borrowing from a life after rc
commentary which a former RC leader tells me is spot on:
I think she is spot-on with the observation.
Please share this, if you wish.
Thanks. God bless!
COMMENT
Like I said, I had to get outside the bubble-- in a world where sane Catholics don't BELONG to groups that have had to be taken over by the Vatican.
And all the information is out there for the taking. Anyone who is still associated with RC is not being deceived by other people. If they are deceived, it's self-deception.
Most of the people I know who are still in acknowledge the problems but don't see why that should make them leave?
How can that be? Well, they must derive some benefit from RC membership which they think outweighs the risks and losses.
Here's what I think--
Before the scandal broke out into the international news, a lot of women loved being RC because it gave them a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
Diapers and dishes and laundry and cleaning and disciplining kids and cooking are all exhausting and time consuming, but you never GET anywhere. At the end of the day, you've worn yourself out and all you can say when you look around is "Well, it's not any WORSE than when I got up this morning....."
Meanwhile, if you organize a fashion show, run a girls club, go to a retreat, finish your prayer list, well, you have COMPLETED something. You can point to it and say "hey, I did that!" and unlike scrapbooking or cake decorating or quilting or any other hobby Moms traditionally take up, you can feel EXTRA virtuous, because you saved souls! In fact, it's NOT a hobby, it's a vocation... so you can neglect the kids and laundry for it without guilt--- while your novel just has to wait when the baby has the flu......
Anyway, if we assume that these 'positive strokes' are the main benefit for many in RC (Because if it was about spiritual benefits, you could pray and read the gospel and go to adoration WITHOUT being associated with Maciel), well, then we can see why they stay.
If running a fashion show is a big important job, imagine how much MORE important it is to be one of the people who 'saves' the movement! There will be meetings! Focus groups! Revisions! It's important work, to save the movement and keep it going!
Not like making tuna mac, washing the pots after, and then cleaning up the fecal matter that your not-yet-potty-trained three year old left in the middle of the dining room floor before the not-yet-walking one year old plays in it......
I mean, seriously, who wouldn't rather be working to save the 'Kingdom' so that it can save the Church?
Because, last time I checked, that's a LOT more glamorous than what most of us (i.e. me, with the 'Little-Mr.-poops-on-the-floor-instead-of-in-the-potty) are doing all day.......
Anyway, the point is that these people aren't stupid. And at this point, thanks to all the work Giselle, Vere, et. al. did bringing the cult to light, they're not ignorant.
They're weighing the costs and benefits and making a rational economic decision.
And, in these cases, mammon tends to win....
