UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
Pope Francis cannot fix the Catholic Church unless he makes bishops accountable to civil laws for covering-up child abuse. He also cannot risk a confrontation over child protection with President Obama. They both care for the poor, but appear to value children differently. As a retired advisor to many major multinational organizations, I set out below how Francis can fix the Church and avoid the risk of a confrontation.
October 3, 2013 was a notable day for Catholics, especially in the USA. Four key events occurred :
(1) John Allen, a key and sympathetic Vatican journalist, issued a strong article entitled, ”Francis faces some big decisions on sex abuse”, accessible at: National Catholic Reporter.
(2) Pope Francis ended his first Council of Cardinals without addressing Catholic bishop accountability for covering-up priest child abuse, especially the case of convicted and still presiding Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. The bishop had failed to report a priest child pornographer who has just been sentenced to 50 years in jail following a Federal prosecution.
(3) President Obama volunteered in an airing of an earlier NBC-TV interview the statement that ” … I have been hughly impressed with the pope’s pronouncements.” After some hesitancy, Obama added, “Not because of any particular issue… “, whatever that means. Presumably, Obama knows Francis is polling well, especially among Latino voters.
(4) The priest brother of President Obama’s Chief of Staff was reported to have been involved in an alleged cover-up of another priest child pornographer. An official in the St. Paul Archdiocese (Minnesota USA), Msgr. Laird, resigned unexpectedly after allegations of a cover-up of a priest’s child pornography computer files. The report discloses some apparent involvement, with the earlier custody of the files, of Msgr. Laird’s long time predecessor, Fr. Kevin McDonough. Kevin is the older brother of President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough, reportedly a devout Catholic and devoted father. Judging by Kevin’s recent radio interview and Denis’ recent Newsweek interview, the brothers are very close.
The St. Paul Archdiocese criminal investigation is ongoing. A whistleblower, a former female diocesan Secretary, appears to have taken a different approach than Philly’s Cardinal Rigali’s imprisoned Secretary took, which likely has the Catholic hierarchy quite anxious.
Also, since child pornography cases often involve Federal prosecutors from President Obama’s Justice Department, a potential for a conflict of interest arises in the St. Paul Archdiocese case.
The implications of this case for President Obama’s relationship with Pope Francis are unclear at present. The President is a married father; Pope Francis is a childless celibate. Their approach to protecting children from institutional sexual abuse has differed, and will likely continue to differ, considerably. A confrontation appears in the present circumstances to be inevitable.
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