Posted on 02/11/2013 9:07:51 PM PST by Alex Murphy
LOS ANGELES -- Nearly two weeks ago, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez announced he had removed Cardinal Roger Mahony from all public duties amid revelations that he plotted to conceal child molestation by priests from law enforcement.
But Mahony on Monday found himself back at the center of church business, as one of 117 cardinals who will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.
Mahony was quick to weigh in on the papal news - posting a statement on his online blog at 8:38 a.m. PDT, two hours before the archdiocese announced that Gomez would issue his own remarks at the midday Mass at the downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
In the posting, Mahony called Benedict an "extraordinary" successor to St. Peter and that he intended to participate in choosing the next pontiff.
"I look forward to traveling to Rome soon to help thank Pope Benedict XVI for his gifted service to the Church, and to participate in the Conclave to elect his successor," Mahony wrote.
Benedict's unexpected decision to step down created a seemingly awkward situation in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which is reeling over newly released documents showing how church leaders handled the abuse cases. Documents show that Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry worked to shield abusers from police. Both have since issued detailed apologies.
Gomez wrote in a letter to parishioners last month that the priest files were "brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children."
Gomez wrote that Mahony, his predecessor as leader of the archdiocese, "has expressed his sorrow for his failure to fully protect young people entrusted to his care. Effective immediately, I have informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties." A church spokesman later clarified that Mahony remained a priest "in good standing" and that he maintained all his powers as a cardinal.
Mahony is one of 11 U.S. cardinals who will vote for the next pope.
Father Thomas Rausch of Loyola Marymount University said Mahony has no choice in the matter: Church law requires him to vote, along with all cardinals under age 80, he said.
"It is a sacred responsibility of every cardinal of the church who is able to attend the conclave to vote," said Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman.
Still, Mahony's role in selecting a pope drew mixed reactions among Catholics in Southern California.
Manuel Vega, a retired Oxnard police officer who as an altar boy was molested from the age of 12 to 15 by Father Fidencio Silva, said Mahony would bring shame on the Catholic Church by going to Rome to vote.
"Mahony is going without clean hands. His hands are dirty ... from covering up years of sexual abuse. How can he be part of the conclave?" Vega asked.
Other Catholics said they were pleased that Mahony would be voting. They said they hoped that he would bring a more liberal and American point of view to the conclave, which will be dominated by the conservative cardinals whom Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have appointed over the last three decades.
Jane Argento, a parishioner at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena, said she was livid at Mahony when she read about his actions after the archdiocese's release of sex abuse documents. But she said the relatively liberal Mahony reflected her own Catholic convictions about larger roles for women in the church, among other issues. Mahony, she said, was the architect of a pastoral associate program in Los Angeles that had trained several women to run parishes, including her own.
"I'm relieved that Mahony is going," Argento said. "Frankly, it's one more vote for a more progressive church."
Larry Loughlin, 77, a parishioner and social worker, said it was reasonable that Mahony vote, given church rules, and that he was not the only cardinal accused of failing to remove predatory priests from churches and schools. Others include Cardinal Justin Regali, who was accused of ignoring evidence of sex abuse, including rape, in the Philadelphia archdiocese before retiring in 2011.
"Mahony is not the only cardinal to be accused of protecting priests; it is a worldwide crisis," Loughlin said.
Parishioners who attended Monday's midday Mass at the downtown cathedral said they were saddened by news of Benedict's resignation but hailed it as a chance to renew a church still suffering from the repercussions of the abuse scandals. The scandals also appeared to be on the mind of Gomez, who celebrated the Mass and called for prayer "for anyone who has been hurt by a member of the church" and for "the healing for wounds and restoration of trust."
Some parishioners took a forgiving attitude toward the cardinal.
"We all have our faults," said Charles Drees, who attended the Mass. "God bless Cardinal Mahony."
Rausch said he hoped that Mahony would bring to the conclave a deeper understanding of the American church and its more collaborative working style. The Los Angeles cardinal demonstrated that leadership style in calling together all parishes in Southern California to help set archdiocesan priorities in a three-year process, completed in 2003, Rausch said.
"What I'd hope the cardinal would bring is a less top-down, more consultative style of church governance," Rausch said. "The governance of the church in Rome under John Paul II and Benedict has not been as collegial. They exercise authority from the top."
Father Thomas Reese of Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center said he did not believe that Mahony's troubles in Los Angeles would diminish his influence in Rome, where his one vote would carry as much weight as any other cardinal's. He said he hoped Mahony would make sure that discussions about the next pontiff include a full understanding of the sex abuse crisis and a greater sensitivity to Latin America and immigrant issues.
Although more than 40 percent of all Catholics live in Latin America, Rausch said that 63 percent of the cardinals who will elect the next pope are from Europe and North America. The majority of them were appointed by Benedict, he said.
In his remarks at Monday's Mass, Gomez hailed Benedict's decision, calling it a "beautiful" act of humility.
"This is the act of a saint, who thinks not about himself but only about the will of God and the good of God's people," Gomez said.
Are they?
There are about 2.1mm divorces each year in the US. About 25% of Americans are Catholic. There are 30,000 annulments granted by the Catholic Church per year, of which the vast majority are granted to Catholics who did not marry in the Church.
So that's an annulment runrate of about 6% of US divorces - and when it comes to Catholics who married another Catholic in a Catholic ceremony getting annulments, it's more like 0.6%.
All a practicing Catholic has to do is get the church to annul the marriage
As the numbers show, that's far more difficult than you are representing.
what about the not bowing down to graven images?
When do we do that, now?
You’re using facts and statistics.
Is that allowed on FR any more?
“All a practicing Catholic has to do is get the church to annul the marriage
As the numbers show, that’s far more difficult than you are representing.”
Maybe it’s regional. I know 2 Catholics who have had 2 annulments each.
.
I'm not saying that it is a canonical impossibility - but I've never heard of it.
I’ve had Catholics claim that the command against images and statues was because it was that it meant to serve other gods but our God says not to use them in serving Him.
Deuteronomy 12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
So it is clear that God commanded to NOT use statues or images in the worship of Him.
They are both in their 70s,one man and one woman(they don’t know each other),I’ve know them for a long time,grown children were involved and one is being married again in The Church next fall.
It was New York in one instance and Massachusetts in the other.
.
I am in agreement with you. I believe first 33 popes were martyred. They did not quit, they did not renounce their Petrine office.
The same people who lauded Pope John Paul II for retaining the Holy Office until the very end, even after being silenced by a trach tube, are now praising Pope Benedict for getting out, while the getting’s good.
I considered Pope Benedict to have been the most orthodox pope since Pope Pius XII. I will miss him. He had so much good work ahead ahead of him, in my opinion.
51% of Protestants from a different Protestant denomination cite a lack of spiritual fulfillment as a reason for leaving their childhood faith. 85% say they joined their current denominational faith because they enjoy the services and style of worship. Only 15% left say they left because they stopped believing in its teachings. ^ Pew forum, Faith in Flux (April 27, 2009) http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/fullreport.pdf
Those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. 10.1% have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic, while only 2.6% of adults have become Catholic after having been raised in a different faith.^
4% of Americans raised Catholic are now unaffiliated; 5% are now Protestant. ^
Over 75% of those who left Catholicism attended Mass at least once a week as children, versus 86% having done so who remain Catholics today.^
Regarding reasons for leaving Catholicism, less than 30% of former Catholics agreed that the clergy sexual abuse scandal played a role in their departure. ^
71% of converts from Catholicism to Protestant faith said that their spiritual needs were not being met in Catholicism, with 78% of Evangelical Protestants in particular concurring, versus 43% of those now unaffiliated. ^
50% of all Protestants converts from Catholicism said they stopped believing in Catholicism's teachings overall. Only 23% (20% now evangelical) were unhappy about Catholicism's teachings on abortion/homosexuality (versus 46% of those now unaffiliated); 23% also expressed disagreement with teaching on divorce/remarriage; 16% (12% now evangelical) were dissatisfied with teachings on birth control, 70% said they found a religion the liked more in Protestantism.
55% of evangelical converts from Catholicism cited dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about the Bible was a reason for leaving Catholicism, with 46% saying the Catholic Church did not view the Bible literally enough.
81% of all Protestant converts from Catholicism said they enjoyed the service and worship of Protestant faith as a reason for joining a Protestant denomination, with 62% of all Protestants and 74% Evangelicals also saying that they felt God's call to do so. ^
That has some hyperbole in it, but this does not:
Rule One: Rome is and the supreme authority that defines what is right, and has infallibly declared that she is (conditionally) infallible, and thus accordingly to her decree, and cannot be wrong when she thusly says she is right. If she does say so herself.
Rule Two: In case of doubt, see Rule One, as that is the only way to have no doubt.
Conclusion: All must be part of the Catholic church, or be damned.
“And since Catholics are all concerned about breaking the Ten Commandments, what about the not bowing down to graven images? They sure don’t have any problem disobeying THAT commandment.”
No Catholic disobeys that Commandment.
Growing up Protestant, I’ve seen plenty of pictures of Jesus in homes. Also plenty of Nativity sets.
Standing in front of, bowing, or kneeling in front of objects is not a form of worship. And praying in front of a statue, does not mean you are praying TO the statue.
That is rather silly.
Don’t read what you think it says....The command is not to not worship.
Read what it says.... The command is to not bow or serve.
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