Thanks for this superb piece of writng.  As always with you, you nail it perfectly.  Oh, that the lads might listen.  Fingers crossed, but I'm certainly not optimistic.  Thanks again for your good words word and analysis. 

Mr Carroll, It is so important right now to have someone like you who is both knowledgeable and honest. I can't tell you how much your columns are appreciated. But here's what I think needs to happen. 1) The cardinals have to come clean on two important issues: A) The doctrine that says the Pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls; B) The doctrine that says when a priest is ordained, the angels in heaven genuflect to him, and he becomes an "alter Christus", another Christ. They should come out of the conclave dressed as ordinary men, and say that the priests, bishops, cardinals, and the pope have no such special powers, and announce that The Papacy has been abolished. They should say that their role in the church has been changed to "facilitator" to help people communicate with God on their own, but they (the clergy) have no special powers beyond the individual, to communicate with God on their behalf. 2) All men and women, married or single, regardless of sexual orientation, are welcome to become "facilitators" 3) their doctrines on gays and contraception are wrong and they are going to work to right those issues. Yes, it's drastic and beyond reality that they would actually do this, but it is what really needs to happen.

Even if these things were up for discussion, history is not on the side of change.  The report of the Pontifical Commission on Population, Family and Birth overwhelming concluded that contraception is not intrinsically evil.  The Pontifical Biblical Commsion's draft report concluded that nothing in the New Testament or Scripture precluded the ordination of women.  Both Commission's conclusions were rejected out of hand.

The seemingly insurmountable obstacle to change is the fact that the hierarchy suffers from AFS (Arthur Fonzarelli Syndrome).  It's a debilitating condition which renders those afflicted incapable of saying "I was wrong."

Good article, but unrealistic that any change will happen.  The Church has always viewed women as "breeders," not equal partners in anything.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, as the song goes.

Geez...if we just had gay married lesbian preists that have had abortions everything would be ritgh in the church.....

While Mr. Carroll does a fine job of leveling the Church it seem almost unfair.  The Catholic Church is such an easy punching bag.  Yet intstitutionalize religion regardless of denomination or religion for that matter is such a walking disaster in the modern world that an editorial against the Catholic Church seems almost discriminatory.  What can be said of religion any religion that turns god into some squalid refugee from the insane asylum.  Twisted with a thought process worst than that of the average man.  Religious institutions by their very nature turn away from any rational concept of god.  God becomes merely a tool for the implimentation of whatever tortured philosophical view those in power choose to impose upon the faithful.

Degradation of women, suppression of the institutions own suppressed issues, god as the enforcer.  People love to beat on the fallacies of faith and those who have faith.  Frankly I admire to a great degree and am jeaous of those who have faith for faith is nothing more than hope for the future.  Not faith in a Church mind you, but just faith in something, almost anything.

I would welcome the act of the edifice of religion to come crashing down, except it is so important to so many that it leaves me with the hope that a restoration is possible.  I don't but many people do need the edifice, the hope that the church that any religion can bring.  For the rest of us we can only hope that religion will do something besides divide people.  We can only hope the church can find a way to represent something rational, something reasonable, something that a god might like.

Thanks, as always a much needed facing of the truth. What do you think Christ would do if he walked into the Vatican today?

I don't know why any of this should concern the good cardinals. I saw one of  them interviewed yesterday, and he said the "only job of a cardinal is to elect the pope." Basically, then, they sit around with nothing to do but cause mischief for however many years inbetween elections. Nice job if you can get it.

Jesus said "my kingdom is not of this world"....he had it nailed perfectly.

The Catholic Church needs to allow men to marry and have children, and have the opportunity to live at least a part of their lives like the rest of us. Then, maybe, they may be able to relate to all of us too.

Z

Will the Church address its real issues? Fat chance.

Mr.Carroll, God bless you! 

The church needs to reform or it will crumble under its own hypocrisy and corruption. Its members from Africa and South America are only a decade or so away on what is happening to the church in North America and Europe. With no flock shepards are not needed.

There you go again, Jimmy. Lets start at the beginning. Gays are equal with you and me in the eyes of God. On this - you and I and the church agree. The incidence of gays in the sexual abuse scandals was higher than for heterosexuals and so the Church made some corrections to help eleviate that problem. We both would agree that "clericalism" was also a big factor, maybe the biggest. However, there has been some strange stuff going on in the process to improve acceptance of gays generally - given that they are equal with us. You won't like me saying this, but I use my eyes to see and my ears to hear with and my nose to smell with. My genetals also serve natural purposes which the church highly regards. We need to examine what it is to "use" people, as opposed to giving them love. The Church, just like Jesus Christ, has spoken about that and it does a very good job at that, even while being poor followers of the message in recent past. The abuse is not a result of Jesus' message, but of what people who call themselves Christians do. A more humble hierarchy woulkd be a good thing, but that does not include acceptance of artificial methods of birth control which only make3 us users of each other instead of partners in God's great plan.

you are looking at the church with today's lense. The Church looks at it through 100's of years. The Church will not and should not change with the time to meet societies definition of what should be normal. I do not see people calling for changes in Islam or Judaism.

These priests are "lifers" -- they get in, and there they stay, for their entire lives.  Pope Benedict resigned and made history.  More of them should resign.   What is the average age of the priests in the conclave?  Have you seen a cross-section of them?  There was a photo shot of them on the news, and I'd wager that none of them are under 65, if they are lucky (they don't age well ... some probably look at least 10 years older then they are; I don't think you'd find a more over-weight, unhealthy bunch of sourp*sses elsewhere) -- so you have to ask yourself if these are the people who are going to create a sea change, when they don't even know what that means.  Space aliens have more knowledge of modern society.  No new blood, no change.  What halfway normal human wants to live their life like that?  Rabbis and ministers can marry and live among the rest of society; until priests can do likewise, they can't possibly attract the type of individuals that are needed to put the Catholic Church into the context of the 21st century.  GL.   

Sorry, but I am completely baffled by the phrase "deep-seated homosexual tendencies." Did Benedict mean that being bisexual or closeted was okay? And what measures were used to determine the level of homosexuality? Whatever they were, they apparently didn't work too well. I am deeply angered by the whole stance of the Catholic Church vis-à-vis women and gays. I think it epitomizes the old saying, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

If men had babies, abortion would be a sacrament with this bunch

Not mentioned here is the strident assertion "The only way to salvation is the Catholic church"  uttered by the former pope. This flies in the face of every spiritual scholar in the world, who as one realize spiritualty is a huge help and religion historically has been a detriment. The many practices point to the same goal. Iron clad religious doctrine, modus operandi of Benedict, has resulted historically in tremendous misery, war, injustice and death. Philosophies of the founders of most religions have been corrupted and improvised to an extent where the original intent and message is often no longer recognizable. If Benedict was born in India, he would have been a Hindu. How many died as a result of Benedict's pronouncement "Islam is a religion of violence?" Good riddance to this religious leader, spiritual flop.

I think some of you are learning about the Catholic Church by reading the Boston Globe or NY Times. You cannot judge the Church by these sources. Reading "Jesus of Nazareth" by Pope Benedict might change your perspective. It has been well received by Christians other than Catholics and some Jews too who appreciate Benedicts respectful presentation of the differences. You need to read something by intelligent people who espouse te faith to understand why they take the positions they do, not just read it's antagonists.

According to Cardinal Ratzinger in his book - "What It Means to Be a Christian" - 2006, there are laws of love from both Rabbi Hillel and the New Testament that tell you what is needed, basicaly - Love God and your neighbor. He goes on to discuss that in real terms. Before simplifying "...outside the Catholic Church, etc. " try reading that book. It is important to not trivialize these issues.

Carroll is an ex-priest who hates the Catholic Church, and his father was an FBI agent so he hates the United States, and he alternates church bashing with bashing the United States but basically he writes the same two columns over and over and over again.

The real question is:  Did Jesus wear Prana shoes?

Jim, I started going back to church, on a lark, about 14 years ago, just decided to go one day. Except for a few weddings and funerals I hadn't been in a church for 25 years before 1999. My mom, who was a CCD teacher at the parish we attended more or less took us out of the church back in the early 70's. She had a beef with one of the nuns. The parish that I attended in the early 1970's was the stalking ground for one of the most evil, notorious and heinous rapist priest in the Archdiocese of Boston. Childhood friends of mine were raped by this savage and it both scarred and shaped their lives. It's no revelation to anyone that male homosexuals started flooding into the seminaries in the 1960's. In my opinion, the fact that a man is gay, makes him no less qualified or fit to serve Christ, the Church and the faithful. Having "re-entered" the church as an adult, with a lot of life experiences behind me, I look at the Church through the eyes of an adult with little or no prior experience with the Church or its representatives. I have met many fine priest over the last 14 years who have lived their lives, as far as I know, as celibates, some of them may have even been gay men, but they were not sick twisted sociopaths, they are decent men of faith, who served the faithful and spread the message of redemption, power and beauty that Jesus brought into the World 2000 years ago. Celibacy is about service. Celibacy is about not having other commitments, except the church, the faithful, those who are suffering, those who are dying, those who mourn, those who are getting married, those who bringing childen into the World, those who are in need. It's a big commitment and that's what celibacy is all about and it makes sense when you understand and appreciate what it might take to serve at that level. I get it because I tried to understand it. I get it becasue I have met men who have made that commitment and they are great priest who understand their role as spiritual teachers and guides. The Church, like all humans and human institutions is and always will be imperfect and flawed, that's no great revelation. People also seem to overlook the fact that the Church is a private institution, it has its own private theological and doctrinal view points, irrespective of whether we agree with them all or not. There are things of God and the Spirit and things of Mankind that intersect at some points and will always diverge at others. They will be in accord with our Constitution and all the rights in some ways and will differ from our Constitution in others, so what. They are the opinions of a private institution. None of this should diminish the message of hope, power and beauty that Jesus brought into the World 2000 years ago and irrespective of it's imperfect and sometimes completely evil and demonic representatives here on Earth. We can only hope and pray that it no longer covers up for sociopathic rapist, but to suggest that the Church should materially change to meet the standards of the so called "modern" world is not necessarily a step in the right direction. Our country is moving in the right direction in many ways, but to say we are moving in the right direction as a society, as a whole, is completely untrue, self absorbed narcissism is on the rise, not good, 41% of all children are born to single parent homes and statistically their lives are hard and difficult, not good, look it up. Jesus said we didn't need any institution to have a personal relationship with God and Spirit and what we primarily had to do was participate in and have a sincere and daily prayer life and try and treat all human beings with dignity and respect. We can all do that with or without the Church and we'll all be better for it.                                           

I met a priest who said that when the phone rings at 8 PM, it is never good! If you are a parent putting kids to bed then or finally having some alone time with your wife, what would you do - as a married priest - if you got that [bad news] call? But I agree with you on gay priests - the issue here is celibacy - not orientation. In general, why broadcast your orientation to the world - it is none of their business.

The Catholic Church does not take advantage of its most important assets, the men AND women that make up its non-clergy members.  I'm a former Catholic.  I just disagreed with so many of the pronouncemens, directed dogmas, Papal Infalability, etc.. years ago. There was a little Catholic schooling imposed guilt at first but I've moved on from that.  I think much of this happened as Catholics just grew up with or without further education and realized that we're just a intelligent and more so than many in the clergy, nuns included. I am.  Especially in the nonphilosophical directives about our everyday lives.  Old, mostly European centric, white males in the mid 20th Century telling young women and men what to believe about and how to practice birth control?  Really?  Women can now be professionals in every other once dominated career choice but not priest/minister in the Catholic Church.  There are brilliant Catholic women theologians but no ordained priests.  Somewhat like a woman getting a Medical Degree in Brain Surgery then being told she'll never be able to operate on a patient.  Go figure.  Good luck to the next Pope, his clergy, his Church and his congregation.  

Anyone who says that Pope Benedict does not know about other faiths has never read any of his books, i.e., is just plain ignorant of him, not him of other faiths. You could not possibly be familiar with his books - admit it!

The Church is a disaster and it can no longer hide its sins in this information age.  It no longer has the power to silence its detractors.  And when they went after the nuns in this country they went after the one bright point they had going for them.  They have sold off their hospitals, churches and schools - all of their good works - to pay for the Church's sins.  They have no moral integrity and do not have eyes to see or ears to hear.

Let me sum up the problem succinctly, if someone else has not already done so:

One does not have to be a Cardinal, or for that matter, a priest to be Pope. Thus Whitey Bulger would be eligible while Mother Teresa (if alive) would not.

Very succinct article.  Says it all.  Nothing will change.  So what do we do now?  Many women are choosing to receive Eucharist, but disagree with the church's  rules on women ordination, married clergy,contraception, non-acceptance of gay and lesbian.  Sure they will put a "no zero" tolerance on sexual abuse and think that will take care of all the problems.  l loved and hoped for the church all my life.  What priest is around I can even talk to about this.  I'm 80 years old; I don't have time for the church to change.  Some of us progressive women are banding together, not to protest, although we have tried to do that in the past.  Right now, we are concentrating on nurturing our bond with Christ because the church doesn't seem to care about that any more.  The only hope and direction I have received is from nuns who say "find like minded people to be with and support eac others' spiritual life.". We are doing that, and it helps but is sad too because there is no "place" where I feel wanted.  All except one of my children have left the church. In ,a way,  I guess I have too.  And there are droves of us.  Soon there will be a small ultra-conservative church where people can be comfortable saying they believe in everything the church says--never mind that. They all use contraceptive.  I think Jesus would be appalled at what the church has become.

As a devout woman, I really wonder why I still stay in the Catholic Church.  Although a cradle Catholic, I grew up in a very moral Italian family.  I became an American Catholic, which really stymied the folks.  They never understood priestly celibacy nor the "having babies for Jesus" idea, but they loved and nurtured all those grandchildren we gave them.  It took me a lifetime and Good Pope John, also an Italian peasant to understand what being a Catholic really means.  When my folks cared for others during the great depression, when they visited the sick, and comforted the lonely, then they were other Christs and if you missed mass once in a while, God would forgive you.  They knew that for sure.  If we can get back to basic Christianity and forget the politics and the male supremacy, then we may save the church.  Otherwise, it's doomed.  But the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways and maybe it took two arch-conservative popes and overt scandal and corruption to get us ready for a renewal where everyone isincluded...or is that too Christ-like to expect?  I hope not.