One of my favorite philosophers breaks down the function of religion by breaking it up into three different parts:(1) it provides social cohesion to help maintain social solidarity through shared rituals and beliefs, (2) use social control to enforce religious-based morals and norms to help maintain conformity and control in society and (3) it offers meaning and purpose to answer any existential questions. It’s important to remember this explanation of the function religion plays in our society and to especially focus on the words used over and over again in the definition: Social control, conformity, provides meaning.
This was by one of the hardest documentary series to watch since Netflix released Making a Murderer last Christmas. Fittingly, The Keepers come from the same makers of Making a Murderer and this time they take their viewers on an adventure that absolutely exposes the injustices of the Catholic church. Assuming you’ve finished the series, I want to discuss how the Catholic church has a systemic issue their hands and not “a few bad eggs” issue here.
The series does a tremendous job linking the abduction and murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik to the sexually abusing acts committed by Father Maskell who served as the counselor at Keough Catholic School in Baltimore. Not only that, but the show shows the psychology behind victims of rape and how the mind decides to protect itself from these horrific acts. But the mind isn’t the only factor helping suppress these acts in which the girls decided to keep quiet for nearly forty years. Social factors played a significant role was well.
So I say the Catholic Church has a systemic problem on their hands and that means that this issue starts with how the Catholic church is constructed. It’s a hierarchy, which means that politics is heavily involved inside the Church because priests, sisters, and even clergy are constantly trying to outrank their peers because the higher the rank, the more revered you are as a man. It’s a sickening system where priests are able go through life in a higher social class than us mere mortals because they wear a special collar. They give a fantastic example of the types of issues this system can create when one of the Priests was very close to being ordained a Cardinal and receiving his red hat. This Priest did everything he could to keep Maskell’s doings under wraps because it would jeopardize his promotion. The concept angers me now but as a kid who went through Catholic school, I completely understand why no questions were asked while these events were going on. Conformity was a way of life! With the message, just fit in constantly being burned into your brain.
The system is a perfect storm where rapists dressed as priests, use their social control to get away with such horrendous acts. The Catholic Church clergy, completely dominated by white middle to upper class citizens, are a group who pride themselves on the conforming and fitting into a group which socially controls not just the church but the U.S. as a whole. A bubble where there’s little difference between how the families are raised, their income, and there’s a sense of assimilation which becomes a religion in itself. Durkheim’s definition of the function of religion comes into play here. He says that it uses social control to enforce religious beliefs and rituals upon it’s members and that explains why these poor ladies kept quiet for so long. How is a teenager suppose to know what Father Maskell is doing to them has no merit to religion because he did in the name of his God. The same God that gives these teenage girls meaning and purpose to life! The amount of anger that swelled up inside me while watching this series was overwhelming and it made me sick.
Who’s to say this isn’t going to happen again? It most definitely is not the archdioceses or whatever they call themselves because as the documentary shows, they take it upon themselves to sweep these incidents under a rug and hope nobody peaks under it. All to maintain an IMAGE! It’s systemic!! The Catholic Church has created a system in which Priests are given the power and the benefit of the doubt in cases like these and that cannot reassure parents of young kids. If the Church truly cared about these rape victims, they would change their hierarchy. Basically, who’s going to stop these acts from continuing to happen if their own system has done nothing but apologize for what happened yet done nothing to fix it.
Quick rant time- why does a church have a hierarchy system in which priests and clergy members can rank above one another? Do people not realize that those positions and systems were created for please the egos of humans and not designed to please any god? If you idolize a priest, what makes him closer to god? Is he closer to god than a normal clergy member? And if so, HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Is conforming and keeping your image really more important than asking yourself these questions? Rant over.
What I saw in this documentary was sickening and it was a fearless effort to expose a powerful denomination in this country. We haven’t seen an attack like that on the Catholic Church since the Academy Award winning film Spotlight which was only 2 years ago!! How many hits is this church willing to take before they realized that their precious image is being tarnished. Director Ryan White did a fantastic job at giving proper respect to the victims while they told their horrendous stories, stories in which the Catholic Church was so intent on covering up. My heart goes out to these victims and I can’t imagine the frustration and heartbreak they must have felt when the church, this great thing which is suppose to support and provide meaning to your life, suddenly turns their back on you because you’re a potential threat to their image.
Last but not least, the documentary showed a hearing in which a bill was trying to be passed to extend the statute of limitations and those who showed up to oppose the passing of the bill were both representatives of the Catholic Church! They took this bill proposal so personally because imagine the turmoil and news stories when victims finally muster up the insurmountable courage to speak up and speak out against a system which raised them. The quick response to this bill by the Catholic Church shouts a defensive stance on this topic. The bill had absolutely nothing to do with the Catholic Church and you have to ask yourself, why would the Catholic Church be so hell bent on shooting down a bill which extends the statute of limitations? It makes you question how many other cases have they kept hidden? And if the statue of limitations was extended, how many of their priests would be spending the rest of their lives in prison? Can’t continue to run a business when all your employees are in jail.
UGH! I could go on and on but I want to end with this. I was raised Catholic, as a young kid and teenager, I didn’t ask questions that I now look back on realize I should have asked. Many friends and family of mine still consider themselves Catholic and I don’t mean hurt your feelings but you’re financially supporting a system which has been caught time and time again trying to cover up sexual molestation and rape cases and I don’t understand how you can continue to support that type of system. I mean I do, as a white middle class family, your family image > the victims of system you support. Makes sense. But you can find meaning and purpose in so many aspects in life and that’s what makes it so beautiful! If you do have a love for the Catholic Church, then actively try to fix this issue because nobody else is. But also good luck trying to have an effect because you’re apart of a religious hierarchy that prides itself in suppression in order to save face.
I won’t apologize if I offended you. I hope you understand where my anger is coming from after hearing the awful stories of the victims in this documentary.
The Pretentious Prophet 
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