Ironic, painfully ironic! Pope John Paul II in his life and work was the embodiment of holy virility and wholesome paternity: courageous, sober, generous, chaste, intelligent. But under his pontificate there flourished an ecclesiastical under-culture of corruption and predatory perversion...the infamous "lavender mafia." We now know that two titans of this underworld were Marcial Maciel and Theodore McCarrick.
The two were opposites theologically and politically. McCarrick was a closet liberal coming up the ranks under the conservative John Paul pontificate but he hit is stride when he got his red hat and became chaplain to the Biden-Pelosi-Kennedy Catholic wing of American liberalism. Even later, in his 80s, he was an important player in the Obama Iran deal and Pope Francis's regrettable submission to Chinese Communism. Apparently he continued to influence choice of American bishops as he remained in favor with Francis despite his informal silencing under Benedict.
Maciel was the opposite. He grew up in Mexico in the 1930s during the Cristero Revolution where his uncles were honored leaders: one a saintly bishop who has been beatified for his work with the poor, another an honored and heroic general in the revolt (Think the Andy Garcia character in the movie "For Greater Glory.") He internalized a fierce, militant anti-modernist. late Tridentine Catholicism. He loved Franco and hated Communism. He showed a genius in reviving elements of pre-Vatican II Catholicism and showing their vibrancy: marian, Eucharistic, enamoured of the religious and clerical states.
Under the theological and politcal contrasts, however, they are identical twins spiritually, morally, psychologically. ...in their homo-erotic clericalism. Each lived double lives: pious, Catholic prelates on the one hand; on the other villians of diabolic proportions. Each was an accomplished deceiver who could have tutored Bernie Madoff. Each had an uncanny ability to attract large sums of money and to form alliances with powerful figures in the Church and society.
Each exhibited a striking clericalism that was essentially perverse and homo-erotic. My memory of Archbishop McCarrick: intelligent, super-energetic, clever, charming...and obseesed with recruiting young men...especially the handsome, lean, intelligent type...into the priesthood. He invited my own son, an altar boy, to consider the priesthood...knowing nothing about him except his appearance. Both seemed to have a fetish about priesthood...and to an extent the consecrated life...but with a masked homosexual passion underneath. Strangely, there seems to be something about the Catholic clerical state that lends itself to be eroticized. This is evident, for example in the striking obsession of the Legionnaires with grooming and good looks. This contrasts sharply with more traditional Catholic religious (eg. Franciscan) tendencies to downplay sexual attractiveness.
Both achieved power in the mysterious corridors of the Curia by large flows of money to important people. Two stand out: Cardinal Solano, then Secretary of State and Dean of the College of Cardinals, seems to have been a protector of both, as well as other homosexual predators. Even more saddening is the fact that John Paul's personal secretary and "spiritual son", Stanislaw Dziwisz, also received large sums of money from Maciel and McCarrick and apparently funneled it to the freedom fighters in communist Poland. It is probable that he was influential also in "protecting" John Paul from the horrendous allegations about both prelates.
Each flourished under John Paul by showing him what he wanted, but each represented a theological alternative to his vision. Maciel was smart enough to pay homage to Vatican II and downplay his obeisance to an earlier version of Catholicism. But he pleased John Paul becaus of his fidelity to elements of the faith: Eucharist, consecrated life, prayer and so forth. McCarrick finally became an opponent of the John Paul - Benedict agenda as Cardinal of Washington DC. He infamously changed the meaning of a letter from then-Cardinal Ratzinger regarding communion for politicians who publically support abortion. McCarrick was an accomadationist where Benedict and John Paul were both unflinching culture warriors regarding the value of innocent human life and human sexuality.
If John Paul (and, in his own modest key, Benedict) was a hero of epic proportions, Maciel and McCarrick are themselves fiends of comparable gravity. Indeed, McCarrick himself strongly resembles Senator-Emperor Palpatine (a.k.a. Darth Sidius) of Star Wars and rivals him in cunning, power, deceit and evil. Regnum Christi and the Legionnaires of Christ, the legacy of Maciel, seems to contain a treasure of spiritual riches in many of the people involved. It is hoped that the evil of that movement will be exorcized and the good strengthened. That of McCarrick is more troubling as he seems to have had strong influence on the Curia and choice of bishops. The "lavender mafia" under Francis has emerged with new strength and largely come out into the open even as Catholics around the world are sickened by the pestilence of pedastry. A poll by the L.A. Times of 15 years ago reported that 20% of priests are homosexual and half of that (10%) are practicing (or "gay"). That strikes me as about right.
The legacy of Maciel/McCarrick continues in our Church, alongside of that of John Paul II. Unfortunately, long-standing Catholic traditions of clerical silence and loyalty, which once made sense, now seem to serve to shield a pervasive culture of perversion. Clearly we are entering a period of profound purification. We need a smaller Church, organizationally, with less money and power. We need to recreate our clerical culture: more humble, chaste, transparent. We need more lay oversight and involvement of women.
We need to resist the effort of liberals to advance the very moral/theological agenda that fueled the surge of predatory behavior after the Council: the tearing of sexuality from fruitfulness, the separation of gender from spousality, chastity and paternity/maternity, Likewise we must resist the urge to destroy the clerical state. Catholic religion centers on the sacrality of the Eucharist and confession of sins. The clerical state serves THAT! The dissolution of the clergy and all that feeds into that (women, married priests, etc.) would create a low-church, iconoclastic protestantism void of the holiness that defines Catholicism.
In the face of a modern world that is both ppromising and threatening, the figutes of Maciel a, McCarrick and John Paul exemplify the three paths forward for Catholicism. Maciel is militant in defiance of modernity: phobic, cult-like, defensive, regressive, controlling, and allergic to anything not enclosed within a pious "regnum." McCarrick presents the opposite: uncritical, submissive accomadation ("accompaniment") to the West's Cultural Revolution, Iranian militancy, and Communist Chinese totalitarianism. John Paul (and Benedict and their view of Vatican II) remains the inspired, happy balance of embracing all that is good and resisting all that is bad in the broader culture, with firmness and clarity.
If the Church is the Body of Christ, then it is afflicted with a number of vicious infections, particularly homo-erotic clericalism, aggravated by an ecclesial culture of loyalty/silence; and a bloated, cancerous bureaucracy of institutions. In the midst of this, Francis is a confusing figure. He speaks clearly about the scourge of militant homosexuality even as his governance shows a consistency and fervor in advancing that agenda. He criticizes clericalism even as his cavalier dismissal of the dubia and the allegations of Vigano suggest a distance, indifference and arrogance and he pontificates on political/policy issues in a way that implicitly disparages lay competence.
Let us pray for the purification of the Church!
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