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Posted on 04/25/2002 2:19:22 PM PDT by Notwithstanding
1) The sexual abuse of minors is rightly considered a crime by society and is an appalling sin in the eyes of God, above all when it is perpetrated by priests and religious whose vocation is to help persons to lead holy lives before God and men.
2) There is a need to convey to the victims and their families a profound sense of solidarity and to provide appropriate assistance in recovering faith and receiving pastoral care.
3) Even if the cases of true pedophilia on the part of priests and religious are few, all the participants recognized the gravity of the problem. In the meeting, the quantitative terms of the problem were discussed, since the statistics are not very clear in this regard. Attention was drawn to the fact that almost all the cases involved adolescents and therefore were not cases of true pedophilia.
4) Together with the fact that a link between celibacy and pedophilia cannot be scientifically maintained, the meeting reaffirmed the value of priestly celibacy as a gift of God to the Church.
5) Given the doctrinal issues underlying the deplorable behavior in question, certain lines of response have been proposed:
a) the Pastors of the Church need clearly to promote the correct moral teaching of the Church and publicly to reprimand individuals who spread dissent and groups which advance ambiguous approaches to pastoral care;
b) a new and serious Apostolic Visitation of seminaries and other institutes of formation must be made without delay, with particular emphasis on the need for fidelity to the Church’s teaching, especially in the area of morality, and the need for a deeper study of the criteria of suitability of candidates to the priesthood.
c) it would be fitting for the Bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to ask the faithful to join them in observing a national day of prayer and penance, in reparation for the offenses perpetrated and in prayer to God for the conversion of sinners and the reconciliation of victims.
6) All the participants have seen this time as a call to a greater fidelity to the mystery of the Church. Consequently they see the present time as a moment of grace. While recognizing that practical criteria of conduct are indispensable and urgently needed, we cannot underestimate, in the words of the Holy Father, "the power of Christian conversion, that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God, which reaches the depths of a person’s soul and can work extraordinary change". At the same time, as His Holiness also stated, "People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young. They must know that Bishops and priests are totally committed to the fullness of Catholic truth on matters of sexual morality, a truth as essential to the renewal of the priesthood and the episcopate as it is to the renewal of marriage and family life".
From our standpoint, yes. In the opinion of those more knowledgeable of such things than me, this is an uncharacteristically strong statement, apparently, and is expected to elicit some real changes -- although, as I said in a previous post, I am skeptical that the more liberal dioceses (say, Mahoney's for example) will see much change except the most egregious offenders that can't stay below the radar any longer.
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Sure they can; forgiveness doesn't mean excusal from the punishment incurred by one's actions.
I think the idea is to make it binding on *all* bishops when *all* the bishops meet in June. It makes more sense to do it once, across the board, rather than letting each individual bishop pipe up officially and say "I'm in on this, too." That way, there's no possible equivocation on anyone's part if they're all held to the same standards.
Time will tell, and the past 30 - 40 years' track records of these American cardinals isn't encouraging.
No, it isn't. That, rather, is the point.
My ordinary is Abp Myers, and Cdl Egan is just across the river. There's a lot to be done in both sees, and both ordinaries will have many allies if they move to clean up problems.
Time will tell, indeed. The message has been clearly delivered and received, even if in Vaticanese. If the local bishops do not shape up, then it is incumbent upon the Vatican to remove them. They have been summoned, informed of what they must do. Refusal now is not an option, for those who wish to remain in the fold.
The Vatican has made the Americans look at what they have wrought. I have no doubt that if they do not repair themselves, that repairs will be made.
SD
I note that this comes under that which has been "proposed." While I'm not a Catholic, it is unclear to me why this isn't a command, and why it isn't first before all things. It seems to me that the should be both public and private confession and repentance happening all over the place.
It has. For instance, my bishop, of Greensburg, PA, made the call for such a day of repentence for the Thursday before Easter. I am sure he is not the only bishop to make such a call. What is being proposed here is a unified national day of repentence.
Please try to understand the mechanism at work here. If you will, this is like a committee recommending that the entire Congress do something. The committee can be behind it 100%, but until Congress meets and approves it, it is still not law.
SD
Go ahead and be skeptical. But be prayerful as well. What I speak of is not impossible.
SD
What the heck are they getting at here?
This piece strikes me as a committee written exercise in opaque burearcratese. Sorry to be so negative.
It is not surprising that you do not understand the message being delivered. Few outside the Church, heck, few inside the Church understand the actual problem and the required solution. The fact that you do not understand the message does not mean that there is not a message. Trust that those who needed to hear the messae have heard it.
SD
It has been the policy of the Roman Catholic Church forever. What it has not been is the policy of the American Catholic Church. They have now been called on the carpet.
SD
I would hope so. But experience tells me that Protestanst often mock Catholics when we engage in days of fasting and abstinence. Ridicule us that we think avoiding meat or fasting is our ticket to salvation. I do hope this would be different.
SD
3) While recognizing that the Code of Canon law already contains a judicial process for the dismissal of priests guilty of sexually abusing minors, we will also propose a special process for cases which are not notorious but where the Diocesan Bishop considers the priest a threat for the protection of children and young people, in order to avoid grave scandal in the future and to safeguard the common good of the Church.
Jesus threw the money changers out of the Temple. What exactly are the Bishops waiting for?
Number two and number three leave me somewhat incredulous. In English, they read, yeah we'll do something with the serial child rapists but the part timers will be sent to the old priests home.
They don't go to the old Priests home, they go to jail.
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Do you disagree with my assessment that child molesting priests must go to jail and not retirement homes?
JPII KICKS BUTT
You are correct, sir. Whenever this subject would rear it's ugly head in the past, you would NEVER, EVER read about it in the liberal press. You'd only read about it in the Wanderer or Lay Witness or another traditional Catholic paper. I always wondered when the liberal press would go hog wild with it. They would NEVER, EVER admit that they knew about it beforehand. To them this all is a shocking surprise. Now, if they can blame the bishops for not acting sooner, shouldn't we also 'indict' the liberal media for being complicit in their 'cover-up'?
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