Catholics and the Roman Polanski Scandal
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The scandal is that we allowed this to happen, and that we have supported Polanski with our money, and have supported Whoopi Goldberg, Harvey Weinstein (Miramax/Disney: would Walt Disney have signed the petition?), and Woody Allen (who slept with his own adopted daughter). Catholics have supported child molestation by priests through their silence, paid to see Polanski’s movies, voted abortion promoters into public office, and supported every possible evil with their votes, labor and hearts. And now we see the culture we have created, one where pedophiles are protected and rewarded. This is not some aberration, but a time of grace where we can see clearly what we have done wrong.
Are we there yet? Are we now evil enough to repent? Have we filled the cup of our iniquity, and are we satiated? Have we done enough damage to clearly see what kind of nation we have created? The 1 out of 5 Americans who are Catholic could have made a difference, could have stood “athwart history yelling ‘stop!’ (Buckley), but we did not. We continued to buy, buy, buy, throwing money to the enemies of Christ, praising their artistry, filling our hearts with trash, while neglecting our own household. We rejected the teachings of the Church, and accepted the teachings of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk. He says Hollywood has the true “moral compass,” and that raping a 13 your old is acceptable as long as the rapist is a great artist, and Catholics accept this. If they did not, they would be in the streets to proclaim that they reject it, lest someone think we consider it reasonable. There is no point in saying, “it is not just the Catholics fault.” It is our fault because we had the opportunity to walk with Christ and preferred movie stars.
Our bishops are silent. Our priests are silent. This is no surprise. They are discredited by their corruption of the young and their love of money and power, and while their offices and roles are valid, their own scandals have made it impossible for them to lead. They can still preserve and transmit the deposit of faith, and we are grateful. We must make a withdrawal from that annuity (which never diminishes whether we withdraw from it or not), and make it clear that we are going to change. We must do the work best suited for the laity, which is to change the world through the ordinary processes of life: family, work, the community, teaching the young, being good examples.
Whatever our leaders have done, the damage is less than the laity has committed. We are 50 million people, give or take, and this is a larger army than all the armies of the world. We could have defended our country from Polanski, Weinstein, Allen and these other “artists”, but we did not. No shots need be fired, no transport ships launched, no war bonds sold. All we needed to do was spend our money in better places, and support movies, music and books that would have brought light to the nation. We wanted to get our direction from movies instead of life, or as Pink Floyd (Gilmore) put it: “did you exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage.” And we built the cage ourselves. Do you doubt this? How many hours did you spend reading the Bible, Catechism or other good works this week, and how much watching movies or YouTube? What is really the greatest influence in our lives? Surely not our Catholic faith!
So if you are disgusted, take a look at the list of signers that want to free Polanski and boycott them at least. We can cut their revenues by 20% if we want to. And start thinking about what we watch and what we talk about. Especially, think about what we do and what example we give the young. This is a moment in history where the choices we have made are visible and we can see who we have become. And an opportunity to change and begin a new age of faith.
Links: Petition and signers, petition article, more, Wall Street Journal, Mark Steyn