Paganism
Column: Obedience School Dropout
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I’m sure we have all seen the recent news from Philadelphia grand jury revealing the abominations by Catholic priests that have spanned decades. I know that many of my Catholic colleagues feel intimately betrayed and are currently struggling to understand the scope of disloyalty and harm unleashed on their church by duplicitous and predatory leaders. To its credit, the Vatican accepted the “shame and sorrow” at the findings and responded with powerful language describing the abusers as “criminal and morally reprehensible” Followed by Pope Francis’ statement condemning priestly sexual atrocities and asserting that “no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.”
The Pope offers a very real hope for change for his flock and hints at a long and drawn-out battle with clericalism. Unfortunately, sexual predation is far too common among powerful clergy of any faith. I don’t need to recount the cases in the Pagan and Polytheist communities.