Just read an interesting article about the sacking of a Catholic priest in Toowoomba. In a lot of ways, this is just the standard process that has been happening ever since Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Once that happens, power must be maintained, and in organised religion that is through strict control of doctrine. So, this is just more of the same.
The more interesting thing for me from the article was that it reignited a question in me that pops into my head from time to time. To me as an outsider to religion, I have often wondered how neoliberalism, which at its heart is mainly about the concentration of wealth and privilege, got so intimately tied up with neoconservatives in the christian churches (I don't know enough about the viewpoint in other religions to say anything about those). I guess the modern version of it must hark back to the cold war were communism was tied to atheism (only because the churches had historically been complicit in the expoitation of working-class people), and so the most aggressive form of capitalist thought sprung to power in an attempt to differentiate the "west" as sharply as possible from the commies. That seems to have included religion. In this time then, christianity (at least certain extreme/conservative parts of it), which is really not incompatible with the basic economics of socialism or communism (after all, isn't a Kibbutz a somewhat socialist model of a life based around religion?), came to be associated in some ways with values that are quite at odds with the values espoused in the New Testament.
The specifics of this particular argument was about the catholic church's doctrine on female and married priests being questioned. The restriction on female priests is to be expected considering how highly patriarchal the middle eastern tribes that spawned Christianity are. It's completely out-of-step with what's happening in the wider community, and it would be illegal under anti-discrimination laws if the church hadn't got itself exempted, but hey, that's how they like to roll. The question of married priests in the catholic church really is a funny one, if you ask me. I guess, after all this time, and with the whole controlling hierarchy of the church being required to be celibate, they're unlikely to turn around and say "you know what - there was probably nothing wrong with priests being married after all".
Apparently, this isn't a question of doctrine but of "ecclesial law" which means that a Pope could theoretically change it whenever they liked, and exceptions are sometimes made for married protestant priests who want to become catholic priests (returning to the fold, as it were). If that's the case, it's hard to see how what this particular priest, who was pressured into retiring early, did that was so bad, especially, as has often been pointed out, when so many priests who abused children didn't get such harsh treatment, but were instead shifted from parish to parish after they confessed their sin. It seems pederasty is no threat to the church's doctrinal power...
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