A defiant Pope Benedict XVI indicated yesterday that he would not be intimidated by the clerical sex abuse crisis now engulfing the Church and threatening to undermine his authority.
Speaking during Palm Sunday Mass, he said that faith in Christ “helps lead us towards courage which does not allow us to be intimidated by the chatter of dominant opinions”.
....
Father Lombardi said: “The recent media attacks have without doubt caused damage. But the authority of the Pope and the commitment of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith against sex abuse of minors will come out of this not weakened but strengthened.”
The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, defended the Pope, saying that he was at the forefront of efforts to tackle the problem of clerical sex abuse. The archbishop told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “The Pope will not resign. Frankly there is no strong reason for him to do so. In fact, it is the other way around. He is the one above all else in Rome that has tackled this thing head on.” (My emphasis)
The RCC tries the "putting facts on the ground" strategy. Just keep saying the words, and they will come to be true. The magic words will not work this time around. The pope and his close advisors are in denial about the damage to their moral authority, which is in shreds at the present time. New revelations of older abuse will probably continue to come to light. The pope's problems are not behind him, and he and his advisors will need to come out of denial if the church is to make a new beginning and the powers in the church restore to themselves any sort of credibility.
H/T to Mark Harris at Preludium for the link to the article in the Times.
As Molly Ivins said of Pat Buchanan's notorious 1992 Republican Convention speech, "it probably sounded better in the original German"
ReplyDeleteUnbelievably harmful to the witness of our Jesus, and him a Pope!
ReplyDelete"It probably sounded better in the original German"
ReplyDeleteActually, it was delivered in Italian. With a little more context, he said:
"Gesù cammina avanti a noi, e va verso l’alto. Egli ci conduce verso ciò che è grande, puro, ci conduce verso l’aria salubre delle altezze: verso la vita secondo verità; verso il coraggio che non si lascia intimidire dal chiacchiericcio delle opinioni dominanti; verso la pazienza che sopporta e sostiene l’altro. Egli conduce verso la disponibilità per i sofferenti, per gli abbandonati; verso la fedeltà che sta dalla parte dell’altro anche quando la situazione si rende difficile. Conduce verso la disponibilità a recare aiuto; verso la bontà che non si lascia disarmare neppure dall’ingratitudine. Egli ci conduce verso l’amore – ci conduce verso Dio."
My Italian isn't good enough to offer you a translation, but it's certainly good enough to see that this sermon had nothing to do with the context the papers have tried to cram it into.
I suppose if the reporters had been taking notes during the Confiteor their headline would have been, "Pope Confesses!"
Rick, whatever the pope said, he still thinks he's infallible, and he's still in denial. How would he begin to decide which cardinals and bishops to discipline, when a cover-up took place in his own diocese?
ReplyDeleteDid you see my post in which I suggested the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission? Other than that or the pope stepping down, I don't see a way out to reestablish moral authority in the RCC. And who would the next pope be? Is there a cardinal untouched by the cover-up? I don't know the answer to that question.
Attack the media, of course. That's the only defense left.
So, the days when priests could evade the law for just about any kind of banditry by reciting Psalm 51 before a judge are not over?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that if Rome was seriously contrite, and wanted truly to do right by the victims and their families, they would cooperate fully with civil authorities in the investigation of serious criminal matters no matter what. ALL records and archives would be made available to the authorities. ALL involved in the crimes and the cover-ups would face the Bench as well as The Lord, no matter what their rank.
This isn't some matter of embezzling diocesan funds. This is a very serious criminal matter, and the moral imperative to me is clear and simple. Crime is never an internal matter for any institution no matter how holy, but a matter for the police and the district attorney. Holy Mother Rome is as bound to answer a subpoena in a criminal investigation as is Bear Stearns.
As a gesture of good faith, they could start by putting Cardinal Law on a plane back to Boston to face the District Attorney and a grand jury.
"Rick, whatever the pope said, he still thinks he's infallible."
ReplyDeleteMimi, of course he thinks he's infallible, as do I, as do all Catholics who adhere to the teaching of the first and second Vatican councils. But, really, you know very well that "papal infallibility" has nothing to do with ordinary teaching, or with governance, or with personal papal morality, or with this issue at all.
"he's still in denial."
About what? You believe he thinks there's no problem? On what basis?
"Other than that or the pope stepping down, I don't see a way out to reestablish moral authority in the RCC."
Again, Mimi, you surely know that the moral authority of the Church doesn't rest on the moral purity or administrative competence of her clergy. We prefer it, of course, but if the ediface came tumbling down every time there was a wicked pope it would have been gone long ago.
You would neither profess the teachings of Trent and the Vatican councils if we had a string of angelic popes (unlikely), nor would you desert the Episcopal Church, I think, if it suffered some scandal among its higher clergy. What we believe doesn't turn on anything as insubstantial as the virtue of the priests.
"Attack the media, of course."
"Media" is a plural; there isn't just one. Much of the reporting has been absolutely essential. These kinds of things always resist being brought to light.
But, on the other hand, it's laughable when a passage like this is twisted into some sort of blast of defiance on an unrelated topic. I am old-fashoned enough to believe that the journalists really ought to try to understand and communicate what is being said, rather than looking for the most easily manipulable sound bite.
Oh dear.... sigh. It took the Romans some 400 years or so to get it right with regard to Galileo... who can believe that those now running the institution will do anything except hide from the truth and deny justice to those who have been most hurt....
ReplyDeleteI am not sure there is any credibility left.... the treatment of women as second-class citizens, the condemnation of LGBTQ persons as inherently disordered, the abuse of privilege and power incarnated in sexual abuse of women and children.... these things now come from the center of the church.
Yet, if the Roman Church fails, I believe that there is great potential that all denominations --perhaps all institutional religion will fail. Perhaps, after all, that won't be such a bad thing.
And I say that with great sadness....
Rick, have a good laugh then. Laugh it up. I assure you that I am not laughing. I speak out of grief. Most of my friends and family are Roman Catholic, and I grieve for them. I grieve for the church in which I spent so many years of my life. There is a good deal that I still love about the church. Could I go back? No. Do I ask you to leave? No.
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed Holy Week.
Yet, if the Roman Church fails, I believe that there is great potential that all denominations --perhaps all institutional religion will fail. Perhaps, after all, that won't be such a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteAnd I say that with great sadness....
Margaret, it is with great sadness that I say I think you may be right.
Please forgive an off-topic comment from one of your faithful readers.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Louisiana this week to see friends, and I was staying over the weekend in New Orleans. I went to Palm Sunday services at Saint Anna's church, mostly because it was the closest to where I was staying. It was a wonderful experience. It is an integrated parish with a large gay and lesbian membership, lots of kids, and a big outreach to the community. We had a procession up and down Esplanade behind a Dixieland band. It was the only time in the Episcopal church when I've heard "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" and "In the Sweet By and By." The Time-Picayune put a picture of it on the front page of the Metro edition, and should any of you happen to have a copy of it handy, my dear partner of 27 years is the one on the far left.
Alora, dov' è questa "disponibilità per i sofferenti"?
ReplyDeleteSo, where's the availability to those who suffer? In all this the primary thrust has been to protect the image of the church, not to protect the innocent. So one need not even take it out of context but simply see the contrast between the values being held up and the practice.
The only thing I see out of context is the journalistic implication (and the text is ambiguous, so it can be denied) that BXVI is using a papal plural when the text seems to be clearly a true plural about us all. Even so, the mere mention, at this point in time, of being intimidated by the chatter of dominant opinions seems to suggest, with not much indirection, the current issues.
I will grant that he seems always to have been disinterested in public opinion. If, however, he was ignorant of abuses under his cure that would constitute immense irresponsibility and is highly unlikely given his micro-managing style.
As for me and my house, we're sticking with the First Seven Ecumenical Councils.
John, we've already recycled our newspaper from yesterday. I'll try to find a copy of the picture. I've never been to St. Anna's, but I've heard good accounts of the parish. The Palm Sunday celebration sounds lovely. Enjoy your visit to Louisiana.
ReplyDeletePaul, I've heard you speak Italian with the proprietor of an Italian restaurant in New Orleans. Thank you for weighing in with your question, which even I, with my small knowledge of the Italian language, find easy to understand.
ReplyDeleteDid I ever tell you that I love you?
Goes to show, one more time, that about the only thing changed in Rome since Becket is the spin. Thanks for the spin update, Rick.
ReplyDelete"Actually, it was delivered in Italian." lol!
Hitchens has posted an excellent, strongly-worded take on this.
ReplyDeleteCounterlight, for the record, I agree with you entirely that these are matters for the criminal justice system.
ReplyDelete"they could start by putting Cardinal Law on a plane back to Boston to face the District Attorney and a grand jury." If I remember correctly, a grand jury was in fact empaneled, and Law was subpoened and testified. No indictments were returned, despite the efforts of the D.A. That struck me as something of a victory for the Constitution, and its solicitude for the rights of the accused.
There was also the case of Paul Shanley himself. Though no "innocent man" overall, I have long had doubts about the particular incidents for which he is now serving what amounts to a life sentence. To convict a man on no evidence other than uncorroborated memories "recovered" in therapy, for incidents so long in the past that an effective defense becomes impossible, bothers me to no end as an old civil libertarian (yes, I was once an active member of the ACLU). AFter all that publicity, did anyone else actually try to follow the trial, and see what evidence was, in fact, produced against him? It rather paled in comparison to that produced in the "satanic ritual abuse" cases.
Lapinbizarre, "spin update" completed. And, say what you want about the Bishop of Rome, please don't imply that there is anything inherenly sinister about the language of Goethe, Mann and Rilke.
Rick Allen, the "Original German" quote was in regards to Pat Buchanan who is not yet Pope. Though I suppose he meets the qualifications...
ReplyDeleteIn any event Benedict XVI can kiss my Royal Irish ...
I do have to admire his skill at recruiting for The Episcopal Church though. He's certainly filled the pews at St. Luke's with refugees from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Deception. He must have qualified for a toaster-oven by now.
I loves ya back, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteThose wary of venturing near the Hitchens piece on account of personal antipathies should not miss two items he links. These concern the late Archbishop Carraro of Verona and the American Jesuit Donald McGuire, sometime confessor to Mother Teresa.
ReplyDeleteIf Benedict ever gets around to some real deal mea culpa's he can start with a thorough public apology to this priest, and a restoration of all Fr. Tom's faculties to serve as a priest:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.twincities.com/ci_14767408
It's utterly shameless how he was treated by the hierarchy for his advocacy of abuse victims. Fr. Tom would make a darn good reforming Bishop, imho. And yes, I've met the man, he's the "real deal".
John
There was no issue of possible translation error on Sunday at St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC when Archbishop Dolan compared the "persecution" of poor Pope Ben to Jesus's sufferings.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stomsch-turning during Holy Week, but the bishops apparently have their marching orders.
As far as I'm concerned, the Roman hierarchy deserves all the opprobrium it is getting.
ReplyDeleteEspecially with so many cases coming to light where the church clearly put its own interests ahead of the interests of children. The case in Wisconsin is the most appalling so far.
I can't imagine anything like this being tolerated for so long in any other institution except maybe the mafia.
The Episcopal Church is hardly free of corruption. However, our polity of elected bishops, open budgets, and clerical accountability seems to prevent some of these darker and more occult forms of corruption. Our scandals are usually more run-of-the-mill embezzlement and adultery.
I'm not sure, but I would imagine the more authoritarian evangelical congregations under charismatic pastors have similar problems. Institutional secrecy and opacity create golden opportunities for secret criminality to flourish.
Lapin and John, thanks for the links. I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the good information that comes my way.
ReplyDeleteC.W.S., the pope is not persecuted. While he is not personally responsible for all the child abuse and cover-up, the buck stops with him. What will he do to remedy the situation?
Institutional secrecy and opacity create golden opportunities for secret criminality to flourish.
Counterlight, exactly. And yes.
...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
It's the scale of the corruption in the RCC and the refusal to take full responsibility. If you read John Illif's link on Fr Tom Doyle, you will see that a simple apology to those who suffered abuse will go a long way. In personal interviews, when Fr Doyle said to the victims that he was sorry for what the church had done to them, some cried and told him that he was the first person in the church to ever say the words.
Lapin, I finally got around to reading Hitchens' article. It bites, doesn't it? The more excuses that the underlings make for the pope, the deeper they dig his hole.
ReplyDeletePersonal antipathy doesn't keep me from reading Hitchens. My antipathy is not personal anyway. It's about a smart man's support for a stupid war.
John Iliff, I read the article that you linked to on Fr Tom Doyle. I may do a post on him if I have time.
ReplyDeleteMy problem with Hitchens is also his unaccountable, in terms of his earlier writings, support of the Iraq intervention.
ReplyDelete