Blaise Cardinal Cupich has denied any link between homosexuality and the sexual abuse crisis, and that the upcoming synod will not only not focus on the former, but will not even mention the sin contra naturam, that, ironically, was once called the sin that one could not even name, it was so sordid. Hence, its euphemistic description after the ancient city destroyed for its indulgence in the practice.
Rather, it is all to be about ‘transparency’, ‘guidelines’, ‘screening procedures’, the ‘protection of minors’ and all the rest of it. Even the definition of a ‘minor’ is problematical; the reason we legally treat those under a certain age differently is due to various factors, not least being the lack of consent and understanding. Is a seventeen year-old a minor in the same way as a child of seven? Most of the abuse was between adult (middle-aged) male and teen-aged, along with some other adult, but younger, males. One wonders. In order to confront and fight evil, one must face what must be faced, for a disease ignored is one that will only metastasize, and grow even more malignant.
That was certainly the case in Mexico prior to the arrival of Hernando Cortes, the 500th anniversary of which we celebrate this February. One of the most significant leaders in the history of the world, Cortes with a band of 650 unruly mercenaries – forced to stay with him by Cortes’ famous burning of the ships – conquered an Aztec population of millions. He is vilified in modern Whig history, with the smallpox virus inadvertently brought by the Spaniard as a symbol of the devastation. (Viruses as vectors of disease would not be discovered until the 20th century). Yet by his own and other eyewitness accounts, Cortes was moved to obliterate the Aztecs’ religious addiction to human sacrifice on a scale not seen again until the aforementioned 20th century. Thousands upon thousands of women children, old and young were required to be disembowelled while still alive, their heart and blood poured to appease their sun-god, whom they thought might disappear.
You won’t find much of the truth about Cortes and the current abortion holocaust at the modern university. Ponder the remarks of these ‘professors’ at the flagship Catholic university in America, named after Our Lady herself. People pay fortunes to be ‘taught’ by such minds as these, – advocating pre-born murder, eugenics, unnatural sex: The current tuition at Notre Dame is a cool $47,929 in U.S. funds per year, which at current rates is nearly $64,000 Canadian – and that’s just for the privilege of sitting in a class and taking what notes you might, to say nothing of food and lodging. People are racking up gargantuan debts they will likely never pay off, much of which funds having their minds deformed. The code of Canon Law states that the title ‘Catholic’ belongs to the ordinary of the diocese to bestow or rescind, but laypeople can make up their own minds long before that.
And while making up one’s mind, there are a number of reasons I don’t watch professional sports, not least the exorbitant salaries of the feted players – as I glanced at this headline, I wonders, should anyone be paid $300 million to do anything? – signifying a value on chasing rubber balls around I find a sad testament to our culture. Perhaps if schools and universities were doing what they were meant to do, we would value what we are meant to value, in proper hierarchical order.
Then again, on a final note of schadenfreude, Nicholas Sandmann, the student at the centre of the Covington media scandal, is suing the Washington Post for $250 million. Unlike the baseball infielder, he won’t get anywhere near that – and I am no fan of the hyper-litigious milieu of the United States with what appear to be more lawyers than lampposts – but he may receive a recompense that may move the media to a higher standard. We can only hope that much good comes from what evil there be.