Very little of what is said in this article should be accepted on trust or at face value, because it all has an ideological purpose: bash the Catholic Church, subvert it, and turn it into a toothless, politically correct organization that will no longer offer any impediment to the agenda of the Culture of Death: abortion, perversion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, cloning, and whatever comes down the pike next.
I agree. The prescription here is for the Catholic Church in the USA to become Protestant. Speaking as a Protestant, I would be sorry to see that.
There are some valid points. The Cardinals have not shouldered the blame they deserve. Perhaps sackcloth instead of fine robes for a few weeks may be in order. I also question the faith of some of the Church’s leaders – not just Catholic, but also that of many Protestant denominations.
However, I believe the root of the problem is the desire of Church leaders to be in tune with the World’s morality. When you’re hobnobbing with the great and the powerful the temptation to adopt the attitudes and prejudices of those around you can be overwhelming. When you are a Prince of the Church, you may find that you have stuffed your youthful faith (assuming it ever existed) into a closet and closed the door. You join the therapeutic society where sexual perversions are re-defined as lifestyles. Where diseases of the soul can be cured by with a little therapy. Where the relationship of man to God is sidelined while the relationship of man to man is the subject for the homily.
The writer calls on the Church not to look for scapegoats. But since the problem is sinful people, how can the problem be solved without removing the people who are the cause of the problem? If there is a cancer in the Church it must be removed, taking it to the psychiatrist’s couch will result in certain death.
Finally, he calls for the Catholic hierarchy in the US to remove itself from the Authority of Rome. Having allowed the present scandal to metastasize, his solution is for the people who caused the problem to gain greater power. As a plan for change, this article is not helpful. It has the same platitudes as the everlasting editorials about the need more money to reform our schools.
One of the things I have learned is to distinguish between BS and a plan. This is BS.