintain all and everything taught by The Holy Catholic Church concerning ,Faith and Morals ,whether solemnly defined or asserted as part of her ordinary Magisterium.Especially those doctrines touching the mystery of the Church as The Body of Christ.-I further state that i accept and intend to defend the Law on Ecclesiastical Celibacy as it is proposed by the Magisterium of The Catholic Church .I accept and promise to defend the Ecclesiastical teaching about the -IMMORALITY of the Homosexual Act. I accept and promise to always and everywhere to defend what the Church teaches on contraception,abortion ,and euthanasia.So help me God and these Most Holy Scriptures of which i touch with my hand .AMEN. That Sir is what is called an oath. Any true Christian Catholic or Protestant would be appalled at this insult to Sacred Scripture by a Cardinal (who said these words a few days before he resigned)who went back on his Sacred and very public promise. Not to Man but to God .
ReplyDeleteSir as a Catholic who resides in the U.K.and it being a very backward country could you please explain to me what this new word means that is floating around at the moment its -HOMOPHOBIC- The reason that i ask this question is that i have an Oxford Dictionary which is a few years old and i cannot find this word word at all . So is it just one of those words that has sprung up overnight like Islamophobe also since these words are in the fashion could you as a priest not push to get the Word Catholophobe put into daily use.
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