Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Resigns

[BoomBoomMancini]

A lot of this stuff happened under the reign of Pope JPII who is now not only deceased, but a saint, so we can’t really point fingers at him.

Ehh…sainthood doesn’t mean he didn’t screw up, though. I have a ton of respect for JPII but he didn’t exactly hit a home run as far as this goes.

 

[Dorothy]

I love what you wrote: “The Church is more powerful than sin.”

We all need to pray much and make sacrifices so the Lord can sanctify us more and more, so we can build up the Body of Christ, the Church!

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I completely agree with you. Saints aren’t perfect and I think St. Pope JPII had other priorities and let this slide. We heard about abusive priests here and abusive priests there all through the 1990s and the early 2000s. The Church should have been a lot more proactive on the issue because every time I picked up the newspaper, there was another one. Unfortunately I think the local bishops pass the buck a lot until somebody hits them in the pocketbook or the Pope puts the hammer down.

 

[Fauken]

I think some of the old rite books need dusting off.

HISTORY: The Rite of Degradation of a Bishop

Something has been nagging me from the back of my mind today. I finally, late in the evening just as I was about to turn in, dredged it up. One of my favorite Popes, Papa Lambertini, Pope Benedict XIV, was a great canonist and scholar. Among his many contributions, he established the process for

wdtprs.com

 

[womanatwell]

First comes prayer.

Lord, You know that many of us are truly saddened and distressed by the terrible revelations of the Catholic Church abuse crisis. We cry out to You for Your help. Though the bishops do many good things, a number of them seem to have lost their way in this world. I pray that they learn to follow You closely, Holy Spirit. Amen.

Unless people learn from the past, they repeat their mistakes. There are many things that upset me about this long-running situation, but first on the list is watching Catholic Bishops falter as a group at following God. This does not seem to be just individual sin but I have heard reputable sources, including EWTN, who said there were many who “knew” about McCarrick. And McCarrick was in charge of forming guidelines against abuse!

We went through this in Boston and as mentioned Los Angeles. People in Chile recently rioted because victims were not believed, which finally got the attention of the Pope. As most know, the whole country’s bishops offered their resignations.

Are we satisfied to go through it perhaps every year where bishops are not held accountable? I am not talking just of US bishops but all around the world. But if Bishops are unwilling to seek God’s guidance in this problem, who knows where else they are failing?

I’m sorry if this post seems melodramatic, but this McCarrick thing is the proverbial “last straw” for the laity. I do not have all the answers for what to do, but I believe clergy and laity must work together much more than in the past. There are many, many angry Catholics out there and that is something that cannot be swept away.

I know the Church is greater than sin, but we must continue to pray that sin not keep us from evangelizing what is good and true.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

this McCarrick thing is the proverbial “last straw” for the laity.

Speak for yourself. I am also “laity” and hearing yet another misdeed done 20, 30 or 40 years ago by some old geezer is just another day at the office for me at this point.

Their sins do not affect my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I do pray for the Church, for the victims, and for the perps, but what somebody was doing in 2000 is hardly relevant to my life in 2018. Nor am I going to lose a lot of sleep over someone who was already way past Pope voting age and has now been removed by the Pope and put into seclusion.

If there are others of his ilk in the Church, then I would hope that given the public repercussions and damage of this sort of thing, the Pope and the bishops go clean house as a matter of good risk management. So far, the signs I see like the business in Chile and the priest in the parish near me being put away for 20 years indicate to me that the Church is doing just that, cleaning house. Keep it up, I say.

 

[joeybaggz]

I’m sorry if this post seems melodramatic, but this McCarrick thing is the proverbial “last straw” for the laity.

Agreeing with TB above. McCarrick’s abuse occurred a couple decades ago, as is most of the revelations coming forth. The church is not beset by this problem in 2018, although I would think an isolated incident can always occur. Being Catholic right now is a little like being in the military on an “ordnance abeyance and removal team” Those are the specialists that go into former combat areas and remove unexploded bombs and such.
Not trying to sweep anything under the rug, but this is a problem of the church in the past. We should root it out, we should “hate” it, but it should not color the perception of the clergy and church leaders of today, who probably had nothing to do with this 20 to 40 years ago. The church has gone through this before, it will survive, and I for one will be there while it does.

 

[womanatwell]

I appreciate that I can have my say and I don’t plan to add to this thread after this post unless I perceive some glaring necessity. I just want to add a few comments.

I acknowledge that there was a group of persons who actually found McCarrick guilty, which is of course an important step and I hope this group and others like it will continue in their work. I am concerned, though, of the attitudes of both putting these sexual abuse and other sinful leadership situations entirely in the past and looking on just the good parts of the Church.

I was a meat inspector for several years and if I and other inspectors had worked on the premise of looking at meat plants and procedures in only what had happened in the past or only what was good about the plants, we would all have died of food poisoning by now. As we hear in the news, there are still cases of food poison outbreaks and we must continue to be vigilant and fight against dangerous contamination. Do we say it is OK for some people to be sick or even die because there are many food inspectors who do a good job? Do we say it is all right that people are put at risk because the old bad food inspectors are going to be dead soon? We need procedures in place where inspectors have to be accountable for what they do every day, and that goes up the line to the Secretary of Agriculture.

I am speaking for myself, @Tis_Bearself and many other Catholics. I should have put that for “many of” the laity it is the last straw but I suppose it was in the heat of the moment I shortened it and I am sorry if you felt I was putting words into some people’s mouths, including yours. I attempt to be specific when I write but am not always successful. But I speak for myself when I say I am distressed and frustrated by the continued revelation of attempted cover-ups of evil by leadership. To try to clarify further, I refer here not only to the abuse scandal but any possible cover-up. The fact that some priests are put in jail does not prove all is well.

Yes, @(name removed by moderator) there are many many good priests out there and I am sure bishops too. I acknowledge that wholeheartedly. Yes we continue in prayers but if the Lord is leading us, including laity, to ACT against evil, then we must try to act in EXACTLY THE WAY He is leading us.

 

[anon90438963]

I don’t know if anyone follows The Catholic Thing, but today’s column by Brad Miner is heartbreaking. As a new convert, he was propositioned for sex 3 times by priests in his first 6 months as a Catholic. I’ve read his work for some years and have no reason to doubt him. Just sickening.

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/

 

[halogirl]

That is horrifying!

 

[philipl]

He is also pure evil.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

As a new convert, he was propositioned for sex 3 times by priests in his first 6 months as a Catholic.

It sounds like from his post this happened in the 1970s, at least 40 years ago. It would be nice if people would put a date on these kinds of stories when they tell them so we don’t have to hunt through the article and try to guess.

If that’s the case, that it happened in the 1970s, then I am willing to bet many of those priests have already dropped out (or been put out) of the priesthood, and of those who might have stayed, a number have likely died or gone into retirement homes or nursing homes. I’m not sure how much “swamp” there is to drain 40 years after the fact. Now if some priest hit on Brad last week, or 5 years ago, then that needs to be addressed and I would hope Brad reported the priest to the bishop.

Anyone who grew up in the church in the 1970s was well aware that a lot of priests were not living up to their uniform so to speak, even before people started writing articles, film scripts and blogs about it. A lot of such priests were doing “unpriestly” things in the public eye. I know my mother and a lot of other older Catholic ladies weren’t stupid and they saw it and remarked on it over their coffee cups later.

 

[fide]

Cardinal McCarrick’s betrayal and injustice and sin is particularly egregious, and scandalous, given his (past) position in the Church. An encouraging letter from a current Bishop, concerning the deeply troubling news about the Cardinal, was just published and sent to his diocese, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany NY - link HERE. I strongly encourage all to read it! This man sounds like a true, faithful and good bishop - an honor among his brothers and sisters in the Church.

 

[fin]

Mentioning Farrell reminded me of an interview of Raymond Arroyo during the time when it was found true of Maciel’s abuses. According to Fr Jonathan Morris (who left the Legionaries and is now a priest in the Broanx and close to Cdl. Dolan) and former priest Thomas Williams (who later admitted he had an affair and a child after denying it) , they lived with Maciel in the Legionary center in Rome and had NO inkling of him being an abuser.

These guys were orthodox’ so I believed them at that time. Now, really they do not know? No wonder a lot of people dislike ‘celebrity’ priests. Enablers are everywhere.

 

[anon90438963]

I’m not sure how much “swamp” there is to drain 40 years after the fact.

Let us sincerely hope that things are better now, but frankly I doubt it. An entire generation, or two, has been affected by these egregious bishops and priests, and the culture of dysfunction has to change.
I was taught by a wary mother to be very careful around men in authority, including priests. I don’t know if she had any personal experience of misbehavior, but there was no “clericalism” in my family at all. This has served me well over the years.
I’ve been reading Rod Dreher’s many columns on this issue in The American Conservative. He’s done very good work exposing what he knew and what others tell him, but it is starting to seem obvious that he’s also trying to justify his jumping ship and leaving the Catholic Church. It would never even occur to me that the truth of the Church is affected by the evil of its members. I recall hearing years ago that because of Judas’ betrayal we can logically expect 1 in 12 priests to do the same. It is a broad analogy, of course, but it works for me.

 

[7_Sorrows]

How are we supposed to be bringing people into the Catholic church when we keep hearing stories like this?

I have only been Catholic for 10 years and I have no desire to be a Protestant.

The Catholic church is the only church for me.

 

[Limoncello4021]

Evangelizing is hard. However it is sometimes surprising that God has his ways of continuing to inspire people about the truth of his Church, despite the bad news. In my diocese, which has been very badly hit by clerical abuse scandals and bankruptcy, we had a record number of people entering the church this year. Of course, a lot of people leave or simply become increasingly lukewarm, too, and that’s tragic. But I believe God continues to invite people and ultimately some, if not many, are going to reject the invitation.

It helps me that I am a student of history. You think it is bad? It has been bad, very bad, before. It is all in Dante (and Catherine of Siena).

 

[margaret42]

Do you think the sexual predators first decided to become priests, or later became predators during the priesthood?

 

[fin]

Sexual predators in the first place, and infiltrated the priesthood.

 

[margaret42]

It makes me wonder why these people join the priesthood, having that problem