Book Review: Randy Engel's Rite of Sodomy

I have read the entire book. It is horribly flawed by typos and odd substitutions of words that give the impression much of it was done by dictation, such as "ensconced," when what is clearly meant is "absconded." Engel makes an astonishingly strong case that Pope Paul VI was an unchaste homosexual cleric from his youth until after his election as Pope. She follows it with some embarrassing and preposterous speculation about Pope Benedict XVI's sexuality, founded primarily on his taste in shoes and the good looks of his secretary.

The first half of the book is devoted to nailing down the case that the Catholic Church teaches that sodomy is a sin, a proposition whose verification hardly requires the exhaustive treatment Engel gives it. Considerable space is given to connecting the growing modern acceptance of sodomy with modern Statism, a connection that is valid, since it is in the interest of Statists to undermine the belief that matrimony has a foundation in human nature, but which, again, could be sustained quite well with greater economy.

The value of the book lies principally in the hard data Engel presents, showing that William Cardinal O'Connell and Francis Cardinal Spellman, both notoriously unchaste homosexual clerics, are the twin sources of a large contingent of unchaste homosexual bishops and priests still influential in the hierarchy in America. Dioceses headed by bishops with a direct genealogical connection to O'Connell and Spellman have a markedly worse record regarding clerical sex abuse of young men than other dioceses. Bishops who have been exposed and/or convicted as sex abusers themselves, not mere enablers, also appear to come, with greater than random frequency, from within this contingent with a direct genealogical connection with O'Connell and Spellman.

Aside from the sex scandals, which have involved a handful of cases of pedophilia, and hundreds of cases involving adolescent and young adult males, the descendants (through the rite of ordination) of O'Connell and Spellman have been disproportionately identified with a weak response to acceptance of abortion (beginning with Cardinal Cushing's blithe refusal to respond to the escalating scandal of the abortifacient research of Dr. John Rock, and continuing through episcopal promotion of the objectively harmful rhetoric of "the Seamless Garment," to the current general refusal of American bishops to obey Canon 915) and artificial birth control, with the result that millions of Catholic marriages have been as unchaste as thousands of Catholic clerics' careers.

This book's flaws will probably result in its consignment to a permanent ghetto of unprofessionalism, but it nevertheless contains a wealth of documented, highly consequential facts that no one else has assembled, and without which no one could possibly form a complete picture, or write a complete history, of the Catholic Church in America.

As a dedicated reader, reading both sides of every issue regardless of my personal position, it has been my experience that most books of this length say too little about too much. Most are full of generalizations and in defense of already proposed positions. Seldom are they intellectual, scholarly or in-depth examinations of ideas new or old. Though they may contain prolific notations and references, these sources, more often than not, have never been read in their entirety by the author and have, as the scriptures often have been, used out of context to support only one point of view without consideration being given to any possible valididity of opposing views. Not having read this book I cannot judge its merit but after reading its contents and reading some of the comments, I do not think I will be running out to purchase it.

It's too bad that at the end of this 1400 page diatribe Randy doesn't draw the correct conclusion, that an all male celibate clergy complete with unearned status and power is the perfect closet in a homophobic culture. Instead of declaring war on homosexuals she should be declaring war on the entire cult.

I also find it somewhat interesting that Damian is convinced the demon of sodomy is female. Seems kind of strange to me. Anyway Elaine, thanks for the info, I'd type more, but I have to self flagellate. You know, find everything I need by touching myself.

Randy Engel's perspectives on homosexuality have been displayed in a remarkable short "treatise" on St. Peter Damian (first published in Catholic Family News in 2002).

After conflating pederasty and perversion with ALL homosexual behaviors (dare I say 'inclinations') that cleverly exploits our collective rebuke against clergy who molest children for the sake of tarring homosexuals, she gets to her real point: Homosexuality as Perversion.

Here is an extract from this work (don't miss the self-explanatory quotes from the Blessed Peter Damian himself that are able to be both misogynist & homophobic all in one fell swoop):

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REMARKABLE INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURE OF HOMOSEXUALITY

In his description of the unnatural passions that rule over the sodomite, Damian reveals an extraordinary degree of perception regarding the narcissistic, promiscuous and compulsive psychosexual aspects of homosexual behavior.

"Tell us, you unmanly and effeminate man, what do you seek in another male that you do not find in yourself?" he asks. "What difference in sex, what varied features of the body?" he continues.

Then he explains the law of life. "For it is the function of the natural appetite that each should seek outside himself what he cannot find in his own capacity. Therefore, if the touch of masculine flesh delights you, lay your hands upon yourself and be assured that whatever you do not find in yourself, you seek in vain in the body of another," he concludes. [42]

THE PARTICULAR MALICE OF THE VICE OF SODOMY

A wise Dominican once told this writer, that once the vice of sodomy has contaminated a seminary, Church authorities have only two options - close the place down and send everyone home or do nothing and simply wait for the moral rot to spread until the foundation collapses on its own. Why is this particular vice so deadly to the religious life?

According to Damian, the vice of sodomy "surpasses the enormity of all others," because:

"Without fail, it brings death to the body and destruction to the soul. It pollutes the flesh, extinguishes the light of the mind, expels the Holy Spirit from the temple of the human heart, and gives entrance to the devil, the stimulator of lust. It leads to error, totally removes truth from the deluded mind ... It opens up hell and closes the gates of paradise ... It is this vice that violates temperance, slays modesty, strangles chastity, and slaughters virginity ... It defiles all things, sullies all things, pollutes all things ...

"This vice excludes a man from the assembled choir of the Church ... it separates the soul from God to associate it with demons. This utterly diseased queen of Sodom renders him who obeys the laws of her tyranny infamous to men and odious to GodÖ She strips her knights of the armor of virtue, exposing them to be pierced by the spears of every vice ... She humiliates her slave in the church and condemns him in court; she defiles him in secret and dishonors him in public; she gnaws at his conscience like a worm and consumes his flesh like fire. ... this unfortunate man (he) is deprived of all moral sense, his memory fails, and the mind's vision is darkened. Unmindful of God, he also forgets his own identity. This disease erodes the foundation of faith, saps the vitality of hope, dissolves the bond of love. It makes way with justice, demolishes fortitude, removes temperance, and blunts the edge of prudence. (emphasis added)

"Shall I say more?" [43]

No, dearest St. Peter Damian, I think not."
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Need I say more about Engels? No, dearest Randy, I think not.

The Rev. Dr. E. McCoy

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2Cor 5)