“Nothing in my own background or education equipped me to deal with this grave problem. In two years [1962—1964] spent in graduate school earning a Master’s Degree in Social Work, no textbook and no lecture ever referred to the sexual abuse of children.”
Cab drivers and construction workers have a better developed sense of human morality. Even way back it the 1980’s you could have asked any blue collar Joe or Jane and received a crystal clear course of action for men who rape and sodomize children.
Just imagine walking up to a union steel worker and asking the question “I have an employee that is raping little boys at work. What do you think I should do with him? Should I transfer him to New Mexico or should I have him assist people trying to get married a second time? Maybe he can lead Bible Studies or something? What do you think? I am also trying to keep him away from the law, because you know raping boys is illegal. I know he did it and if the D.A. gets wind of it, he will be arrested.” While the actual response my not be totally consistent with the Catechism, the general direction will be accurate, timely and cogent. It would not be:
“Sounds Good- Please Proceed. Thanks!”
This is all about Confession and the Forgiveness of Sin.
You know, Confession, Penance, Reconciliation – the Sacrament Christ established on Easter Sunday night? Yeah that one. It’s not just for 2nd graders, you know. It is my experience, both here and in Atlanta that most adults have visited this Sacrament maybe once every 10 years – or less. Confession is a major step in the solution to this scandal. Because we, the Church, the people of God, from the very top to the very bottom are yet to –
Examine – Confess – Absolve – Restore.
Until one fearlessly examines their actions and articulates their sins by kind and number, absolution is not possible. Now over a decade after the long Lent of 2002, this simple catechetical truth is once again proved in spades. We remain enmeshed in the sins of the father(s) because the Church is YET to examine herself fearlessly, articulate her sins by kind and number do penance and make restitution.
Open every file and auction off everything until the last kid is rehabilitated as best as possible. How long, Oh Lord, How Long!
Until we do this, “Document Dumps” and “File-gates” will continue FOR THE REST OF OUR AND OUR CHILDREN’S LIVES. The address will change but the content will not.
Examine – Confess – Absolve – Restore.
The famous “Dallas Charter” is a dismal failure because it offered a correction without identifying the root cause. The Bishops deliberately decided to not examine their own failures, their own biases and their own lack of fatherly concern for sodomized little boys – corrupted and spiritually distorted for life. Accordingly, the correction (if yo can call it that) was not implemented, understood and integrated.
Exhibit A is the sad story of Bishop Finn and the near (if not actual) destruction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Examine – Confess – Absolve – Restore.
If I told anyone that 10 years after “Dallas” that priestly pederasts and evidence of conspiracy to protect pederasts and evade justice would be found in the very handwriting of a sitting Cardinal, I would be painted a fool. Maybe now, with the installation of Bishops who are not party to the scandal(s) both known and unknown, can we muck out the Augean stable that the American Catholic Church has become. When will the stench of priestly sodomy and conspiracy to protect pederasts be great enough for action? Can it actually stink worse than it does now? There will be no absolution, no healing, no redemption until we from vertex to base –
Examine – Confess – Absolve – Restore.
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And, if I may say so, an excellent place to start an examination would be in the Rochester Diocese, of all records (of complaint as well as treatment), all settlements, all official statements, all announcements of transfers, AND all allocation of monies and decreed “gag orders.” I’m sure I’ll want to amend that statement for things I’ve forgotten at the moment, but it’s a start.
After all, before, during and after what we had thought was the worst of this period, we had the same bishop, and many of the same staffers. For 33 years, there was not the fresh look that Abp. Gomez has brought to L.A. And there has been no accounting to the faithful of the disposition of closed churches and schools. We have still never had a financial statement on the liquidation of DoR assets. As the popular saying goes: “Follow the money.”
A member of the Chancery said to me back in 2007 that we were “all done with” the sexual abuse issues, that the Church was “over it.” Either he was whistling in the cemetery or totally naive to how the people in the pew viewed the betrayal. And not just the people in the pew. Our country is suffering, our world is suffering, for the loss of what had been perceived as moral leadership.
There is another reason to re-open the files. Some of the older Catholics who took leadership roles in identifying parish problems, or responded the strongest when abuse was revealed, were in their 60’s and 70’s at the time — traditional, faithful Catholics who didn’t need a psychiatrist to tell them right from wrong. That generation is aging now into the 70’s and 80’s and beyond, and won’t always be here to recite their memories, to testify to what they know happened. The story needs to be captured now, by solid moral leaders who show the courage of an Abp. Gomez.
For the Rochester Diocese, one place to start would be the situation with Fr. Emo at St. Januarius, who is now defrocked, laicized and a registered sex offender. But how did he get to St. Jan’s and where did he go from there, before he was finally convicted? That is a story that should be re-investigated and answers given to those who claimed there were lies. Victims without the emotional ability and/or mental capacity to come forward with their accusations are still victims, nonetheless. The minutes of the meeting held by parishioners in August 2003 would be a good start. Even if the chancery says they don’t have the transcript any longer, many people in Naples do. Just sayin’….
Thought for Candlemas Day: “Light a Candle rather than curse this darkness.”
I was sadly not surprised by the cardinal’s reasoning, or lack thereof, for why he helped offending priests rather than their victims. It is nothing short of moral depravity. It illuminates, as Daniel notes, why this issue will continue to plague the Church for the foreseeable future. The self-deception on the cardinal’s part is a vivid lesson pointing to the need for frequent examination of conscience and confession.
Gretchen from SOP
Mr. Kane,
Excellent analysis and recommendations for the Church. I prayerfully second Diane’s recommendation. While pederasty is the most horrifying sin committed by certain priests, the most prevalent sin was the attempted homosexual seduction of adolescents and adult students in high school, college and seminary, and other men in parishes, etc. It should be recognized that priests who committed such horrible sins, especially when they misused their office of priesthood in their attempt to commit sodomy on unsuspecting students and parishioners, are no longer fit for the ministerial priesthood, and must be removed, laicized and punished according to the law.
There is an important lesson to be drawn from Archbishop Gomez’s rebuke of the Cardinal after the release of the documents. While the mendacity of the Cardinal’s retort is breathtaking to us, the “world” is snickering at the Archbishop: too little, too late… All current bishops and Apostolic Administrators should take the lesson: the time to act and act publicly is prior to the government releasing previously unreleased documents regarding priestly sexual misconduct. If there are offenders still on the street, and still in active ministry, get rid of them now.
This is the requirement of Jesus’s rebuke of the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: there is no time for any skepticism about the Lord’s call to holiness, the call is now. This is the requirement of 1 Cor 13 as well. To have charity is to forthrightly act on the truth of the situation. Any priest who has misused his holy priesthood to commit any sexual act on another person, must be removed.
It was great to see our good Apostolic Administrator marching with a large contingent from the Diocese of Syracuse at the March for Life in DC. We are certainly blessed!
Frankly I am confused as to the status of both
Mahoney and Curry. Are they on administrative
leave ordered to not celebrate sacraments publicly
or not?
The following is an excerpt from the LA Times
Friday:
“Cardinal Mahony, as Archbishop Emeritus, and Bishop Curry, as Auxiliary Bishop,
remain bishops in good standing in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, with full rights
to celebrate the Holy Sacraments of the Church and to minister to the faithful without restriction.”
Supposedly the above is what Gomez stated as an explanation to clarify
their status to the faithful of Los Angeles.
So if true, there is no real rebuke or reprimand.
Does anyone have any information that possibly
contradicts the above newspaper excerpt?
Dominic that statement was released by Office of Media Relations of the Archdiocese of LA
More information from Life Site News on Cardinal Mahony’s transgressions:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/liberal-cardinal-mahony-finally-disciplined-for-protecting-predator-priests?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=30b2bdea61-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_01_31_2013&utm_medium=email