US cardinal in secret Vatican talks

A cardinal at the centre of child sex abuse scandals rocking the Catholic Church in the United States said he won the backing of Pope John Paul II to remain on in his post in secret talks at the Vatican this week.

Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston, said in a statement released by the Vatican on Wednesday that he had travelled to Rome to "seek counsel and advice" from the ponriff.

He said he had been "graciously received" by John Paul II, and would not be stepping down.

"As a result of my stay in Rome, I return home encouraged in my efforts to provide the strongest possible leadership in ensuring, as far as is humanly possible, that no child is ever abused again by a priest of this Archdiocese."

Unless the American Catholic community rises up and DEMANDS action or just leaves the Catholic Church in the USA is finished

It is looking rather sad. But I don't know what will happen to the Catholic Church here.

My wife is Catholic, I'm not, and we were talking about this case the other day. Despite all she's heard about this case, she still supports the Church, somewhat to my surprise. I got a little hyperbolic (something I do on occasion, I admit, and which she usually takes with reasonably good grace) and said something similar, about the Catholic Church possibly being finished in the U.S. She uncharacteristically cut me down quickly on that one, and was a bit upset, so we closed it there.

Anyway, there are some people who support the Catholic Church despite all this. It also got me to thinking - assuming the Church does take a hard line on this - what exactly would we do? Despite my own claim, I can't really see us bringing any type of RICO suit against the Catholic Church. I'd even be uncomfortable with prosecuting the Cardinals and Bishops involved, as so much of what they do would cross the Church-State boundary. (No, they aren't immune to the law, of course. But large scale prosecutions of high religious authorities do at least make me wary.)

I hope the Pope will take a hard line against those involved in this case, of course. But if he doesn't, if he backs them up or tries to brush this under the rug, what do you really think we would, or even should, do about it.

Drew Garrett

The April 18th issue of The Wanderer carries a front page article written by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Writing about the abuse of children, The Bishop asserts, "No words that are printable, or even conceiveable, are adequate to express my outrage, fury, and depression upon learning that anyone, much less a priest, would sexually molest any children. Such a thing is unspeakable abomination. Upon learning about such things, I must confess that I am tempted to look for my shotgun and baseball bat, much sooner than I am tempted to give any consideration to a possible "sickness" in a perpetrator."

Bishops Fabian Bruskewitz speaks for me. Unfortunately the other Bishops in America have issued flaccid statements if they have spoken at all.

Bishop Bruskewitz is famous for speaking forthrightly. He is known for Sanctifying, Teaching and Ruling. He actually fulfills the duties of a Bishop.

What is a depressing truth is that there are SO few that even approach his manliness.

Your setiments are shared by a great number of American Catholics. I can't explain the handling of the situation in Boston. There has been, for a great many years, a great deal of PC liberal pressure placed on the Catholic Church and its leaders, to ape and follow the liberal trends in modern society - including perverse sexual trends. Many of us have deplored efforts to cave into this pressure. While we don't know what precisely the Pope is supposed to have said to Cardinal Law, "the Church" is more than its current cast of clerical leaders. All of the Catholics posting complaints on this site, on other sites, and in letters to the editor sections of Catholic publications, are being faithful to the Christian values we share. Among these, justice and truth rank very highly (at least for this Catholic). The hierarchy is going to have to move beyond bureaucratic posturing and policy-position papers to clear the foul air which has descended upon them. They need to stand up and speak loudly and clearly with a clear voice:

There is no place for pederasts or homosexual activists in the Catholic priesthood. Period..

To do less is to invite further DISASTER. It is a disaster. But it is a disaster spawned by tolerating homosexual perversion. That is not and never has been the Catholic teaching on this - as the Catholics on FR have been saying very clearly. We, as Catholics, as fellow Christians, deplore the foolish and asburdly ridiculous handling of these criminal cases of sexual perversion by unrepentant deviants who dared to masquerade as Catholic priests in the service of Christ. Church leaders who refuse to stand up for its moral teachings are not worthy of wearing or carrying the symbols of Church authority.

It might not hurt for Catholics to write to Bishop Bruskewitz and ask him to go on national television to speak out and pronounce what the Church's actual teaching is on sexual perversion and what should happen to criminal pederasts who pretend to be priests. It would help tremendously for conservative orthodox Catholic leaders to come forward and have a visible presence. If not on national network television, at least on EWTN.

I forgot to add Bishop Bruskewitz's conclusion; "I would never knowningly ordain any sexual deviant nor allow such to work as a priest. Our seminarians are being most carefully screened and trained, and our priests are holy and pure."

In addition to Bishop Bruskewitz's seminary, the FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) which features the "old school" ways - such as the 1962 Roman Missal and Thomistic Philosophy - has a seminary in Nebraska.

From these seminaries will issue the holy priests that will be sent to the decadent, perverted cities in America to offer solace, Sacraments and sanity to a beleagured and abandoned flock.

I tithe and every month I sent money to the FSSP as that is where my heart is.

Yes, I bitch and moan; but, I also put my money where my mouth is. I suggest all stop contributing to the collection plates of weak, flaccid Dioceses and support true Catholicism

It was very very disturbing to see this Monsignor McSweeney character on Alan Keyes show. He absolutely refused, squirming, wiggling in his chair, and raising his eyebrows in disbelief, to admit that homosexuality and the tolerance of homosexuality in the priesthood is a key factor in the current scandals. The degree to which he was willing to deny and to weasel around this was alarming. That someone (a priest!) would be so ready to make a fool of himself on national television did very little to restore confidence in how this is being addressed. Supposedly, McSweeney is from Erie, PA. What's going on there, boys?

I think that the Amerian Bishops have been effectively schismatic for decades. These news stories are just the beginning but the revelations of the mephitic evil of sexual perversion might just be the emetic that will cause faithful Cathoilics in America to start screaming, "That's it," and to vomit these bastards out of our mouths. And then, let us not return to our vomit. Abandon those who have abandoned us.

Let the plates for collections in the modernist parishes collect dust. The candlestick has been removed from them. The Bishops have succored the desolation of our Faith and we are witnessing the desuetude of a Divine institution in a democracy that cannot distinugish among truth, mammon and the liberal zeitgeist.

Support those Bishops and seminaries and organisations (Lke the FSSP) worthy of support. Use other monies to support the worthy poor we can easily identify in our own communities. For instance, I am anonymously paying the dental bill of a working-poor woman who couldn't otherwise afford the necessary work. I am sure we all know many similar cases if we just look around. IMO, she deserves the money more than Cardinal Law

"The Tragedy of American Compassion," identifed how Charities used to work effectively. Pick-up a copy and cooperate with like-minded others. Let each of us, individually and collectively, get to work and, like Cistercians of old, drain the polluted swamps our Dioceses have become and both curse the current darkness and let our Charity be the candle we light that can guide those holy priests from Nebraska to safe harbors in our reformed Dioceses.

During the Arian crisis, it was the LAITY that "saved" the Catholic Church. We clearly have been abandoned; so, let us admit as much and get on with the onerous task of draining the sulphrous swamps our Dioceses have become.

Unfortunately, in a number of quarters there has been a gradual mushrooming of a bureaucratic monster, not entirely unlike the old, urban, Democratic political machines. In fact, many of the same type of characters are involved. It's not so much a conspiracy as just the way that bureaucratic entities tend to foster corruption, coverups, and financial irregularities. There are any number of personalities who should be given the option of being shipped off to monasteries or to leave altogether. There has been a tendency for too long to handle dissenters and squatters with kid-gloves treatment. That has to stop. If someone wants to be a homosexual activist, they can figure out how to fund that lifestyle OUTSIDE of the church. If someone wants to be a professional liberal ideologue and critic of Catholic teaching, they should look for a job at a leftwing thinktank or at a secular university. They have no right to live off of church funds and to engage in high-risk behavior which will blow back on church finances, lawyer fees, and insurance premiums.

It's the arrogance of this in-your-face heresy, dissent,neo-modernist, liberal, and homosexual activism which has to come to a stop within the institutional structure of the church. Bishops who fail to require fidelity to the Catholic faith among the priests and Catholic leaders in charge of Catholic institutions in their jurisdictional bailiwicks are charlatans, frauds, cowards, or worse. We've had decades of this liturgical minimalist, liberal, and homosexual silliness. It all has to stop. Liberal looting and loitering in the Catholic Church must be addressed by bishops.

what exactly would we do?

Pray. Hard.

No matter how bad it looks, the gates of hell shall never prevail.

John 15:1-2
I am the vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Why did that post get removed the first time?

Law is going to be put out to pasture. He SO doesn't get it. He may THINK JPII wants him to stay, but he was actually just ignoring diplomatic hints.

There is going to be a major, major overhaul of the American Catholic Church. This has been on JPII's to-do list for a long time, but events are forcing him to drop the bomb now, rather than wait until he had installed and promoted more good orthodox bishops like Bruskewitz.

A large number of seminaries will be closed. A large number of bishops will be retired. A large number of priests will be booted. Very strong policies will be instituted, and the Pope will issue a profound apology.

John Paul is sophisticated enough to recognize that it is possible for gay men to be good and celibate priests, but the proportion of gay men who are truly called to this vocation is much lower than the proportion who actually become priests. He understands what almost no one else does, that by cracking down on sexual libertinism and strongly reaffirming the traditional teachings, he will INCREASE both quality AND quantity of vocations, because the sexually dubious who are discouraged will be outnumbered by the faithful and traditional Catholic men who will no longer be discouraged!

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