Grotesque Hypocrisy

I have been reading columns written by a man who would currently be my Bishop had I remained Roman Catholic. He is a person I knew well. He was a professor in the seminary I attended in the 1970’s and was and is a Biblical scholar. From an academic perspective, he knew his subject well and was a good teacher of the material. At the time I very much respected him for his knowledge, but found him greatly lacking in compassion as a human being.

One thing very disturbing about him was that he was a proud misogynist. He would often quiz is (open book) on passages from Wisdom Literature over chapters we were assigned to read. We practically had, committed to memory, all the misogynist passages in those books of the Bible as he was often inclined to ask about those. It brought him great delight to watch many of the women in class, nuns, squirmed as these passages were read aloud. He made it abundantly clear these women were not really very welcome in his class, but he was ‘forced’ to accept them in his classroom. He would often lament as to how unfair it was that women were in our classrooms as, in his day, a seminary classroom was only for men. He felt, and he was very vocal about this, victimized by this openness.

He is no longer a theology professor. He is now a Roman Catholic Bishop and he is still a victim. These days he is being victimized by the Federal government for the oppression they are laying on him. In recent columns he very eloquently uses a great many tidbits of historical facts to validate his position which, not unlike his laments of his oppression while teaching in the seminary, is a steaming pile of nonsense.

Ironically, this poor, oppressed Bishop, who lives in a nice house, drives a nice car, and writes whatever he wants with impunity, isn’t always very concerned about the oppression of others. In fact, he contributes to it.

He is currently one of the leading Roman Catholic Bishops who is aggressively seeking out Roman Catholic theologians who may vary, at least in his opinion, from Roman Catholic teaching. He seems to take a certain pleasure in silencing female theologians within the Roman Catholic tradition. While writing how terrible it is when people criticize folks like him for misogyny, he gleefully practices it.

So, while this man who whines that he is a victim because of governmental oppression denying him free speech (which is bogus), he gleefully attempts to silence theologians he does not approve of. The grotesque hypocrisy of this ought not be lost. The fact that I am not mentioning his name is very intentional. I choose not to give this man any kind of forum. He, tragically, already has one and has the capacity to mislead and to silence others.

I thank God every day I am no longer Roman Catholic or in that region or will ever see him again. Within the United Church of Christ I have never met anyone even remotely like him and I doubt I ever well. Being a misogynist is not something we celebrate in the United Church of Christ. Silencing people we disagree with is not something we celebrate within the United Church of Christ. As for him, and the current oppression he is experiencing, I will pray for him. Hopefully, one day, he will grow a heart and recognize that oppressors have no right to condemn others for oppression. Most especially, when one’s claim of the oppression is bogus. The grotesque hypocrisy of this man is distasteful grotesque. The people of his diocese deserve much, much better.