The Roman Church

[poliphilo]

There was a time when I wanted to be a Roman Catholic. I was reading G.K Chesterton and he had me backed into a corner with the bludgeoning force of his wordplay . Like Chesterton I had a craving for authority in my life. It's one of the deepest of human needs, I think- the need to belong to a pack and the need of the pack to have a leader. Thankfully it can be outgrown.

I love the art of the Middle Ages- which is, of course, overwhelmingly and inescapably Catholic. Catholicism was the air they breathed back then.

Catholic art went wrong at the Reformation. It ceased to be a universal language and became parochial. It was no longer entirely sure of itself and became hectoring on the one hand and sentimental on the other. The first artist to display these tendencies is Michelangelo. After him, the deluge. There is no Catholic art worth a damn after the 17th century.

I suppose I should say something about Catholic teaching. Insofar as that teaching is specifically Catholic as opposed to broadly Christian it is obviously piffle. Totalitarian piffle, at that.

The modern church reposes on the glory of its past. We cut it some slack because it built Rouen and Chartres and once employed Michelangelo. But that's the only thing that differentiates it from outfits like Scientology or The Unification Church. And if one of those were to be hit by something on the scale of the Irish paedophile scandal we'd have no hesitation in calling it an "evil cult".

Comments

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

Had the abuse by RC priests been carried out by one of the newer churches - Scientology, Mormons etc., they would haveee been pilloried out of existence. Because it's RC they get a slapped wrist and that's all

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

'S'right!

[upasaka.livejournal.com]

Well said, although some of the Roman Church's musical art after the 17th century is still often quite good, at least until more recent times IMHO. I wouldn't want to give up Schubert's masses or those of Langlais either! But as far as the visual arts go, I agree absolutely. And the same is true for Roman Liturgy in itself. Once the Tridentine reforms took place, it started down a path of hollow recreationism rather than organic development.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, the statement about post-reformation Catholic art being worthless was meant to be sweeping and provocative. I'm sure I could think of exceptions. Baroque and rococo churches aren't particularly to my taste- and I find them too frivolous to count as convincing religious art- but they do have some value...

I love Schubert but- apart from the Ave Maria- I don't know his church music.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

That's quite a punchlione to your article there! Harsh, but fair, more than fair, considering.

All this celibacy. Not even Biblical if you read Paul's letter to Timothy, I think it is, where a bishop should be a sober man faithful to his one wife. Reputedly brought in to protect church property (of course!) from priests leaving it to their children by mistake. A Darwinian ruling to ensure that all the nutters, freaks and perverts of any religious bent (I use the word advisedly)to self-select for the priesthood, and all normal, healthy adult males, whether straight or gay, to turn away from the vocation with a sigh. It was inevitable.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I remember an Anglican monk telling me that no man would opt for the celibate life who didn't have serious problems with his sexuality.

[wolfshift.livejournal.com]

The evidence seems to be bearing that out.

[sovay]

There is no Catholic art worth a damn after the 17th century.

Written or visual or both? I don't agree with his religion, but I love the language Geoffrey Hill uses.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I was thinking mainly of visual art.

Writing is a little different. The Catholic church doesn't commission novels and poems the way it commissions buildings and paintings- and so the Catholic writer doesn't fall under the dead hand of religious authority and taste the way a painter or architect does. There are numerous Catholic writers I admire- among them Waugh, Chesterton and Belloc.

[(Anonymous)]

I left the Catholic Church at the age of 13, in 1954, when that "just was NOT done!" There followed some years of fighting for my own religious freedom - until I came of age to leave home.
I could not agree more with your statement that "we'd have no hesitation in calling it an 'evil cult'". Even to a child of ten or twelve (me) the Mariolotry, the dogma, the worship-in-effect of all clergy from the lowly nun up to and including "His Holiness" raised a lot of questions. Some of these questions I asked in my nun-driven school, only to be severely disciplined, then marched off to Confession so that I would not go to Hell for even asking.
The glorious music, the sculptures, the magnificent cathedrals are all very much appreciated by this former member of the "cult". I even have great admiration for some of their canonized saints.
I do not hate the Catholic Church, but I found that I could not comfortably wear Catholic "shoes" -- they pinch in all the wrong places.

sorry!

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

That was me. I forgot to log in...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't hate the Catholic church either. It's too complex an organisation for one to have simple, unmodulated feelings about it.

But the abuse of children by priests and nuns and- equally disgusting- the cover-up of that abuse to protect the Church has been a horrendous crime.

[algabal.livejournal.com]

I judge them by Christ's standards, the ones which they claim to be the sole representatives of on earth. And by those standards they are absolutely evil.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's hard to escape that conclusion.

As Stephen Fry said on TV the other day, if there's one person who'd be totally ill-at-ease in the Roman church it's the Galilean carpenter. Dostoevsky- in The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor- said much the same thing.

[wolfshift.livejournal.com]

Catholicism also has the appeal of a highly structured environment. Not only does it have an elaborate hierarchy for people, but there's a massive system of which prayers to say when, on what days of the year, how to decorate for them, and so on. It's part of the desire to belong and to have a leader -- another facet of the longing not to have to think about things and just follow along in blissful numbness.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I came close to being seduced by all that. It's very comforting to have a Daddy who knows best.