Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Wolf in Bishop's Clothing: Too Bad He Wasn't a Famous Playboy Director

Sorry for the light blogging: it has been a hectic week with class preparation, various details of administration and marking. But the term is going really well, especially the "Marriage in Theological Perspective" class. More on that later.

Michael Coren has a good article in The National Post on the reaction to the arrest of Bishop Raymond Lahey of Nova Scotia. The contrast in tone between the media and entertainment industry reaction to the arrest of Roman Polanski and Lahey is too obvious to miss and too culturally significant to ignore. It is a rock that needs to be turned over and examined even if what it tells us about our society is vile and depressing. Anti-Catholicism is no better than anti-Semitism, just more acceptable in certain circles.

There is no intention here of defending the creep, Raymond Lahey. It is good that he was caught and it is good that the Church is rid of him. I hope any cronies he may have had are quivering in fear of exposure right now and I hope their worst fears come true. But my point has to do with the double standard: one for Christian leaders and another for playboy directors. Is it really the case that all you have to do is blatantly brag about your vice and your crimes and that makes everything A-OK - even "rape"?

No comments: