New Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool Is Named, Victims Respond

SNAP
March 21, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/uk_new_catholic_archbishop_of_liverpool_is_named_victims_respond

We're somewhat optimistic that Bishop Malcolm McMahon will be a positive force of change for the Catholic Church.

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On the BBC’s Hard Talk programme, McMahon said the Vatican response to the sex abuse crisis had been “too defensive”.

He also showed courage by saying it was “a big mistake” for the Pope’s preacher, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, to compare the outcry over sex abuse with anti-Semitism.

He also admitted that the Church had been “wrong” in the 1922 document Crimen Sollicitationis (“Crime of Soliciting”) to say that allegations of sex abuse in the confessional should be kept out of the public domain.

It's important that we judge Catholic officials by their actions, not strictly by their words. But these comments lead us to believe that the Vatican could have made a worse choice for this important post than McMahon.