Abuse scandal angers conservative Catholics

Boston Globe ^ | 3/27/2002 | Michael Paulson

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

The Catholic Church's most reliable supporters, conservatives who have traditionally leapt to defend the institutional hierarchy whenever its practices have been questioned, are increasingly irate over the church's handling of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. Commentators William J. Bennett, William F. Buckley,Jr., and Patrick Buchanan have harshly criticized Cardinal Bernard F. Law. Self-described orthodox Catholics are denouncing the church's bishops. "We spend our time monitoring and fighting anti-Catholicism wherever it exists in American society, but I have always had a disdain of intellectual dishonesty, and if I sat on the sidelines I'd have to be accused of that myself," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a group that fights anti-Catholic bias. "I don't know of single Catholic priest or layman who isn't furious about the sex abuse scandal, in terms of tolerance they [the hierarchy] have had for intolerable behavior and the way they've played musical chairs with these miscreant priests. I've never seen such anger."

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Speaking out...

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

bump

[Hawkeye's Girl]

what the Church needs, to restore its moral authority, is to stand up to the moral confusion of modernity, not embrace it. That way lies total ruin.

Darn right. I've stopped going to my campus Catholic masses because it's full of openly gay, pro-choice, and pro-"diversity" people. I actually made a peacenik cry when I asked to pray for God to give the president and our military the strength they need to defeat terrorism during petition time. I just can't take anymore liberal brainwashing; I get enough of that by just being a college student.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Certain situations at the colleges and universities also need to be addressed by church leaders. Those who fail to do so, betray the faithful and the church.

[Mike Fieschko]

There's a difference between the 'conservatives' such as Buckley, Bennett, and Weigel, and traditionalists such as Buchanan, John Blewett and (to some extent) Ronald McArthur.

To a large extent, the 'conservatives' view the changes since the Council (changes which were not mandated by the Council) as beneficial to the Church.

Trads are much more likely to see the changes since the Council as great a catastrophe as the French Revolution, Luther's rebellion, or the Arian heresy.

By objective criteria, the trads have a lot more evidence on their side than the 'conservatives.'

Sort of like political 'conservatives' who object to government expansion only as being excessive or too rapid.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

The Boston Globe chose the headline. I have no argument with your categorial distinctions. Buckley calls himself both a "libertarian" and a "conservative" in secular politics and his name has appeared as a contributor to some "traditionalist" publications. Many "Traditionalists" are "conservative" politically generally speaking. (and I'm a somewhat traditionally oriented conservative of sorts) Of course, the hard-core paleos would want to go off on Buckley's fascination with "classical liberalism."

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

I agree that "catastrophe" describes the cultural revolution in the Church over the last 35 to 40 years or so.

[inquest]

I noticed that at one point in the article, they spelled liberals, "libeals". I wonder if that was the author's subconscious at work.

[Mike Fieschko]

the hard-core paleos would want to go off on Buckley's fascination with "classical liberalism."

Paleo-cons, paleo-libertarians, or paleo-trads? :-)

[MarMema]

when I asked to pray for God to give the president and our military the strength they need to defeat terrorism during petition time

A routine part of our liturgy every Sunday.

[inquest]

I'm still trying to get a handle on what's been going on. In your opinion, has this been a result of an organized conspiracy within the Church? I just can't imagine how else the Church could have been subverted so thoroughly. I hate to sound so tin-foilish, but this just doesn't compute with me.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

OK. Fair enough. One does have to be careful switching back and forth between categories from secular politics and those in religion. (Technically, I guess I'm a paleo-Jacobite or should I be a Lancastrian, paleo-Ghibelline, or paleo-Guelph?) I await instruction. Or initiation perhaps. At any rate, there are relatively few transcendental paleo-Jacobite traditionalists awaiting Plantagenet or Carolingian restoration around anymore, so I guess we're screwed, right? Postmodern anticivilization and jihad for the next hundred years.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Yes. In part. And you know the legal definition of conspiracy, right?

[inquest]

I guess it means any two or more individuals co-premeditating something illegal. But this conspiracy would have to involve a bit more than just two persons. It would have to be organization-wide - and have support from the outside. It also would have to be sustained over the long term.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Bill O'Reilly has been talking about this NAMBLA outfit as a "criminal" conspiracy for some months now. Boston's creepy Fr. Shanley was involved with that. NAMBLA could reasonably be accused of a criminal conspiracy to engage in pedophilia using the Catholic Church as cover. Someone in authority should argue that. If Shanley took money to use for homosexual or pedophile purposes he should be charged with theft of church property. Stealing is still illegal.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Just an observation and I may be mistaken, but it looks from this undated photo that Bill finally changed the oil in his hair.

[uncbob]

Commentators William J. Bennett,

I didn't think Bennet was still a catholic

[uncbob]

that the church has gone soft and doesn't have the courage of its convictions."

As long as they are afraid to take action against pro abortion so called catholic lawmakers ( kennedy being the worst ) what else can you believe

[uncbob]

"It's not a problem of celibacy, but a problem of people failing to live out the celibate commitments they have made, because they were not properly formed into being radical Christian disciples."

Wrong . It's those homosexuals who were allowed into the semenaries because they couldn't get enough hetrosexual applicants ( turned off by the celibacy requirement )

[caddie]

I know what you are saying.

This brainwashing is a part of the 'seamless garment' of evil in the Church.

The pro-liberal brainwashing that my kids and I have had to listen to, just to attend Mass, would make your skin crawl.

Bellyaching garbage about racial prejudice, every MLK day, and whenever it seemed right, when there was none.

Exhortations to tolerate true evil (such as homosexuality) when that itself would have been evil.

Condescension toward the orthodox, rosary-praying Catholics, by the hipster priests and bishops.

I remember my wife (a convert to Catholicism)protesting the huge number of homosexuals in the priesthood of a nearby diocese, when the paper broke the story.

She called our pastor, who was incensed that she had the gall to protest about the personal lives of some of his friends, evidently.

"Do you know who I am?" were the exact words he used.

This was in 1994 or 1995, before this current stuff hit the fan.

But it's just as bad that NCCB, and other liberal priests in the AmChurch endorse pro-abort Rat politicians, as the shuffle around homoperv priests, IMHO.

Both ways, unspeakable evil is allowed to flourish.