Secularists Keep Scratching Their Anti-Catholic Itch

By Alicia Colon

Predictably, I received the following e-mail, among several, declaring: "While the New Testament does not say this, the Popes have said this for a thousand years. The last one who did this did so in my lifetime, Pius XII (Died 1950). Moreover, this is what the Roman Catholics did. E.g. Charles V of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor, who killed in one campaign 98,000 Christians who refused allegiance to the Pope. This is not an isolated instance, but well-documented if one wants to look for it."

It seems that whenever I've written a piece mentioning the Roman Catholic Church, the knives come out and I'm called a Papist who ignores the sins of the Church. Rather than address the issue I was referring to, the correspondent scratches his anti-Catholic itch. I'm no theologian nor can I even subscribe to the title of Defender of the Faith but it would be nice if someone could debate the point about what is or isn't in the New Testament or whether they could find the same "kill" order within the New Testament as what is clearly in the Koran and which I quoted in the article.

Another e-mail asserted that the terrorist activities committed by the IRA could only have done with the approval of the Pope. In a visit to Ireland in 1979, Pope John Paul II pleaded, "On my knees I beg of you to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace ... Those who resort to violence always claim that only violence brings about change. You must know there is a political, peaceful way to justice." His appeal was ignored by the IRA, which issued a statement declaring that "force is by far the only means of removing the evil of the British presence in Ireland ... we know also that upon victory, the church would have no difficulty in recognising us. "In imitation of Christ, the Church will always forgive sinners who are truly repentant and resolve to sin no more."

There's something about the Catholic Church that brings out long-seated anger, and, quite frequently, it's expressed by disenchanted Catholics. Presently, as I write this, Pope Benedict XVI is on a papal visit to Great Britain. Back in April, renowned atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens consulted with lawyers to obtain arrest warrants for the Pope over the sex abuse scandals involving priests, for his scheduled visit to Great Britain this month.

His visit thus far has provoked numerous protests displaying signs that read: "Sex Abuse Cover Up. The Pope Must Resign." The attack on the Pope was instigated, no doubt, by the New York Times, which published allegations that the Pontiff knowingly ignored an abuse case involving a Wisconsin priest decades earlier while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger and headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Germany. The allegations were typically spurious, coming from that biased anti-Catholic publication, but it would make no difference to many with an animus toward the Church.

The mainstream media made hay out of the sex scandals involving pedophile priests, yet the truth about the cases was never reported fairly. Study after study shows that pedophilia - sexual abuse of a prepubescent child - is extremely rare among priests, affecting only less than one-third of 1 percent of the entire population. This figure is cited in the book "Pedophiles and Priests" and was written by a non-Catholic scholar, Philip Jenkins, and was based on the most comprehensive study ever. Only one out of 2,252 priests over a 30-year period was afflicted with pedophilia. In the recent Boston scandal, only four of the more than 80 priests labeled by the media as "pedophiles" were actually guilty of molesting young children.

The majority of the clerical sex-abuse scandals that came to light do not involve pedophilia but, rather, ephebophilia, which is homosexual attraction to adolescent boys. But even this figure amounted to less than 2 percent - comparable to the rate among married men.

There is in fact no evidence that Catholic priests are more likely to be pedophiles than Protestant ministers, Jewish rabbis, physicians or the personnel of any other institution in which adults are in a position of authority and power over children.

So why do the mainstream media and the liberal elites seize on demonizing the Catholic Church whenever the opportunity arises? That's no big secret. The Church is adamantly against abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, and stands squarely against the social-engineering agenda of the secularists.

Whenever the Pope or the Church is in the news, the media trots out alienated Catholics to express their hope that the Church will change its wicked ways; that women will be allowed to become priests; that gays will be able to wed in the Church, etc. One woman on a CNN broadcast made an outrageous statement that led me to suspect that she never goes to church at all. She said that she's spoken to many priests who are overwhelmed by their workload and would welcome women priests.

Baloney! The priest's workload has nothing to do with celebrating Mass but rather with the duties of running a parish, and if women choose to be of service in that department, there's nothing to stop them. The desire to be a priest against Church teaching is nothing more than a power trip and reveals a lack of the humility necessary for that vocation.

In spite of the universal animosity it endures, the Catholic Church will continue to do enormous good throughout the world. Its missions in the most destitute areas of the Third World save lives and give hope to those with none. The hospitals, schools, nursing facilities, orphanages, hospices funded by the Church through the donations of its members will continue to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ: "Whatsoever you do for the least of my brethren, so you do onto me."

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com