Commentary

Gordon Robinson, Contributor

Recently, atonement has become a public issue. Driva acknowledged that atonement comes before forgiveness but failed to atone. Portia doesn't even see the need for atonement. She's acted undemocratically. She's stubbornly rejected the electorate's will. She's continued to cling to the Opposition leader post.

Who has moral authority to cure this narcissistic epidemic? The legislature has no authority to moralise to any member of the executive for the simple reason that the two are indistinguishable. The judiciary can't intervene unless prompted.

In civilised nations, the press is a defender of citizens' rights. Not here. A prime minister need only neglect a formal press invitation to be able to privately do as he likes in a public place and subsequently circulate edited footage by Government propagandists to a lapdog media anxious to please.

What about the Church? Not the Roman Catholic (RC) Church with its own moral shortcomings, for example a paedophilia pandemic for which it won't atone. If the RC Church were to atone for permitting and encouraging child abuse for eons, hundreds of heads would roll, beginning with Joseph Ratzinger himself. Until then, that Church shouldn't speak on morals to anyone.

Pretence, obfuscation

And, it won't even concede the problem. Archbishop Reece, when asked to face the predicament, preferred to obfuscate, contending that celibacy didn't cause paedophilia:

"I totally debunk that. It's not (because of) celibacy. It (paedophilia) is a human thing, not a religious thing. You'd be saying all celibates are dirty, old men. That's too facile, too simplistic."

Ratz! Foiled again! What a zinger! But, wait a minute. Who said celibacy caused paedophilia? Nobody. Paedophilia is inexorably attracted to celibate organisations for the simple reason that this allows men never seen romantically attached to women to avoid suspicion. Celibacy rules may not cause paedophilia but they're invitations to variegated perverts to "come on in". Then, the encouragement's in the cover-ups.

Joseph Ratzinger's fingerprints are all over this paedophilia scandal as he has personally overseen cover-ups of reports of priests' child abuse. Too often, leaders of the Church, when challenged, can only say they are 'ashamed', thereby treating the entire horrific episode as some academic study that can be undone by shame so it behoves us to listen to reality like the voice of Bernie McDaid - repeatedly molested in Salem, Massachusetts, by Father Joseph Birmingham, whose 'punishment' was to be 'rotated' to three other nearby parishes where he wallowed in recidivism until dying a priest in 1989:

"He grabbed me, tickling and wrestling like I did with my Dad, and I thought at first it was fun. But then something changed...... He started grabbing my genitals. I felt him rubbing against me from behind.... I was so scared. I knew this was so wrong. I looked out the window. I started praying."

This youngster was repeatedly tortured for three years, starting at age 11.

Ratzinger himself issued a tepid apology, watered down by his need to protect and bolster the arcane dogma of Papal infallibility. This human-worshipping dogma (promulgated by hypocritics of Rastafari) is more grotesque when it's understood that it's limited only to dogma itself. When issuing dogma, the dogma is that the Pope is infallible. Egad!!

Reverend al miller

Other churches are no better. Take Reverend Al, for example, appointed by Driva as our moral beacon, but who apparently conspires with a known fugitive to avoid arrest. His excuse (uttered after he was caught) was to accuse the United States Embassy of a serious breach of diplomatic protocol. But no one at the embassy will corroborate his story. And the fugitive was hiding behind an elaborate disguise. Rev Al had surrendered others. He knew the drill but unilaterally altered it for Presi. Why? If we're to believe Rev Al, why were his plans kept secret from the police? Or were they?

There's one possibility that morally exonerates Rev Al and it's if he duped Presi into believing that Presi's will would be done whilst himself tipping off the police. This would explain his immediate release at Ferry, possibly by a tactless junior cop aware that Rev Al was the whistle-blower. His subsequent detention and charge would be a belated attempt to correct that blunder and restore his cover. Otherwise, it means that Rev Al knows not wrong from right and appears to be just another egocentric human seeking power over others using religious illusion whilst playing a dangerous game of social snakes and ladders. Sometimes, in our anxiety to impress, we seek social ladders but life's di land us among snakes.

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.