As a Protestant, I can say the whole Body of Christ grieves when a single part is laid low. I can also say this problem is not the problem of the Catholic Church alone.
The problem is much bigger than the Catholic Church in America. Christianity as a whole is under attack, not just Catholicism, and not just in this way. The hope of the enemy is to divide and conquer.
Interestingly, civilization itself, built upon Christian values, is under both external and internal attack at the same time. Both attacks were made possible by the turning away of our own peoples.
I see so few signs of repentance and reawakening that I suspect we are still on the downward portion of the path.
Personally, I am certain Mr. Novak is right in the end, but when that end comes I do not know. Nor do I know how high a price we, personally and collectively, must pay before it gets here.
A life too long lived apart from intense daily prayer, meditation on the lives of the saints, the devout praying of the daily office of the Church, and a slowly and reflectively enacted sacrifice of the Mass each day, is not a life in which the probabilities of fidelity are enhanced.
On the contrary, the probabilities of chastity decline exponentially, as neglect of the life of the spirit extends its control, like a summer drought spreading its reach across sun-baked fields. Where the love of God withers, the love of this world gains a chokehold.
There is a lesson in the present time: The prayerful, orthodox, and faithful priests and religious of this generation did not bring about the scandals that now humiliate the church.
Bingo, bump, and "...this is what I have been saying all along..." An intense inner relationship with Jesus Christ precludes mortal sin, simply because there is no room for the contemplation of sinful acts. People who pray frequently and deeply know how to deal with temptation.
"...sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it (Gen.4:7 RSV)." God said this to Cain BEFORE he murdered Abel. It IS possible to master temptation, and a mortally sinful act must be deliberately CHOSEN. These men have deliberately chosen frequent mortal sin.
I'll bet they tell that to all the alter boys.
Much good, of course, has been done in and through the Church during the last forty years. Many things — ecumenism, for instance — have been made better.
Here we get the Neo-Catholic stock-in-trade: we don't like the parts of Vatican II that embarass us, but we wholeheartedly support the spirit of VatII that informed the Council. This is a FALSE argument. It is intellectually dishonest. You all know the drill: 70 percent of those who call themselves "Catholic" have voted with their feet and no longer attend the new "Mass" that Novak and his Neo-Cath buddies still think is the best thing since sliced bread. To use an old cliche, they ignore the elephant in the living room.
No thanks, Michael, you and yours have done enough damage already.
Looking forward to the same! Catholic bump!