Another Odd Apology

Can you guess who said this? "I believe that the Catholic Church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended, but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons." No, it's not a left wing nut pushing the idea that anyone who is not in the mainstream is a victim of the evil of the majority. Or is it? Because it's the Catholic Pope Francis who made that declaration. Oh brother....all we need now is an apology tour from the pope.

The rationale for this stance is that because the Catholic Church hasn't defended the gay community and practically every other marginalized group, the Church owes them an apology. Too, in Catholicism, forgiveness is an essential part of the Christian life. And also, because no group feels more marginalized in the church today than LGBT people, Francis says we should take blame for their condition.

Nonsense, I say. Though no one should be marginalized for their beliefs and lifestyle when those do not hurt others, the idea that the Church should pick and choose some groups for an apology tour is ridiculous. But then this is the age of entitlement and  feeling offended.

If the Church started making a tab for an apology tour I am sure every group, majority and minority would find a reason to seek an apology. But life is tough, and apologies don't lessen the impact of the toughness. Too, most members of the Catholic Church and most Christians in general have nothing to apologize for, given they have not discriminated or harmed anyone in the LGBT community.

If Francis thinks his church hierarchy has been unfair to gays, then perhaps he should apologize for them, but don't include the members of those churches with the apology. Surely, the Catholic Church has behaved badly many times, from the early days of the Church when it was openly corrupt, to making a pact with the NAZI's in WW II to keep itself safe, to the long standing molestation of children by Catholic priests and other clergy, the Catholicism has not been , well, holy,  throughout it's history. Politically correct apology tours by the Catholic Church can not change it's image in regard to its past failures.

In fact, Francis should understand that molding a politically correct image of the church is doomed to fail and even discourage devout Catholics from following the lead of Francis. Instead, if Francis likes to apologize,  perhaps he should "apologize" for his now too frequent attempts to embrace trendiness by seeking more of the "victims" in his imagination.