I am sure all Catholics are thinking about this crisis. McCarrick, the Pennsylvania AG report. Silence from the USCCB and from Rome. Several thoughts, starting with defensive ones.
First, the enemies of the church are having a good time. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Grand Jury project once again displays the sins of the church’s recent past, but says nothing about the present or future. The report rehashes what has already come out in many (most? all?) dioceses’ victim settlements, including that of my own diocese in Helena, Montana. The PA AG made a big deal about the scandal he has uncovered; it should help his reelection. The NPR commentator/expert today was asked “Are these abuses continuing today?”, and he answered “The Grand Jury would probably say yes.” Without any evidence. That is the anti-Catholic sentiment we are up against.
But the Church has created this problem, and we cannot complain too much when our enemies use it to attack us.
Many of the faithful bemoan the “abuse crisis”. But, as many have noted, we are dealing with a sexual crisis, not just an abuse crisis. The general absence of new cases charging current-day abuse of altar boys/girls or catechumens is noteworthy; in the present environment, they would be all over the news.
The current focus of the ongoing crisis appears to consist of two active scourges: homosexual molestation of male seminarians by senior clergy, and continuing cover-up of such molestations (an echo of the past cover-ups). This crisis is summed up in the scandal of Cardinal McCarrick, and of the higher clergy’s apparent ignoring of this detestable “open secret”. While sexual abuse of minors is obviously criminal, sexual molestation of adults who employ them or are otherwise in authority is a grey area in criminal law (remember Clinton/Lewinsky?). But it is clearly a mortal sin. Continue reading
O Ben Finiti 