From the Chicago Tribune:
Thousands of pages of secret church documents
released Tuesday as part of a court settlement provide an unprecedented
and gut-wrenching look at how the Archdiocese of Chicago for years
failed to protect children from abusive priests.
The documents provide new details and insights into how the nation's
third-largest archdiocese quietly shuttled accused priests from parish
to parish and failed to notify police of child abuse allegations. The
paper trail, going back decades, also portrays painfully slow progress
toward reform, accountability and openness.....
Read the documents; it is monstrous how two Cardinals knowingly and actively covered up, hid, moved, excused, misappropriated monies for these evil men, and assorted degenerated perverts and pedophiles..... Shocking. Pray for the victims of this horrendous abuse; may these churchmen seek forgiveness. May Cardinal George do the right thing and resign immediately.
Allow me to quote Barona...
ReplyDeleteI think the negative effects of the "traddies" on the body of the Church - given those who attend the Traditional Mass are less than 5% is very minimal.
The percentage of priests who engage in abuse is far less than that and no one in their right mind would claim that the effects are minimal. There is absolutely no excuse for not being completely open and honest about our failings right across the board. If you would not become one of "the people of the lie" then a dedication to the truth at all costs is necessary however painful that might be. Evil does not begin with monsters... it begins with good people trying to avoid a painful truth.
I wrote we are all susceptible to being neopelagians.... that is dedication to the truth.
ReplyDeleteNo one, in their right mind, can equate a few, cranky traditionalists to the incredible damage inflicted on the Church over the past few decades.
Yes, the small minority of cranky traditionalists can hardly be compared to - even a quantitatively equal number of rapists, paedophiles etc.
The truth demands this too!
However you justify it... this is still drawing attention away from ourselves by pointing at the greater sins of someone else. Sin begins with 'just a little bit', 'just this once', 'this isn't really hurting anyone', 'my sins are not as bad as theirs', 'it can't happen here', and so it grows. Playing with statistics to prove we're better than they are is just plain wrong. This is playground logic used by children to justify their misbehavior.
ReplyDeleteI am saying all are prone to the sin of neo-palagianism; we are all sinners. I am saying that - if we take the analogy of an ill man - a cold, though lamentable, is not as serious as leukemia. This is a general view: obviously, there are serious cases of localized "leukemia" in local churches, or local parishes. What I was addressing was a macro-vision.
ReplyDeleteYou also presume that I am one of "them", when I am not. As you know, I usually attend the novus ordo Mass in a language that is not English. That hardly places me in the camp of neo-palagian traditionalists. I have, if you go back through many of my posts and combox statements - many, many times used this phrase :"traditional Catholics, whatever that means; so-called traditional etc...." I have called out on a number of times - those who have sought sensationalism by promoting what they call a "Vatican II Moment". We have even spoken about these "moments" as being destructive and drawing out the worst in people. Thankfully, those same persons closed the combox, upon seeing the damage that was being created.
Nonetheless, cranky, eccentric, and sinful as all that is, it is not as sinful, destructive as undermining Eucharistic dogma, undermining unicity of the Church, undermining Catholic moral and social teaching, -- all, or most of this done officially, with either episcopal approval or malfeasance of office.
I have even written about "cassocks and pious sermons" of being of no effect as our young children go from bad to worse... - again, this is pointing out the deficiencies of those who believe they are "traditional" and rebuilding the Church.
I am calling for a true return to Catholicism; this means a radical departure from the trendiness of neo-modernism AND a radical departure from the 50s go along to get along "cassocks and pious sermons" mentality.
We have to start with a radical return to true community, as exemplified by the early Christian community under persecution. This means not just preaching mindlessly doctrine from the pulpit (with the kids sleeping, sniggering, mocking it in the pews next to "devout" bemused parents), but actually putting the preaching of doctrine into radical action. It means priests targeting parents who stray; but it means primarily priests providing radical support, encouragement, guidance for these confused parents. It also means - equally - a radical return to Catholic education. This means the bishop and priests getting involved in education!!!!!
What are we to make of the students and parents chasing out a devout nun because she upheld doctrine on sexual morality? This is madness; the loss of not only faith but common sense. But this is where we are at: no doctrine, no faith, no common sense. The Catholic community decimated. All the while: parents sleep, priest blissfully twiddle their thumbs while once young Catholic children set down the path of sexual depravity, perversion; rejecting - did they ever get anything in the first place?? - following so-called parochial education (from YES a neo-palagian school!!!)So yes, I have bloody well called out neo-palagianism masquerading as "devout" "traditional" Catholicism when I have seen that it is in fact doing the work of the devil! May St. Teresa of Avila return to Toronto and sweep these destroyers of our children out !!!!!!
I hope this provides some clarity.
Take a bow. I'm clapping.
ReplyDeleteBut whatever happened in Chicago, also happened big time in Seattle and Los Angeles. New Mexico is a tragedy because all the lose fish were let lose there, and many little boys had their faith destroyed, and their mothers are crying. There was some rehab facility in New Mexico and every diocese in the United States sent their sick priests there, but when they came out, their diocese didn't want them back. So New Mexico took them. New Mexico was a glorious Catholic culture. But now their mothers cry. ..God bless you. Susan Fox www.christsfaithfulwitness.com
P.S. I know the number of priests in this stuff was very small especially compared to public schools and coaches. But in some places the whole thing was just tolerated by people in authority and it was very open and visible to the laity. Some of the sources Barona is uncovering talk about how men self-identifying by their homosexuality held positions of power, and so if you complained your complaint was ignored. I had a pastor who told Lawrence and I that he had uncovered a priest molesting the altar boys, but when he told the man he would report him to the bishop, the priest just laughed in his face. And indeed it did no good.
"One" is too many.
ReplyDeleteSorry Freyr, you are wrong. There is no "look at that sinner" mentality here, it all needs to be outed!
Did you know that a former Dean of Studies at our own seminary is an avowed sodomite, oh sorry, gay person? Who let him into the priesthood? Don't tell me nobody suspected, he bragged in the Toronto Star about hanging out at the "St Charles!" and that was not Irish pub.
Every one of these devils needs to be outed!