The new revelations in the news today of violence inflicted by high profile members of the Church — the disgraced head of the Legionaries of Christ [LINK] and the pope's own brother [LINK] — lends a particular poignancy to today's commentary from Tom McMahon. Where does this human propensity for violence come from? All of us, if we are honest with ourselves, have to deal with this trait seemingly embedded deep in human nature. We have to own up and deal with it institutionally as well as individually.

Rebelling against violence...

In my first commentary on violence [LINK] I offered examples of the religious and political archetypes that were my inheritance in early youth, those deep psychological imprints that have forever seared my youthful psyche and today are directional markers of my daily conduct; I reported the insults, a Stanley Keleman word for violence, of my early childhood (death of my father, Great Depression, War, plus Roman training with harsh punitive God, loaded with fear of life and the future).

I centered on military concepts and their eventual historical clash with my religious convictions. My bishop at the time of my dilemma over the Vietnam war foolishly advised me to grow up; silently I saw in him his repressed child, myself having thoughts that summed up my very problem … I was growing up, becoming a mature follower of Jesus. Thinking free of the box I was asking how Jesus would address the issue and I was fast becoming aware that the Roman institution was not a good spokesperson for the Jesus way. Years would pass and I would find myself breaking away from the clerical mental stranglehold that silence and blind obedience was the lot of the lowly priest in the obscene pecking order of Romanism. My Irish ancestry offers me a blueprint of rebellion against unjust, unhealthy, and ill-informed decision makers. I began to speak out against violence, well aware that violence comes in a myriad of shapes and can wear an obscene religious disguise. We are viewing it worldwide in the silent denial of clerical abuse.

Does mob psychology possess a spirituality?

Today in California (2nd Mar 2010) we are having a show down with financial cutbacks on State-wide education funding; billions of dollars are being taken away from education while legislators remain stalled and impotent in the face of a growing crisis. In a consumer society education supplies the needed bodies who keep technology rolling; every iPod carrier knows that he/she has no financial future without education and when she/he is out of the loop there is no future buying a home, a car, insurance, all the amenities of a consumer society. The young know well that their share of the future will not be gently handed over by the well off who have circled their wagons in defense of their possessions. What here is the mentality of the Roman Catholic? And what is the stand of the very wealthy Roman Catholic institution? Here in Silicon Valley, home of technology, I would guess that the the small Roman Catholic diocese of San Jose is perhaps the largest owner of valuable land in Santa Clara County.

As I write, on the 5pm TV news thousands of students from all over the Bay Area are rallying, protesting, mobs of young people gathering and tensions are high. Merchants are boarding up their glass shop windows and there are angry leaders shouting for change, arousing the emotions of the crowd. The police in riot gear stand by, the ever-ready goon squad, mute with lethal weapons while people violence also stands at the ready. I keep in mind the Black Peoples riot in the late 1960's in the Watts neighbourhood of Los Angeles (see Wikipedia page). Violence, death, and destruction ruled for days. I remember well a black representative saying that next time they would not burn down their own homes but would march on Hollywood instead. My underlying point here is that human beings when they get out of hand emotionally are capable of powerful harm and destruction. Does mob psychology possess a spirituality? Eugene Kennedy writing in 1967 said that concerning needed changes in the Catholic religion "there was not enough anger in the room".

Silent institutional violence...

Leonardo Boff : Professor Emeritus of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion and Ecology at the Rio de Janeiro State University

Silently riot geared police and city hall politicians can be an outwardly polite and silent violence that can invalidate any public demonstration. The Roman church with its inquisitional and medieval papal and episcopal system can be a master of silent violence. In modern time one need only to see the torture system at work on Leonardo Boff and other reform theologians who were bludgeoned in secrecy behind Vatican doors. I have been grateful that the passion of Jesus is dead center in the Gospels, a constant reminder of what can happen to the followers of Jesus outside or within the Church that parades under the banner of Christ's name. Did the Creator instill humankind with violence or is this a human made conduct of life? Any priest who underwent 12 years of seminary training knows the cunning power of behind-closed-doors faculty meetings and secret midnight expulsions for "crimes" we never knew of, yet our friend was no longer on seminary grounds; the Gestapo could have learned well from the violence of the Sulpician system of pre-Vatican Two. I am sure that both sides of this issue can offer antidotes to prove their truth. Violence is truly a mystery and it can be found under the banner of religion.

At times I am a violent man and at times I resort to violent words. After 15 years of personal therapy I have raised my consciousness to an alert when the red flags close in on me. I am a child who lost his father to death when I was two, a matter never dealt with until my late 40's. The repressed child in me is forever angry with my father for not being there for me. Any improper and unjust use of authority can trigger me into a virtual blind rage and I cleverly use anger to drive back and away the one with whom I cannot communicate. Unjust actions from one who wears a clerical collar endangers the man of the cloth … so much for my wounded psyche … the two lessons that I want to recognize from my personal problem are: (i) that it takes one who knows violence internally to see violence in the world while many choose to turn a blind eye, and: (ii) the health harm that comes to a person who uses violence as a tool to gain the upper hand. Passive-aggressive violence is a common tool of the Catholic who grew up in the patriarchal Roman system and their silent violence is unknown to themselves. The whole arena of clerical abuse is awash with silent anger and violence both on the part of the perpetrators and the victims.

Education — the antidote ot violence...

What happens to a Catholic priest who protests abuse of people within the hierarchical Roman system? If silenced he either becomes a castrated eunuch, or he leaves the system to be free. When free Rome will set up to destroy him and his message; I am a classic example of this in that where I once taught for seven years in a local Catholic High School I am no longer welcome to teach there because I have defied the Vatican in getting married as a priest. I want to acknowledge the few priests in every diocese that remain faithful to Jesus as they protest people abuse; they are noble men.

So, through Paul-opague glass I have taken a mini stand on the violence and its expose in the Roman institution. Within the Roman Catholic system there is a way of life fast-fading among the educated but still powerfully holding the ignorant in fear. The education of the general public, which has its origin in the separation of monastic education and secular university in the 1400's Renaissances has blossomed to gigantic proportion offering a loud voice to the masses.

More next week…

Tom McMahon in San Jose. (08/03/2010)

©2010 Tom McMahon

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