I thought about taking the article apart piece by piece, but I am not sure that it is worth the effort.
He is extremely opinionated, and one needs to remember that an opinion and $1.65 is likely to get you somewhere on the Metro.
And maybe not that far.
1st paragraph: It may be that there are other issues which are larger than the sex abuse issue, but none of them are going to cost more in terms of dollars. And that alone could take up a whole post.
2nd pp: I am not sure who is proposing actually doing away with celibacy (a red herring in the issue at hand); certainly not Cardinal Schonborn (misquoted, likely on purpose). The issue of married clergy and celibacy is not the issue underneath the sexual abuse crisis, and in that he is right, but he presumes that those proposing the issue are secularists; a bit broad of a sweep.
3rd pp: Power? Yes, some want power over the Church. Some want some form of justice, and if you are in the pew having the pleasure of opening your wallet to provide about the only form of justice the civil courts know, you might be inclined to presume the word âjusticeâ and âpowerâ are synonymous. They are not, and if you have not walked a mile in the moccasins, be careful of standing in judgement. Further, the truth of the matter is that it was not until people started suing the Church for significant sums that the issue got addressed. Power? At least in some sense, properly applied. Otherwise, it simply would have stayed where it was, swept under the rug and everyone hoping no one would lift the rug to show what lay underneath.
4th pp: Doctrines? Does he have a clue of the differences between doctrins and morals? It would appear not. Which reduces his commentary much closer to vitriol.
5th pp: Neglected sacraments and devotional practices: I donât know what the Pope may have said. However, the abuse goes back before Vatican 2; so it beomes a moot point. When they were in full force, it did not stop the abuse.
6th pp: Maybe tens of thousands stayed in bed in Ireland. Research in America shows it didnât do much of even a ripple effect. And we have been deling with it far longer than the Irish, johnny come lately; in fact, since the 80âs.
7th pp: people hae been leaving the Church since its foundation, probably with much the same comment.
8th pp: Yep. He got something right.
9th pp: That is just silly. Many of the bishops on duty whent the abuses occured are dead or retired; in some circumstances we may be two or more bishops removed from the abuse. His ignorance of the issue, and his ignorance of who was and/or is responsible is appalling. Great bombast, minimal content.
10th pp: He appears to have not read anything John Pauf 2 or Benedict 16 has written about Vatican 2, nor seems able to distinguish between the documents and that which has nothing to do with the documents. And it is not hippies who need to be dealt with, but some of those who are âlight in their loafersâ and others who put perceived âscandal avoidedâ over justice and truth. And again, many of theose responsible are dead or otherwise gone. Some good bishops made appalingly bad decisions, often based on what experts told them could be done. When you donât know what to do and you seek out the best help available, it is hard to say you did not try to stop the problem. It may have been a gross error, but one made on the best information possible at the time. Not all bishops who dealt with the issue were guilty of malfeasance.
It is so easy to be bombastic and gain a following. It is actually much harder to deal with the issue in terms of real justice.