The other night, Dean and I watched Spotlight which is nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture.
I’m going to take a different format with this post and interview myself based on questions I’ve been asked in the past and what I think you would want to know.
What did you think of the movie?
It was well done. The acting was superb. Mark Ruffalo is one of my faves. While I wouldn’t rank it in the same league as Slumdog Millionaire, The Artist or Argo (Best Picture Award Winners), I’d like to see Spotlight win as a big Fuck You to the Catholic Church for their wrong doing: the cover up, the lack of leadership, and the continued abuse of children.
Watching from my vantage point as a Catholic, this movie was not a huge eye-opener for me. I am not blind to the scandal. It makes me sick. I want more transparency. I encourage an active dialogue. And I’d also like to see every priest, pastor, bishop, cardinal and the pope acknowledge the enormity of the problem and the steps they are taking to ensure the abuse doesn’t continue to happen.
Up until watching the movie, I believed the reason why the abuse is happening is because in the Catholic faith, priests are celibate. I’ve always thought that was unnatural and wrong. Priests should be able to marry and have families, and because they can’t, they act out their sexual desires on children. The insight I gleaned from the movie is that priests are sexually active mostly with other adults. That was news to me! I can’t verify it, but they do mention that in the movie…which is the same source that determined 6% of priests molest kids. Which means that the Catholic Church has become a haven for pedophiles. The Church has protected these molesters by transferring them from parish to parish despite known abuse. Umm…these priests should have gone to jail! Totally horrible and sickening.
Then why don’t you leave the Church?
I am a Catholic–not a lapsed Catholic, not a Christmas and Easter Catholic, but a Catholic devoted to my religion and the teachings of Jesus. I try, often times I fail, but I try to live my life thinking What Would Jesus Do?
- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind.
- Treat others the way you would want to be treated.
- Forgive those who trespass against us.
My devotion is not to a priest or those in leadership positions who are human and sinful, but again, to the principles and teachings of God. My devotion is also not to the religion since there are Catholic teachings I disagree with. I think women should be priests. I am pro-choice.
To me, the question of leaving the Catholic faith is akin to asking half the country to move abroad if Donald Trump becomes President. The leadership and the problems of an institution do not define an individual. For the same reason, you wouldn’t just leave your job if your employer wasn’t 100% aligned with your ethics or conscience. You simply deal and take the good and the bad. That isn’t to say that you won’t be vocal about what you disagree with. I’m just saying, you wouldn’t take the next nonstop flight to Reykjavik if our next leader happens to be a racist!
I respect my priests. Some I like better than others. Some give really kick-ass homilies. Others not so much. But would I ever let a priest take Franco to get ice-cream? HELL FUCKING NO.
I think in many religions, including Catholicism, the leaders are revered and considered divine. I don’t believe that at all. We should not put all of our trust in fallible human beings.
What action should be taken as a result of the scandal?
I don’t know anything about criminal justice, but I believe people go to jail for having child porn in their possession. For me, that stands to reason that anyone caught molesting or sexually abusing a child should go to jail, including priests, the pope, the Dalai Lama. They go to jail and are locked away. What is the roadblock? They don’t go to “therapy.” Sexual abusers go straight to jail. And the church leaders who covered this up should go to jail too.
The Catholic Church should be completely transparent and list on a website all known abuse by location, parish and priest.
Every priest needs to get on the pulpit and tell its members that this will never happen under their watch and this is why. A priest will always be accompanied by a nun or female staffer when spending time with children. All priests have passed stringent background checks. I’m throwing out suggestions, but there are numerous things that can be done to protect children. This is not rocket science.
How can you belong to a faith given that abuse seems common place. The Church is sexist, homophobic and generally speaking, plain backwards?!
That is not the faith that I know. I understand this abuse happens. Like I said, I am not ignorant of it. It’s shameful, embarrassing and painful. But I have been blessed to belong to some amazing, wonderful parishes. St. Joseph Basilica in Alameda is the church I grew up in. Newman Hall near the UC Berkeley campus is welcoming. There are too many good parishes in San Francisco to name, but I must call out St. Agnes in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood. I love this church. They are my peeps! Here is the description from their website:
Welcome to St. Agnes Church: inclusive, diverse, Jesuit. St. Agnes draws women and men, young and old, gay and straight. To what some call, the Last Chance Parish. It is truly Catholic as all are welcome!
Do you have any other questions about my thoughts on the movie or Catholicism in general? My favorite discussions have been with friends from other faiths. Do you believe in life after death? So you don’t eat bacon? What would your parents think if you married outside your faith? It has all been so interesting. Thank you to friends who take my questions and for enlightening me on your faith. I really do enjoy learning about other religions.
This is an interesting one for me. I was raised a Catholic and have many problems with church. I have infused some Buddhist teachings (Everything Changes, Nothing is lost in the universe, Law of Cause and Effect (Karma) to name some things) with my Catholicism and I call it being a Buddhist Catholic. When I tell people what I am as one said “You have lost your f—ing mind, you can’t be that.’ It works for me.
I feel that most people in all faiths are trying to seek the same thing and that is trying to be a better person and to find a higher meaning. Maybe that is just my view.
During my first marriage, I didn’t have the views and faith I have today. I married into a family that was deep into Catholicism and I saw them do a lot of things that were not what I considered Catholic teachings. They spout the Bible when it came to what I was doing but not live it themselves but because they gave money and volunteered for everything in the church they were considered good Catholics. I had seen a lot of this behavior with other people and I was in a parish with a Pastor who sermons made me want to puke (“Don’t bring your little one to church”, “You need to make lots money because God wants you to” and my favorite “Those kind of people (talking about people of color) are not good because they carjacked me as I driving in East Oakland at midnight on a Friday”), so I said “No Mas”.
I became a lapsed Catholic and wanted nothing to with any kind of religion. That lasted about a decade but I realized I needed some kind of belief. And I went to an adult baptism of a friend and I started reading a missalette and found out that it wasn’t the church or God I had a problem with, it was some of the people and that I needed to focus on myself and my spiritual self. I need to feed myself and not have others feed me, i.e., research things for myself.
I found a church, St.Columbia in the hood in Oakland and wow it was amazing. They had the same beliefs about social justice as I had. I talked to the old Pastor (he was transferred to a different church) about my Buddhists beliefs and instead of criticizing me, he welcomed me. It is parish made up of people who are looking for faith and Father Aiden (who took over as Pastor a couple of years ago) has really rekindled my faith. He doesn’t care what hue you are, how much money you have, who you sleep, all he cares about is who are there. From their website:
What should I wear?
“We don’t care. First, get here. Kids in tow, out too late last night, or ready with Bible in hand, we’ll be happy to see you. ” (This is huge for me because I have always been criticized and called not a follower of God based on how I dressed for church)
Also from their website: “First, let us welcome you and let you know how happy we are that you are here. All are welcome in this place, whatever your background.”
This is huge for me because I have been to churches that were not thrilled I was there.
Sorry this was so long and Peace Be With You.
Patrick, I love this: “it wasn’t the church or God I had a problem with, it was some of the people and that I needed to focus on myself and my spiritual self. I need to feed myself and not have others feed me, i.e., research things for myself.”
Catholicism works for me. It may not work for everyone and that is fine. No one should be forced into religion. But it has been extremely beneficial in my life.
It is a little out of the way for us, but we have been to St. Columba and it is a great parish! We were really wowed with the one mass that we went to.
As a fellow Catholic, I very much agree that those who have indeed done this be on a list and should be public record if nothing else. I also thought similar to you about a priest not being sexual at all, but in the same right also agree that I think priests should indeed be able to marry and still not sure why this is not the norm. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here and more today.
Apparently the Catholic church is taking more steps to try to be transparent and prevent the abuse. Plus the Vatican is saying that they appreciate that the movie has made the issue more public. We shall see!
As a Catholic myself, I agree with what you have to say. The abuse scandal is sickening, horrendous and criminal. Sadly, there are pedophiles everywhere – every religion, in our schools, in Boy Scouts… Each of these groups has a responsibility to protect children. The Church shirked that responsibility by covering up the abuse and relocating the criminals. The Church has also done a terrible job with transparency. That will not do.
For me, there is a distinction between the Church (meaning the people in charge, the hierarchy) and the religion. My religion (faith) means everything to me. I’m not going to abandon it because of the sins of some bad people. Punish them, punish those who covered it up and do everything possible to protect those in the community.
Amen sister! Catholicism has served me well. It is not for everyone and I’m sure has a huge stigma around it, but it is right for me and my faith has blessed me a million times over. People are sinful, and we need to do our best to protect innocent children. I’m really glad Spotlight won best picture. Good traction is being made.
I appreciate your thoughts, Catherine – I think you clearly articulate why you remain a devout Catholic while acknowledging the limitations of organized religion. Your interview reminds me of discussions I had with my roommates in college. The college was a Jesuit one, and my five roommates were Catholic; I am Jewish. So much of hatred towards other religions is out of fear of the unknown…keep talking! Only good can come out of learning about others’ faiths.
Dana, my college roommate is Jewish and when I joined a startup comprised of mostly Jewish guys, she convinced me to play a prank on them and tell them I was Jewish too—adopted as a mitzvah. The guys were totally floored and got all excited, then starting asking me questions like what my favorite thing was on the Passover plate and I was like, “argh, you got me!” I relayed all this to my roommate and she laughed, “You should have said the bitter herbs!”