Rambling
Shew. I'm working on little sleep this morning. A few years ago, I started having troubles falling back to sleep in the middle of the night. I found that attentive "holy listening" would quickly do the trick: I'd turn on Benedict Groeschel or someone like him, listen attentively, and the next thing I knew, it was time to get up for the day. It's a beautiful method and I'm grateful I found it.
But once in awhile, it backfires. If the subject matter fires me up, it doesn't have the effect of lulling me to sleep: God's mercy, the peace we are called to claim, the benefits of the rosary, and hundreds of other topics: perfect. Topics that veer into the political, not so much. Months ago, I had to stop listening to Relevant Radio's Go Ask Your Father because it become obvious that he, though definitely orthodox in his Catholicism, is a political liberal: pro-gun control, applauded F1's abolition of the death penalty, emphasizes that the bishops have declared universal health care a human right (an absurdity, but we can touch on that some other time). His left-leaning tendencies would keep me awake.
Well, last night became one of those nights. I've been watching Youtube homilies and reading what I can about the sex abuse crisis. I've been seeing one explanation after another: clericalism (the good old boys network, an odd reference that I'll probably flush out in my podcast this week), lack of women in management, prohibition against married priests, etc. But the Catholic mainstream seemed to be assiduously avoiding any reference to homosexuality. Last night, I noticed that Drew Mariani had Fr. Richard Simon on his show yesterday for Hour 3 of his show. I like both those guys a lot, so I fired it up as I tried to fall back asleep . . . and found myself getting worked up. Fr. Simon offered his theory that the roots of this crisis go back a thousand years, when a bishop was for the first time made Pope. He then launched into his explanation that the crisis is a crisis of fatherhood. The initial callers were chiming in with their theories. No one was even veering toward the topic of homosexuality. I was wide awake: "That's it," I concluded, "it's a conspiracy. The word is out: No one dare mention the word 'homosexual' in connection with this crisis. Even Fr. Richard is toeing the line."
But then the second half of the show started, and boy, I was wrong. Drew finally mentioned the word "homosexuality," saying something like, "And of course, we can't discuss this topic honestly without mentioning homosexuality." That launched Fr. Simon into the topic, in which he basically said (accurately), "Yes, a crisis of fatherhood, of masculinity. We bought into the spirit of the age back in the 1960s, and that included an emasculation of males, and it gave us homosexuals in the priesthood and we're saw the effects." He then referenced Morlino at least three times, urging listeners to read his letters. After that, I was calmed down again.
The truth is getting out there. It is. This is a problem of homosexuals in the priesthood. Period. Clericalism no doubt contributed to the cover-up, but that doesn't account for it. A good old boys network that covers up things like embezzlement or bribing public officials. Okay, that rings true. One that covers up sodomy? There's more to it.
