| BishopAccountability.org | ||
| Spin Shall Set You Free By Mark Shea Catholic and Enjoying It! November 2, 2011 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markshea/2011/11/spin-shall-set-you-free.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spin-shall-set-you-free In which Kevin O'Brien answers the not-altogether-accurate remarks of Bill Donohue as he springs to the defense of Bp. Finn. One of the diagnostic heuristics that I am beginning to employ out of habit is, "Is the person in question being reflexively and unthinkingly defended by a 'faithful conservative Catholic' and are those FCCs automatically and without the slightest movement of the gray matter declaring the critic an 'enemy of the Faith'?" It's not a slam dunk proof that there's a problem. But the almost infallible way in which FCCs have tended to back hugely problematic people (Maciel, Euteneuer, Corapi, Pavone), then had it all explode in their face, then go on to back yet another catastrophically disastrous folk hero and declare all critics to be conspirators against the Faith makes me suspect that FCCs really need to reexamine their spectacularly bad lack of discernment. The sheer lack of circumspection, the Charlie Brown to the football, moth to the flame, lack of reflection is breathtaking.Do I think Bp. Finn a bad man? No. By all accounts he appears to be very nice. But do I think him a competent bishop? No. I think that, as with John Paul II and Maciel, he couldn't bear to look when it was emphatically his duty to do so. To quote a reader (without the assumption of motive that my reader–I believe unjustly–insists on) the facts are clear: In December, hundreds of photos from Ratigan's laptop, largely with crotch interest only, were described to Finn who had agreed in a previous 10 million dollar court settlement against the diocese to report allegations immediately henceforth. He did not report his knowledge of hundreds of said photos in December but 5 months later in May. Two female diocesan managers urged calling the police in December. Hence the indictment. If you read the diocesan commissioned Graves report, you'll see that we are still sending fallen priests to psychiatrists who need a psychiatrist themselves….the one in this case said Ratigan was depressed and not a pedophile despite his seeing a CD of the photos. This time two clergy urged Finn to get a second opinion. He did not just as he did notThe buck stops with him. That's why we have bishops: to govern. He chose not to look when he should have looked–when he was urged to look. He chose not to act when he should have acted.My own guess is that it is probably his merciful heart and his reluctance to think ill of a spiritual son that betrayed him. But betray him it did. His first duty was to the children Ratigan exploited and abused. That this lesson is still so slow to penetrate the minds of some bishops after 10 years of concentrated education from consequences astonishes me. That "faithful conservative Catholics" still reflexively leap to the "it's a conspiracy by liberals to destroy one of our folk heros!" narrative without firing a single neuron is deeply depressing. |
||
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution. | ||