BishopAccountability.org
	Another Take on the Catholic Church - Pope Should Apologize By Jack Crowe Wednesday Journal June 16, 2010 http://www.wednesdayjournalonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=17724 It looks like everyone at Wednesday Journal has thrown in their two cents on the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Weeks ago, John Hubbuch submitted his letter of resignation from the church to Cardinal George. [This lapsed Catholic is really ready to lapse, Viewpoints, April 14] Ken Trainor asked whether the church's celibacy rules, by creating an insulated clerical elite, compounded the crisis. [It's critical that Catholics find their voice, Viewpoints, April 28] He questioned the church's hostility toward gays and lesbians, which it deems "objectively disordered." He thinks the church should ordain women. Virginia Seuffert turned a flame thrower on Trainor, chastising his "obstinate ignorance" for failing to follow church rules. [Trainor's Catholic rant can't go unchecked, Viewpoints, May 19] Women priests? Not when Jesus only had buds for disciples - oh, except for Mary Magdalene. Condoms to prevent AIDS? Not when contraception is a sin. Don't like celibacy? Lump it. It's as if abiding by Pope Paul's Humanae Vitae would prevent abortion, divorce and psoriasis. Here's my take on this mess. The Holy Spirit made a big mistake picking Benedict as pope. If he was president, he would not be re-elected. If he was manager of the Cubs, he would be sacked. And that's not because Benedict comes from the far-right wing of the church. Sure Benedict insulted Islam by quoting those who thought it an "evil and inhuman" religion. Sure his chief homilist insulted Jews by comparing media treatment of the Vatican over the sexual abuse scandal to the Holocaust. Sure Benedict was quick to reunite with schismatic and wacko ultra-conservative priests, but forgot to check the Internet and see that their bishop is a Holocaust denier. Sure he investigates American nuns just because. But that's not what makes him really bad for the church. He needs to stop apologizing for all the other people who have failed to protect children from predatory priests and start apologizing for his own role. See Benedict, when he was director of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, sinned. It was a sin of omission. He is the guy who ran the office in Rome where bureaucrats fiddled - sometimes for years - while investigations to defrock pedophile priests sometimes languished. Naming Ratzinger Pope was like asking the CEO of BP to be the czar of world oil spill cleanups. We need a public apology from Benedict - call it a public confession. Not one that blames American or Irish or German bishops for failing to act. If I was his press secretary, I would have him make the following announcement: "When I was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, my office was responsible for laicizing priests who had sexually abused children. Some of those investigations took much too long to complete. As a result of this delay, additional children were sexually abused. I should have made sure that my office acted more promptly. For that, I am truly sorry." Simple and elegant, isn't it? To date, Benedict keeps calling for penance in the church to atone for the scandal. He's got it half right. I don't have to do penance for the church's mishandling of the abuse scandal. But he does.
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