Also, another case surfaced this week in Knoxville. Bishop Stika gave a long press conference yesterday which is linked on Whispers in the Loggia and should be used as a “how to” conduct oneself at a press conference in a crisis situation. I guess he did learn a lot in all those years he was Rigali’s right hand, left hand and at least one foot.
The crises in the Catholic Church come down to four deadly words: "Good doctrine, bad discipline."
Here's how it worked in practice:
Ordination of active homosexual males has always been forbidden in the Catholicism: as doctrine, this considered definitive and unchangeable (Link). But liberal doctrinal dissidents (like Hans Kung), weak bishops, subversive seminary rectors and admissions officers for years ignored or quietly sabotaged the practice of Catholic faith and morals.
The background? Try Michael Rose's book, "Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption Into the Catholic Church" (Link)
The result? It's all over the papers.
The solution? Its also summarized in four words To restore Catholic discipline. Or even in three: Become more Catholic.
The bishops who transferred offenders around in the 1970s and 80s are now mostly retired or dead and gone, and during the Ratzinger years --- when Joseph Ratzinger was had of the Churchs doctrine office (CDF), or, as Benedict, Pope--- sexual abuse dropped dramatically. This chart from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (Link) shows how reported abuse in the U.S has plunged:
The overall statistics support George Weigels observation in Newsweek (Link) that today one of the safest places in the United States for children and young people is the Catholic Church.