Scott Doty
Santa Rosa, CA
Baptised 1972 or 1973 at St. Eugene's Cathedral.
Santa Rosa, CA
Baptised 1972 or 1973 at St. Eugene's Cathedral.
Dear Bishop Vasa,
I believe the human conscience is
God-given, and is the moral center of human society. I've even said
that “morals are the ethics of conscience.” So when I see the
Roman Catholic Church violating the dictates of functioning, good
consciences, it is clear that they are acting in an immoral manner.
If this were one or two isolated
incidents that were later corrected, I could understand how such
things could be a part of individual human fallibility and human
frailty. But when I see headlines that read, “Catholic Church
excommunicates mother and doctors of a nine-year-old rape victim that
had abortion – but not accused rapist”:
...and when I see such stories all the
time, it becomes painfully obvious that the hierarchy of the church
to which I was christened as an infant has completely lost touch with
human conscience.
And during the period of time that I
was an adult who still supported the Roman Catholic Church, I
probably should have known better. You see, I attended summer camp at
Camp St. Michael for two summers, at an age that I did not recognize
the horrendous evil that I later learned I was witnessing. So I know
for a fact that the public displays of horrendous evil performed by
the Roman Catholic hierarchy are only the tip of the iceberg – a
fact that has now been recognized within whole governments throughout
the world.
Need I even mention the morally
disgusting policies of covering-up for paedophile church hierarchy
members? Should I offer constructive criticism regarding the CDF
treatment of U.S. nuns? I supposed I could – but it would not make
any difference.
Now, I know that you, Bishop Vasa, are
not personally responsible for the unreliable consciences and evil
doings that I refer to. However: You are the Bishop of the Santa Rosa
Diocese, and as such, you are standing in the camp of these people
with their morally repugnant decisions. And alas, to remove myself
from the Roman Catholic Church's baptism rolls, I need to address
you.
And here I do so: Please remove me me
from the baptism rolls of the Roman Catholic church. I am not one of
you, and I have given up on the hopelessly-broken Roman Catholic
church hierarchy.
Never mind the theologically-mistaken
positions of the Roman Catholic Church, positions that I no longer
subscribe to. “By their fruits, you shall know them” -- and I
cannot, in good conscience, have anything to do with the continuous
unconscionable acts of the Roman Catholic Church.
Since this is an open letter, one such
theologically-mistaken position does bear mentioning: the implicit
(or even explicit) threat of excommunication that the Roman Catholic
Church wields like a war axe.
It seems to me that such a threat
carries with it an implied threat of damnation, and that the Roman
Catholic Church uses such a fear to keep the “rank and file”
aligned with their mistaken thinking. For those who don't know
better, such threats – whether explicit or implicit – carry with
them more than a hint of “spiritual terror”, where people cannot
speak out with their consciences, for fear of terrifying
consequences.
In short: Damnation doctrine is
spiritual terrorism – and it is endemic to your organization.
I remain,
Scott Doty
Ex-Catholic, and Unitarian Universalist
Cc: St. Eugene's Office Staff
Comments welcome.
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