RE: Ms. Bruenig’s Op-Ed, “Can we trust the Catholic Church?”

The Catholic Church has more fundamental problems than the breaches of trust exemplified by the rampant sexual abuse by its clerics. At its heart, the Church is institutionally sexist, and this original sin is the root of the toleration of its clerics’ abuses.

Institutional sexism leads the Church to promulgate the idea that one human being can be born better than another human being, contradicting Jesus’ teaching that all are equal in the eyes of God. (Indeed, early Christianity witnessed incredible growth in its first decades, mostly among women and slaves because of this belief; as Empire existentially requires inequality, Rome felt threatened by this new cult.) If one human can be innately better than others, then racism is justified. Our DNA -of which we share 99%+ with our fellow 7 billion+ humans- calls BS on this.

This institutional sexism misleads to the absurd belief that God doesn’t want women in Church governance. It further leads to the misconception that women are passive containers for men’s seed. (Science informs us that sperm and semen, despite the misnomers, are not metaphorical seed, but rather pollen. We also know that most pollen and most spermatozoa are not used in procreation. This knowledge makes the Church’s premises in its logic with regards to birth control and abortion false, and therefor invalid.) A Church that denies agency to half the human race is a Church in deep denial and destined to fail.

Institutional sexism leads to the belief in hierarchy and other false metaphors and premises, like the Kingdom of God. Really? You’re sticking with that in the 21^st Century? If the Church is going to be relevant to a world that has moved towards a democratic republic governance model, then the Church needs to adopt the Republic of God, in which all have a right and responsibility to participate in the continuing creation of this ineffable marvel we call the Universe. And, following the principle of subsidiarity (central authorities should have a subsidiary function to local authority), parishioners, who are the local authorities -by right and responsibility- should choose who their leaders are.

Finally, the Church, whose adherence to the twin pathologies of Patriarchy and hierarchy has led to sins of hubris and violence towards the vulnerable, desperately needs to show some humility. May I suggest a few changes? First, lose the Abramic belief in a God who is so insecure that It demands to be worshiped. And how about a preamble to the Credo? “We are human and, therefore fallible and are incapable of knowing the mind of an ineffable God. Nonetheless, this is what we believe:”