Sheavian Wisdom: Thank God for the Hierarchy

Mark Shea writes:

...We complain, and rightly so, about the sheer folly of the episcopacy in handling the Scandal. And yet look at the astounding stupidity and crudity of the sort of people most eager to vote themelves into the papacy from among us laity. If the Combox Inquisition were allowed to run the Church for a single year it would be a smoking ruin. I’m no clericalist. But neither do I think that we laity should be too smug about our supposed Wisdom of the Common Man. It was the Common Man who shouted “Give us Barabbas!” and pressed down upon the Sacred Head a crown of thorns. Sure we can produce simple shepherds and the honest ordinary folk that Christ blessed. But we also produce brutes and stupid mobs who can leap from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify!” with scarcely a movement of the gray matter. Cdl. George needs prayers, not this kind of brain-dead Inquisition. ..

A point reinforced by the work of Rodney Stark. Excerpts from a review by Charles Colson:

...Feminists like Andrea Dworkin and Mary Daly claim that up to nine million European women were burned at the stake for witchcraft. And even non-feminist historians write about how the witch-hunts "consumed millions of innocents."

Historian Rodney Stark calls these claims "absurd" and "nonsense." In his new book, For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery, Stark estimates that the number was closer to 60,000. What's more, many of those killed -- perhaps a third of them -- were men.

And their accusers weren't fanatical clerics, seeking to suppress heresy. On the contrary, in Spain, home of the infamous Spanish Inquisition, there were far fewer trials for witchcraft than there were by secular officials in the rest of Europe. And those brought to trial were far less likely to be executed. In fact, the Spanish Inquisition sometimes brought charges against the accusers instead.

As Stark reports, this pattern was repeated throughout Europe. When church officials intervened in witchcraft trials, it was usually to protect the accused, not persecute them. The witch-hunts that we've read so much about overwhelmingly took place in isolated areas where church and government authority were weakest. This lack of authority enabled local officials and citizens to perpetrate injustice...