New Archbishop In Denial

11. 4. 2010

The death of Lech Kaczynski, a staunch Catholic, stole the highlight of his first day in a position that may, because of tradition, still be celebrated, but effectivelly has little influence in agnostic Czech culture and power structures. But hussite president Václav Klaus declares to be a sympathizer of the newly appointed top representative of the Vatican in the country, becoming the new incumbent's close controversial ally.

Becoming Archbishop at a time when the world is discussing and disgusted with the thousands of allegations of child abuse by priests, all covered by the Church and, worse, directly by the current pope, when he was Cardinal Josef Ratzinger is complicated. But Duka did not shy away from the debate and offered a self-assured and unappologetic assertion that the accusations against his Irish colleagues are being driven by "militant atheism that aims to harm the financial solvency of the Church"...

"It is a clear campaign that aims at pushing the church from its position in upbringing and education that it has held from time immemorial and in which it has proved itself", he wrote, adding that "only about 10 percent of the accusations made are proved".

His predecessor, Cardinal Miroslav Vlk, wrote in his blog that "no concrete specific documented pedophile case had reached me in 20 years", which may be technically accurate, but is simply a spin. He officially has not received any complaints, but it is not very telling of Christian values when a former Archbishop pretends a very public affair reported in 2000 did not happen. Vlk acted like a politician and reflected what his pope has been doing for years: shameful denial. Ten years ago a priest from the Olomouc Archdiocese, František Merta, was criminally charged with molesting 20 boys since 1995. He got a two-year suspended sentenc, but was never sent to jail.

The Archbishop of Olomouc, Jan Graubner, was widely believed of covering up the case. He had moved Merta to different posts when the accusations came up. By the way, Merta works in the archdiocese archives to this day.

Czechs are very liberal towards sex and it may be that there is less stigma involved, which may lead to not reporting cases being more in tune with local culture, which is not fond of whistle blowers and has historically punished those who denounce authorities.

The fact that many priests are homosexual is not a surprise anymore to most people and the understanding that they actually may be more often gay than not seems to have become part of popular culture. Scandals have spread from the United States Catholic schools to Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Ireland, with cases popping up in many other places. Czech Republic, by simple statistical logics, cannot be the exception to the rule.

It is enough to go on a Wednesday evening to gay pub Střelec, on Prague's Žitná street, and one can find a famous priest admiring the beer drinking gays commemorating the Bear Day. Or to club Friends on a Friday night to notice another priest from an important local touristic-area church dancing with his peers. Sadomasoquistic bar Alcatraz also seems to be the favorite destination on Saturday nights for a priest from Moravia who comes every other week to experiment the pleasures of being physically punished in public by other gays.

Basically, many Czech priests are not even trying to hide their homosexuality, frequenting openly gay places, unashamed to share with others their profession, for locals do not seem to care or be shocked, rather making fun of the whole thing. At least those priests are enjoying fully adult fellow gays, instead of corrupting heterosexual minors, as in other countries.

Vytisknout