‘Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’
I am often asked, “How do we: 1) Save a Church that is bleeding membership; 2) Restore unity; and 3) Correct the problem of a disparity between orthodox teachings and heterodox pastoral practices promoted by a synodal church? My response is similar to what Swiss Msgr. Martin Grichting wrote in “Crisis of Confidence in the Church,” where he points out that all power and authority in the Catholic Church reside in the Pope, who alone possesses “absolute power.”
Grichting concludes that the “wounds of ecclesial unity” reflected in the doctrinal and moral mess the Church is in today, not to mention the worldwide clerical sex abuse crisis that the Pope and Bishops continue to cover up, can only be resolved by the Pope who “holds the key to healing the disease” that continues “to fester and divide and weaken the body of Christ, the Church.” Given the Pope’s “absolute power,” I agree with Grichting’s conclusion, but I doubt that Pope Leo can or will heal an increasingly weakened and disease-ridden church.
Homosexuality and Adultery
In order to understand my skepticism, I invite you to go back in time to 1992, when I was asked to testify before Congress on the Department of Defense (DOD) homosexual exclusion policy. After my testimony in support of the policy, Lawrence Korb, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense who opposed the policy, was asked by Senator John McCain, “If we allow homosexuals to engage in sexual relations, how can we prosecute straight troops who engage in adulterous behavior?” In response, Korb said, “Well, Senator, I guess we’ll then have to change the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to also allow for adultery.”
In Judaism, classical Halakha (Jewish law) prohibits homosexual behavior (i.e., sodomy) based on Leviticus 18:22, which describes it as an “abomination.” In the Hebrew scriptures, adultery is treated as a severe moral and legal transgression, a violation of the seventh of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:14. Members of the LGBTQ community, including most closeted Catholic homosexual clergy, feel they would not suffer from depression and other serious mental health problems, including suicide, if only society were to accept and affirm their behavior as normal. Contrary to this thinking, Orthodox Judaism, Islam, and Christians whose beliefs are grounded in the scriptures (e.g., traditional Catholics, Missouri Synod Lutherans, etc.) believe that problems experienced by those who engage in homosexual behavior, like marital and family problems of people who commit adultery, stem from their behavior and no amount of affirmation or justification of that behavior which is against the natural and divine laws will alleviate their problems. While LGBTQ persons want people to believe they were born LGBTQ, the truth is that most of them were groomed and abused when they were young, and they are victims of learned behavior that has nothing to do with genetics.
Unlike homosexual popes, bishops, and priests, straight priests like myself do not believe that ‘“we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the church says about any given question.” When Pope Leo said that in response to a question about the Church changing its doctrinal teaching on homosexuality, was his use of “we” unconsciously referring to members of the LGBTQ community? And if that is the case, might Leo have been groomed and introduced to gay sex by Augustinian Fathers Reinhard J. Sternemann or Nelson Daniel Rupp, two documented predators, who were on the faculty of the Augustinian high school seminary in which Prevost was enrolled during his period of psychosexual development? The Michigan Attorney General’s sweeping investigation into Catholic clergy abuse details sex abuse allegations within St. Augustine Seminary in Saugatuck, MI, a noted site of documented abuse .
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