Posted on 04/16/2002 8:54:13 AM PDT by history_matters
Eight American cardinals, some of them under siege in the wake of the spiraling sexual abuse scandal, have been ordered to an extraordinary meeting with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican next week to discuss the exploding tempest.
``I can't think of anything exactly like it,'' said Avery Cardinal Dulles, a theologian at Fordham University in New York and one of the foremost authorities on Catholic church history. ``I don't remember any case where he's called the cardinals and bishops together (but) prompt action is needed at the present time to restore public confidence.''
Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer representing victims of convicted former priest John Geoghan and other alleged clergy offenders, said the session shows how ``widespread'' the problem is in the United States. He said the meeting has also been encouraging for some victims.
``The recognition by the pope of sexual abuse by priests helps relieve some individuals of guilt and at the same time restores some dignity,'' he said.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he and other victims were ``encouraged'' by the meeting but he was pessimistic that anything could come from it.
``We are encouraged that the Vatican is taking greater interest in this horrific problem,'' he said in a statement. ``It is hard to be hopeful about the meeting's outcome, however, since these same men are the ones who largely got us into this terrible situation.''
The meeting, with clerical sexual misconduct as the sole agenda item, will take place next Tuesday and Wednesday between the pope, Vatican officials and the eight U.S. archbishops, including Bernard Cardinal Law.
In addition to Law, the meeting will include Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, William Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore, Adam Cardinal Maida of Detroit, Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. of Chicago, Edward Cardinal Egan of New York and Theodore Cardinal McCarrick of Washington, D.C.
The top two officials from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - Bishop Wilton Gregory, the president, and Bishop William Skylstad, the vice president - also will attend, conference spokeswoman Sister Mary Ann Walsh said.
Maida said in a statement that convening the princes of the church will be beneficial to the reeling hierarchy as the list of allegations and victims grows at a mind-numbing pace.
``Bringing together this level of Church leadership in Rome on this most serious issue is the right move at the right time,'' said Maida. ``So much is happening so fast in various dioceses around the United States and elsewhere, that I welcome this opportunity to be able to reflect and react in this collegial setting.''
The crisis has grown exponentially since the beginning of the year as new revelations pour out. In Boston, Law has gone into seclusion after announcing he was remaining as archbishop despite a thickening body of evidence that he shuffled several admitted pedophile priests around and gave letters commending them for their service to the archdiocese.
Egan is also facing a storm of criticism for his handling of accused clerics while he was archbishop in Connecticut, including an allegation that he covered up for a priest who fathered a child by a 14-year-old girl. Mahony is also coming under fire for similar allegations of covering up accusations against sexually abusive priests while he was in Stockton, Calif.
Sources told the Herald last week that Law, the most senior prelate in the United States, offered his resignation to the pope but was rebuffed because his ouster could lead to a domino effect that would force out others.
Stephen J. Pope, chairman of the theology department at Boston College, said the meeting is historical in its short notice and single agenda. In 1989, American bishops were summoned for a meeting on teachings contrary to church views and bishops from Holland were called to the carpet in 1981 for a similar incident.
Pope speculated the meeting could be about ``personnel issues'' such as Law's resignation and what it means for the Catholic church in the United States. He said normally cardinal conclaves have months of lead time for preparation and reflection.
Dulles is one of five American cardinals who were not invited, but he said the focus of the meeting is for those cardinals who actively oversee archdioceses to hammer out a uniform response to the widening scandal.
``American bishops want a little more ability to deal with the question than canon law gives them at this time,'' Dulles told the Herald in a telephone interview yesterday.
Dulles, who was elevated to cardinal last year and shares many of the pope's conservative philosophies on church teachings, said the scandal is an American media creation that does not rise to the level of historical church crises such as the Gregorian revolution in the 12th century or the Protestant reformation of the 16th century.
``I don't think this is anything of comparable proportions,'' he said. ``I don't think there's any great crisis in the U.S . . . It's really practically no news. To the extent it's a crisis, it's created by the news media. I suppose every individual case is terrible but it is not something peculiar to the Catholic church.''
BC's Pope called Dulles' observation ``stunning'' and said it could reflect John Paul's feelings, given the two share similar views.
``That is profoundly out of touch with what ordinary Catholics are thinking,'' said Pope. ``There's a very deep emotional level of anger and depression. If that's the way the Vatican is thinking, there's a very big problem.''
It strikes me that you are not particularly well informed about mainstream Protestantism. Which churches are you including?
Clearly, the earlier rules regarding bishops point to a republic-style election rather than 50.1% democratic election.
For what it's worth, he is supposed to have the inside track on getting Archbishop Rembert Weakland's job in Milwaukee. How....appropriate.
I also agree. Dulles is either out of touch with what's really going on, or he's in denial.
He said,
I suppose every individual case is terrible...
I SUPPOSE???!!!! I KNOW is more like it. Nothing like making lite of the problem.
...but it is not something peculiar to the Catholic church.
So What! It shouldn't be happening in the Church, especially to the degree that it is.
It is time to clean house of the actively homosexual clergy...and there's a bunch of them.
The major problem, IMO, is that bishops are not accountable to anybody but Rome. They also, in many cases, had DAs and prosecutors in their pockets and were able to, in effect, pay hush money to keep these scandals from blowing up much earlier.
If that's fine with some people, then they ought to demand that the Pope severely deal with the guilty. Otherwise, he's complicit in his inaction.
I would also like to know how much of this was known by the Vatican and how far back. Fr. Thomas Doyle, one of the authors of a study on priestly pederasty back in 1985 that was virtually ignored by the bishops, said Rome was kept regularly informed of many of the more egregious cases.
It is time to clean house of the actively homosexual clergy...and there's a bunch of them.And they hang together like ... bananas.
Sorry -- not in this life.
I don't have as much admiration for him. If he was worth his weight, he would bring to light the huge homosexual problems he's got right there at Fordham. He should start by exposing Paul Halsal; who's a resident fruitcake and super-radical gay activist prof. But I don't think Dulles is up to it.
I'm better informed than some. Protestant denominations have "voted" to allow contraception, abortion, homosexual marriage, ordination of homosexuals, etc. These decisions have been "democratic" decisions at synods worldwide. What else can you call it but defining doctrine by democratic vote, when the foundation stone of doctrine is private interpretation of scripture and rejection of any teaching "authority" by the church?
If he was worth his weight, he would bring to light the huge homosexual problems he's got right there at Fordham.Ain't it the truth.
Keep in mind that his friary is in the archdiocese of New York (isn't it?) so he probably has to be careful what he says in public. I tend to think he's in a lot less denial than he's able to let on.
What would the consequences of that be? If their ordinations were invalid, then every sacrament they performed would be invalid as well, correct? How could any Catholic ever be certain, then, that his child had been validly baptized?
In the Archdiocese of Chicago, if the priests voted for a bishop they'd be fighting over Rembert Weakland with Milwaukee.
Even the priests can't be trusted to choose bishops.
Never mind the fact that they have all challenged Rome for years regarding women in the priesthood, wreckovating our Catholic sanctuaries, asking for popular assent to the naming of bishops, and reducing our liturgies to banalities of music and prayer.
Isn't it ironic that the very same American Catholics - religious and laity -- who kept popping up in our God is Dead media to dissent from any ties to Roman and Roman Catholicism -- who just yesterday called Pope John Paul II and Roman Catholicism retrograde and non-progressive -- are the very ones now appealing to Rome to fix their self-made problem with the caveat that Rome can "help" make "suggestions" for a regularly scheduled June National Conference of American Catholic Bishops!!
Meanwhile I pray for the souls of all these apostates. Our Roman Catholic Faith will never be deterred. I want a thorough purging. The Body of Christ has suffered enough from disobedience and apostasy.
It is spring cleaning time -- for our homes, our country, our church and our souls.
Jesus Christ told us "We are Easter people. Jesus Christ promised us -- "The gates of hell will not prevail."
You reject historical fact because it is found in a newspaper NOT named THE WANDERER.
Easier said than done, I'm afraid. If my memory serves me correctly, Gregory is the first Black bishop to be chosen as head of the NCCB.
Even the priests can't be trusted to choose bishops.Can the cardinals can be trusted to choose the bishop of Rome?
No, I reject historical fact because it will not work. It figures NCR would claim it would.
DITTO.
....and all the future settlements plus ones in the pipeline are enough to start circling the wagons.
....and any admissions at this point only make the trial attorneys involved salivate more.
cc
Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has said that "This is not s homosexual problem."
If he really said that (can you source it for me?) this man is either too stupid or too dishonest to continue in his position.
It was the Catholic League president William Donohue who said: It is important to emphasize that it is simplistic and diversionary to argue that gays are the problem.
Very weird.
The US Bishops will probably not like to seize the bull of clerical sodomy by its horns, but I hope the Holy Father will help them out to have the courage to fight the good fight. Perhaps the revelation of a Polish homo archbishop (not a pedophile though, just a "perfectly normal" homo) and the subsequent termination of his office was a good thing :-)
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