Posted on 06/15/2003 4:40:16 PM PDT by NYer
LOS ANGELES - The former Oklahoma governor who was appointed to lead a panel examining the priest sex abuse scandal plans to resign, just days after his comparison of some Catholic bishops to the Mafia sparked a wave of criticism from church leaders, according to a published report.
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Former Oklahoma Frank Keating plans to resign as head of the church's National Review Board this week, before the bishops' semiannual meeting, Keating's spokesman, Dan Mahoney, said in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.
Mahoney conceded that the timing was "awkward," but portrayed it as a planned departure after a year on the job, according to the Times.
Messages left by The Associated Press at the Mahoney's Washington, D.C. office were not immediately returned Sunday.
A spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, said Sunday that he had no knowledge of a plan by Keating to resign any time soon. Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, also said Sunday that he had not heard of any plan for Keating to resign.
The report follows on the heals of an interview in the Times in which Keating said a number of unnamed church officials have "clay feet."
"To act like La Cosa Nostra and hide and suppress, I think, is very unhealthy. Eventually it will all come out," Keating said.
Cardinal Mahony, who Keating accused of listening "too much to his lawyer and not enough to his heart," issued a sharp rebuke Friday, calling the comments "the last straw" and saying he would ask other bishops to consider calling for Keating to step down during their meeting this week.
Keating's spokesman told the Times the former governor stands behind his remarks. "He uses strong language to make a point. He tells the truth, and apparently some people don't want to hear the truth," Mahoney said.
David Clohessy, national director of the nationwide victims support group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Keating's resignation would leave victims and lay Catholics "terribly disillusioned."
"It's very disturbing that a couple of candid remarks are apparently so upsetting to the bishops," Clohessy told the AP from Indianapolis, Ind.
"Here's a devout, conscientious, Catholic lay person who volunteered his time and essentially his reputation to get the bishops out of trouble, and he's suddenly forced out," he said.
Since the Keating interview appeared Thursday, a majority of members of the 13-member oversight panel privately have called on the former FBI (news - web sites) agent and federal prosecutor to quit, the Times reported. Its members are all prominent lay Catholics.
Others support Keating: Ray H. Siegfried II, a Tulsa, Okla. businessman, told the Times that Keating "has nothing but the future of our children, your children and the church in mind."
"In this very critical time in our church, we need everybody to speak their mind and the truth of what they think is on their mind," Siegfried said.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops appointed the board last year to survey all 195 U.S. dioceses and determine how many priests had been accused of sexual abuse, in response to a national scandal and a need to reassure the faithful. Keating was appointed to head the panel by the conference president, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill. Calls to Gregory's spokesmen were not immediately returned Sunday.
The study, which may be completed by the end of summer, will provide information that will be used for a second, larger study of the causes and context of the abuse problem.
Mahony and bishops representing California dioceses initially refused to take part, arguing it was too badly flawed to be accurate and might violate California privacy laws.
Keating's resignation should come in the next few days, before the bishops gather in St. Louis for their semiannual national conference, his spokesman told the Times. During the meeting, they are scheduled to review their year-old policies against sexual abuse.
Keating's spokesman told the Times the former governor stands behind his remarks. "He uses strong language to make a point. He tells the truth, and apparently some people don't want to hear the truth," Mahoney said.
Interesting ... (Cardinal) Mahony and (Keating spokesman) Mahoney. Is this now the battle of the Mahon(e)y's?
May 26, 2003. New! The problem with Roger Mahony is that he is a shameless fraud. Yesterday he dedicated a side altar to the abuse victims at his new cathedral. Of course he did not want anything as messy as any victims around, so he and Tod Tamberg did not tell them or invite any victims. But Cardinal Mahony did invite all of the news media so they could all photograph him praying for the victims at his new little altar. But it is all a fraud.
Cardinal Roger Mahony No Morals and No Ethics - Confirmed Again.
The report follows on the heals of an interview in the Times in which Keating said a number of unnamed church officials have "clay feet." "To act like La Cosa Nostra and hide and suppress, I think, is very unhealthy. Eventually it will all come out," Keating said.Truth has a force of its own, Cardinal Mahooey.
Why? WHat does Humanae Vitae to do with the governance of the state of Oklahoma? He would likely have no occasion to ever reveal his sentiments on Humanae Vitae in his official duties, so one should give him the benefit of the doubt.
Sometimes he makes ill-judged statements that have a certain truth to them - as in the current case,
The statement is right on target and he should have been even more forceful.
The bishops hire Keating to do a job, then lie and stonewall trying to prevent him from doing it.
What would you call that kind of behavior?
The bishops hire Keating to do a job, then lie and stonewall trying to prevent him from doing it. What would you call that kind of behavior?Pompous clericalism.
Actually, it doesn't. 80% of American Catholics don't follow it, so I'm not sure how divisive it is. They should follow it, but when's the last time you ever heard a priest or bishop say they should?
It would be interesting to know not only how Keating feels about the issuea of contraception and abortion but the rest of the board.
If the board were dealing with issues of contraception, it would be interesting.
As it is, all that concerns most Catholics is that the board be allowed to do what the bishops asked them do without bishops stonewalling and lying.
Not a whole lot. However, public figures often comment on issues facing families in the state, and contraception is certainly a major issue. It's also a major cost for public health departments. If Keating had ever brought up the issue of whether the public should be paying for drugs, devices and procedures which are both morally wrong and medically harmful, I'm sure it would have caused a great FLUFF in the media.
He might also, easily, have mentioned the harm to marriage caused by contraception, and the benefits of NFP, in the context of his well-publicised efforts to promote marriage and reduce divorce in the state.
The fact that he did not, I consider suggestive, though of course not conclusive, as I stated above.
And while his beliefs have only a peripheral relevance to his job as governor, I consider them very relevant to his role on the sexual-abuse panel. The problem is the rejection of chastity. If Mr. Keating is involved in "prosecuting" certain violations of chastity, while supporting other unchaste behaviors, then he is not, as the article stated, a "devout and conscientious Catholic." He is simply a secular figure. If he's presented as such, fine; but during his years as governor, his Catholicism seemed awfully like window-dressing, frankly.
Yesterday! MY pastor has guts.
Well, he was your governor, and you have your perspective.
I always saw him as a stand-up guy, moral, and willing to take tough stances.
His resignation letter, BTW, states that he will NOT apologize for any of his rhetoric.
There will continue to be clashes between the bishops and the lay review board and anybody who's worth a damn will leave in disgust.
Sometimes the truth is embarassing, and while Keating may lack a bit in the area of tact, it seems one cannot reaaly dispute the truth of his comments. In this at least, I have much in common with Keating.
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