BishopAccountability.org
	Catholic Church Is the Shepherd, Not the Wolf By Jerry Stremel The Coloradoan [Colorado] June 14, 2006 http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/OPINION04/606140307/1014 "Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more." - King Henry V, William Shakespeare In a previous article, I built a wall of evidence about the sexual abuse in Colorado schools. This evidence was founded solidly on the research commissioned by Congress. A columnist for the Fort Collins Coloradoan has tried to tear down this wall by vehemently attacking the Colorado Catholic community and its pastoral leadership. The hostile title of her article was "Church employs wanton deflection, holy shams." Why such attacks? I think it is the result of a secularist attitude infecting society. Professor Patrick J. Schlitz, St. Thomas More chair in law at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis, Minn., has observed: "It is like warfare .... Phase one was for plaintiff lawyers to maximize bad publicity and destroy the church's credibility. Phase two is to use that publicity to push for legislative changes. Phase three is to collect ... " For the sake of discussion, suppose the Colorado dioceses would declare bankruptcy and have their assets seized to pay sexual abuse claims. Churches and schools would be closed (a cruel blow to innocent Catholics). Social services and other charitable works would cease. The state would have to take up the slack for school systems and social services already under financial stress. Who would pay for these new expensive programs? You guessed it. You and every other Colorado taxpayer. Lawyers have spoken. Jeffrey Anderson, a St. Paul Minn., attorney, who specializes in suing Catholic communities, said in 2003, "We got a new law passed in California that opens up the statute of limitations for all victims of sexual abuse. It's something we've been trying to do for years. And I am not waiting for it to click in. I am suing the (expletive) out of (the Catholic Church) everywhere ... " Moreover, lawyers associated with Anderson helped to draft the infamous Colorado Senate Bill 143. The idea of a sinister conspiracy, hatched by the Colorado Catholic bishops in a dark backroom, to sidetrack the church's responsibility in the sexual abuse controversy is the product of an overworked imagination. It is a fantasy suitable for people who take the fictional book "The DaVinci Code" seriously. A bishop lovingly cares for his flock, feeds them, binds up any wounds, protects them against wolves, etc. If need be, he will lay down his life for the sheep. To minister to his flock, the bishop needs churches, schools, hospitals, food banks, homeless shelters and whatever else it takes. He will protect the institutions which help him to serve his flock. In his responsibility as shepherd, Archbishop Charles Chaput is an aggressive leader in his protest about bad policy and bad law. Other bishops have refrained from making comparisons to abuse in public schools. In a newspaper interview, Archbishop Chaput said, "Nobody in the church wanted to highlight it out of a misguided sense of propriety. This is a mistake." Archbishop Chaput has stated that the Catholic community understands the suffering of sexual abuse victims and wants to heal them. It sincerely desires to have claims mediated in a fair and sensitive manner that genuinely assists them. It is likely that next year another version of malicious legislation will be revived. It will be a time for exposing who are the sheep, the wolves and other ravenous creatures (some even reputed to be Catholics). Without question, the diligent shepherd will care for and protect all the sheep, no matter what it takes. Jerry Stremel lives in Fort Collins.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.