Scotland's world-class-homophobic ex-cardinal admits that he's been a very bad boy -- and a very hypocritical one

Not an "ex-cardinal" -- see Update (Correction) below

It turns out that former Cardinal O'Brien, who was so scathing about "homosexual fairy stories," has more than a few real-life fairy stories safely stashed away (he thought) in his own personal closet.

"Before you shrug off this news as just one more ho-hum revelation of Catholic hypocrisy, keep in mind that Cardinal O’Brien is one of the most outspoken and highest-profile homophobes in the entire United Kingdom."

-- John Becker, in the blogpost "Breaking: After Initial
Denials, Cardinal Keith O'Brien Admits to Sex with Priests"

by Ken

I pulled the quote at the top of this post out of the post by John Becker we're about to read because the author, John Becker, anticipated my reaction to what I might have dismissed as one more story than I needed to read about the disgrace of Scotland's cardinal, or rather ex-cardinal, Keith O'Brien. I thought I knew what there was to know about the cardinal's story, with his much-covered sudden resignation amid accusations of "inappropriate acts" with several priests. As John reports, the number of accusations made by onetime dalliers now stands at five.

In his post, John persuaded me that no, I wasn't grasping the significance of the story. The key that that His Eminence has been "a leader on the British front of the Roman Catholic Church’s global crusade against LGBT people" and "has repeatedly smeared loving and committed same-sex couples for having the temerity to ask for equal marriage rights."

Here's the full post, from John's blog (more links onsite):

Breaking: After Initial Denials, Cardinal Keith O'Brien Admits to Sex with Priests

Last week, Roman Catholic Cardinal Keith O’Brien — the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, the most senior Catholic prelate in all of Britain, and its sole cardinal eligible to vote in the upcoming papal conclave — resigned after he was accused of committing “inappropriate acts” with three priests and one former priest. O’Brien initially denied the allegations, even when a fifth accusation surfaced earlier this week.

But in a statement released today, the Cardinal did an abrupt about-face and admitted that at least some of the allegations were, in fact, true:

In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them.

However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.

To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness.

To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologise.

I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

Before you shrug off this news as just one more ho-hum revelation of Catholic hypocrisy, keep in mind that Cardinal O’Brien is one of the most outspoken and highest-profile homophobes in the entire United Kingdom. A leader on the British front of the Roman Catholic Church’s global crusade against LGBT people, he has repeatedly smeared loving and committed same-sex couples for having the temerity to ask for equal marriage rights and engaged in baseless fear-mongering about the consequences of allowing them to do so. O’Brien infamously described marriage equality as a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right” and threatened an “unprecedented backlash” if Scotland’s government allowed same-sex couples to marry. He also falsely claimed that Scottish Catholic churches would be compelled to marry same-sex couples, made the baseless assertion that same-sex relationships are unhealthy, inferior to opposite-sex relationships, and detrimental to children, and deliriously warned that marriage equality would force schools to stock what he called “homosexual fairy stories.”

Yes, that’s right, “fairy stories.” From a guy who’s secretly schtupping priests in the rectory. That’s not just routinely hypocritical, it’s downright galling.

This is something that many of us have come to expect from the most hysterically screeching homophones, Catholic and otherwise. Homo-baiting diatribes from "a guy who's secretly schtupping priests in the rectory," as John puts it so picturesquely.

Maybe it's time for the Church to quite while it's still marginally ahead, and find another line of business -- worldwide casino operations, perhaps? I bet its minions in the U.S. could, by spreading around the right amount of cash, secure the necessary federal and state permissions so that we could soon see "bishop's casinos" sprouting all over the U.S. of A. It seems to me like a better business bet for the hierarchy than the increasingly hard-to-maintain façade of holier-than-thou morals.

When you get right down to it, do right-wingers have morals, any non-pretend "values"?


UPDATE (CORRECTION): Commenter Hamish notes: "Just a quibble -- he is still a cardinal. He's just 'retired.' " As I replied: Thanks for the correction. Somehow I got it in my head that he had slithered out of harness altogether.

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