Lipton’s Journal/February 1, 1955/410

The strength of the Church. I wonder if it is not due to the fact that the Church above all institutions is ready to accept the hatred of its flock. Mother Church is a rock, it says, throw mud at us, hammer upon us, we remain unchanging. (What a lie about remaining unchanging.) After all, like all institutions whose nature is to deprive, the Church excites hatred in its Catholics beneath the level of their love. But it is not afraid of that hatred. And when we feel hatred toward anyone or anything, and can recognize no fear in the hated one, we feel impotent, powerless, enslaved. (Which parenthetically is the heart of the dependent relation of analysand to analyst, and is why certain analysands are forever abusing the analyst. If they can arouse a response from the analyst—which for my money would not be a bad thing at all—the analysand would not feel so helpless, so useless, so dependent.)

That is why the renegade Catholic can never shake off the hand of the Church—for although the Church hates back, it conceals its hatred by announcing and practicing its willingness to take back anyone, no matter what the crimes, or sacrileges, if they are only willing (just like an analyst). Indeed the Church is way ahead of Stalinism in this respect, although I ‘feel’ that Stalinism is beginning to borrow this technique. Perhaps with Tito it will. That is also why the Church catches so many homicidal psychopaths in their death cells—all of their life has been a preparation for this moment. In the ultimate sense, the Catholic who murders is the best Catholic material of them all. Which is why the Church has always had a soft spot for murderers.

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