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	Things May Not Be So Bad after All By Father William Grimm Vox Bikol December 29, 2010 http://www.voxbikol.com/article/things-may-not-be-so-bad-after-all Each year, the pope gives Christmas greetings to the leaders of the Roman Curia. This year, referring to the expanding scandal of the sexual abuse of children by clergy that was covered up and facilitated by bishops and superiors and until recently pooh-poohed by Rome, Pope Benedict told them, “We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen.” My first thought on reading his speech was to wonder if the self-appointed defenders of the faith who man the ramparts at any criticism of the Church will now hurl invective at the pope. Certainly, saying that something has gone wrong “in our whole way of living the Christian life” is a damning indictment, especially since the pope said “our whole way,” not “their way” or “some people’s way” or “part of the way.” On second thought, I realized that things might not be as dire as the pope seems to think. His use of the past tense, though probably not significant in itself, may be a reminder that things can be headed in the right direction. There are three reasons for my confidence. The first, of course, is the resurrection of Christ, the proof that bad news will never triumph in the end, regardless of the painful way of the Cross we must travel. The second is related to recent history. Though the Vatican continues to say that priestly formation programs must be examined and strengthened, and episcopal visitations of seminaries have become the favored way of imitating effective action, the fact is that the modern training of priests and the men who have gone through that training are not a major problem and are more likely a solution. While there have been, of course, priests who were ordained since the 1970s who have abused, in fact studies show that post-Vatican II clergy are less likely to be abusers than their seniors have been. The majority of abusers and the bishops, superiors and curialists who put reputation ahead of children’s welfare were men who were trained before Vatican II. Apparently, something about the screening of candidates back then and the image of priesthood and Church that was taught to them underlie or are at least linked to the problem we face today. In that case, so long as we continue to choose and train our priests as we have been doing for four decades, the problem of sexual abuse by clergy and its cover-up will eventually become a matter of isolated cases. And with effective procedures in place to handle those cases the abuse, pain and scandal they cause will continue to decrease.
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