No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.......

His Archbishopness

Meet Archbishop Braulio Rodriguez Plaza of Toledo Spain. During his post-Christmas address to his adoring congregation he raised a few hackles by implying that women are mostly to blame for domestic violence. If only women did as they were told and obeyed their menfolk without dissent, then all this silly violence would evaporate away like a blood spill on a hot summer’s day. He states that violence is often precipitated by a woman asking for a divorce. I suspect that domestic violence may well be the reason women seek a divorce in the first place. 

This sort of pronouncement from a senior Spanish Cleric would have failed to raise a stir forty years ago. Today, however, the Spanish public do not have the same reverence for the Catholic Church as they once had. The rise of secularism, especially amongst the young, and a host of ‘Catholic scandals’ have severely damaged the Church’s credibility and standing in countries once considered staunch and resolutely Catholic. 

Senior Catholic Clergy, such as the delightful Archbishop, are woefully out of touch with the trends of modern society- long may it continue to be so. With every objectionable and recklessly offensive statement by the likes of the Archbishop, the more disenchantment will be sown amongst the Catholic flock. The rot is alarmingly evident to senior Catholic Clergy with eyes to see, as falling church attendances attest. There are those, however, who live in a consecrated ‘time bubble’ and are therefore oblivious to the doom looming over the debilitated relic of Catholicism. They belong to the Middle-Ages, in both rhetoric and deed and are unable see through a carapace of Medieval theology and dogma. Naively, they try to invoke an authority that has dissipated along with the altar incense.   

It is my fervent hope that the teetering edifice that is the Catholic Church will one day topple and become one with the detritus of the irrational and base. Surely, odious remarks from the like of the ‘Good Archbishop’ can only serve to hasten the day.

The baby eating Bishop of Bath and Wells

               
 I'd like to thank Rosa Rubicondior for bringing the story to my notice.