Catholic thinking and power killed woman in Ireland

The forces in Ireland who have blocked the right to have an abortion in Ireland are now scurrying to try and cover up their responsibility for the death of the young woman in Galway. It is not an attractive sight. Cowardice and hypocrisy are everywhere. What should we think about this?

On this blog we have explained that the Catholic church is the dominant church of capitalism. It was once the church of feudalism but it adjusted when capitalism became dominant. However it kept many of the most backward elements of its old traditions. Amongst these are its male dominated anti women policies. It believes that women are inferior to men. They cannot become popes, cardinals, bishops, priests. Part of this is that this male dominated hierarchy wants to control women and this includes women's bodies. And this includes telling them what they can do and cannot do about their reproductive rights.

In Ireland the capitalist class were and are weak. They have needed and depended on the Catholic church to support it. In return for this the Catholic church have managed to accrue enormous power in that society, running the schools and hospitals and intimidating the majority of the politicians. So laws remained in place which allowed the health system to continue to be ruled by the all male Catholic anti women hierarchy. This is why this poor women died in Galway.

Every politician that voted to keep these Catholic anti women laws in place which enforce women to do the bidding of the all male  Catholic hierarchy is a disgrace. They have blood on their hands. They should be drummed out of office. These laws have to be put off the books and these bishops put in their place.

But what about the membership of the Catholic church. We have said on this blog that we cannot understand how any progressive thinking person could belong to this church. We stand by this. We see the evidence of our position everywhere. The church's right wing policies on the world economy where it unconditionally supports capitalism, its position on women's rights, the degeneration of its internal life with its epidemic of sexual abuse, this is a rotten right wing corrupt organization. No progressive person should belong to it.

We understand that people have been in this organization their whole lives and their ancestors before them. We understand that the Catholic church has enormous power with its buildings, its full time apparatus, its art and music, and its insistence that only it can bring the child into the world and send the dying out of the world if they are to have a chance of not "going to hell." and "burning there forever."  However we stand firm. We do not think that any progressive thinking person should be in this extremely reactionary organization.

For those who cannot bring themselves to leave we have this to say. It is utterly unacceptable to stay in this organization without fighting within it for change. Such changes have to include equality of the sexes, the right to elect the full time apparatus, the right to full discussion and to speak out at all the gatherings of this organization.

Either leave it or change it. If neither of these options are taken then members of this organization are also responsible for the death of this poor woman in Galway and all the women who die in childbirth and due to lack of access to contraception and abortion.

Sean.