It is Interesting to note that other religions are not held to this standard and have no gov’t intervention. So now, the some has become the all. To be sure:There appear to be two or three different sets of standards in the Catholic Church in America for Catholic clergy that misbehave sexually. Priests are sent to either Saint Luke’s in DC or Downingtown, PA or other psychiatric institutions. Typically the time is 6 months to a year; or they are thrown in jail- or both. In either case, innocent or guilty, their faculties are suspended and they can no longer practice as priests if the situation involves children- In a few cases I know two career chaplains in the US Army were cleared of any civil or criminal wrongdoing by the courts once they retired. But when they went back to their endorsing dioceses (where they were ordained) they were no longer allowed to practice as priests. If the situation involves consenting adults in the US, faculties are still suspended and the priest goes to a psychological care facility for a minimum of 6 months.
Bishops on the other hand can use the financial resources of their dioceses to fight cases (Hubbard, Mccarrick, Marino) just to name a few (laicized Chilean bishops aside). Marino went to Servants of the Paraclete for “a life of prayer and penance” and later became a counselor at a similar facility- St. Vincent’s in NY until he died. Though in a different category, Bishop Anthony Acerra of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (who was a retired Colonel in the Air Force) died leaving everything to his wife and nine year old son…….to this day the Archdiocese only acknowledges this in whispers.
Cardinals have no immediate supervisors in the states or elsewhere unless they are in Italy, or unless the local bishop can act. Two out of four that had problems- Keith O’Brien and Bernard Law were dealt with differently. O’Brien excused himself from the recent conclave and retired in obscurity without ever facing civil or criminal charges for what he did and lived a so-called “life of prayer and penance” being waited on hand and foot until he died. Law fled the US at night after hiding in the Mercy Sisters Convent in Clinton Maryland for a bit, got a prestigious job in the Vatican, did JP II’s funeral and never faced justice for knowingly transferring pedophiles in the Archdiocese of Boston- the files of which he took to the Vatican. Cardinal Mahoney was removed from public ministry for covering up pedophile priests, but barring his death or hitting 80, will elect the next Pope- let me guess “seclusion, penance, and prayer…?” Mccarrick is still in the states and is now in OK, has waited for press to die down and now merely lives in obscurity until his eventual death (more “prayer, penance, and seclusion”). He is too old to vote in a conclave, so his resignation from the College of Cardinals is meaningless. In light of Vigano’s scathing letter of resignation, laicization of some Cardinals would be a good shot across the bow, but will not happen.
Seminary formation has to deal with its hetero, homo, and “ambigusexual” issues rather than teach that sexuality can be prayed away.
