That lingering sex abuse crisis
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
By Bryan Cones
Comments (4)
Prsident of the U.S. bishops' conference Cardinal Francis George expressed a desire to be moving away from the sex abuse crisis in his opening address to the bishops at their November meeting:
There are some who would like to trap the Church in historical events of ages long past and there are others who would keep the bishops permanently imprisoned in the clerical sexual abuse scandal of recent years. The proper response to a crisis of governance, however, is not no governance but effective governance. Loss of trust, we know, weakens relationships and will continue to affect our ministry, even though clerical ranks have been purged of priests and bishops known to have abused children and the entire Church has taken unprecedented means to protect children and to reach out to victims. In any case, the sinfulness of Churchmen can not be allowed to discredit the truth of Catholic teaching or to destroy the relationships that create ecclesial communion.
Whatever the Cardinal's hope, however, the sex abuse crisis continues to undermine the credibility of the bishops. Consider the criticism of Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, currently involved in a dispute with Rep. Patrick Kennedy over the Congressman's support of abortion and being Catholic. The issue came up in a debate for the open Massachusetts Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, as reported by the Boston Globe:
“It seems to me a little bit ironic that a church that was willing to overlook the victimization of many, many children over several years is now turning around and saying to people who are good Christians, good Catholics, that, ‘You can’t join this,’ ’’ Attorney General Martha Coakley, who is Catholic, said during a campaign forum broadcast last night.
Said her rival, US Representative Michael E. Capuano: “And they wonder why people stop going to church.’’ Capuano, who is Catholic, then ticked off issues on which he disagreed with the church, including abortion rights, same-sex marriage, and prohibitions against the ordination of women and married men as priests.
I'm beginnng to wonder if, now that some bishops seem willing to openly take on particular politicians, some politicians might feel free to go public right back. I'm not sure this is a good turn of events, but if they keep heading in this direction, the bishops can expect to have clergy sex abuse thrown in their face over and over again.
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Lack of Contrition
By Becky (not verified) on Tuesday, December 1, 2009The sex abuse scandal isn't going to be behind the bishops for some time, regardless of what they do, but it will only continue to diminish their credibility if they keep up with the "Stop attacking the Church! We've fixed it, leave us alone!" rhetoric. They need to be saying "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa," and acting penitent precisely to demonstrate that they accept their responsibility for this grave failure of leadership, and that they are sorry. Right now they aren't acting like they are sorry for what was done, but instead like they are sorry for being sued and having this publicized.
Despicable Acts
By Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, January 5, 2010How can you forgive priests who performed despicable acts against defenseless children? What about senior clergy who covered this up? This is all documented and it makes me sick to the stomach!
How can so called Christians try to ignore this or simply want it to go away? Its depraved and disgusting behavior and it happened in our church. Who can defend or rationalize this?
The Bishops and the Sex Abuse Crisis
By Kayrene Anderson (not verified) on Sunday, November 29, 2009Bishops will have to deal with the sex abuse crisis for many, many years because they have not dealt with it honestly.
Cardinal George is a perfect example. He ignored his own lay commision who warned him about Fr. McCormack. He ignored them. Then the good priest abused others. Cardinal George had a press conference and said, and I quote: "I take full responsibility for this." That's it. No penalty.
No loss of stature. Not even a heartfelt apology.
I read an editorial recently that suggested a year of penance for all bishops in the US. No scarlet clothing or robes, only black suits and simple crosses. Surely not all bishops are guilty but in a show of corporate penitence, this would be a good start.
Otherwise I think bishops should expect to hear from the laity. I talked to a bishop not long ago whom I had written about a diocese issue. He commented that some years ago, he didn't get letters like mine. I told him that I thought that times have changed and people now speak up.
There has been very little resolution of the sex abuse crisis that was done willingly and honestly. With this in mind, I find it ironic that a clergy person, who doesn't have to worry about a roof over his head, health care, retirement or even job performance, can rail about politicians who don't want to criminalize abortion..
This goes for the pope too.
Abuse in Ireland
By Megan Sweas on Monday, November 30, 2009The commission into the abuse cover-up in Ireland is calling for much more than a year of penance. It's calling for resignations of those who are guilty of covering up abuse: http://www.uscatholic.org/news/2009/11/report-clergy-abuse-dublin-church-leads-calls-more-action.
I found it interesting that there too advocates aren't happy with the bishops' response. From one: "They are very articulate when it comes to apologizing for what other people did, namely pedophile priests. What they did themselves, they are not owning that."
I agree that nobody is going to put this behind the church anytime soon, either here or abroad.
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