[saradippity]

I believe and I hope that we all can grow in wisdom and holiness and that may have happened to Cardinal Law.This is a very difficult situation to be in,since a wise and holy person would recognize they had been responsible for supporting things that had seemed to be A-OK,before they found Truth.So I suppose that one would have a natural inclination to try to convince the other of the error of their ways,ways,the holier,wiser man had previously approved.In so doing they may appear to compromise principles and Truth. It's wrong but I can understand how it happens.

Another possibility is that like the "Manchurian Candidate" there are only certain combinations of words that will trigger a "program" and the person so programmed may not be aware at all of how,or even that,he/she had been programmed.

I believe initially,he was with the "progressives",I do think,he now knows and that's why John Paul II is insisting he clean up the mess he made. This must be very humiliating to the cardinal,far more punitive than exiling him to Iran where he could live in relative anonymity.

I always thought a fitting punishment for Clinton was to strip him and send him from city to city in a box car and invite all of the people to view the "emperor" without his clothes.So in a way the Pope and I think alike.(-_o)The devil hates to be mocked and so do people with an overated opinion of themselves.Temporal punishment for wrongs committed in this world,if accepted with sorrow for the sins committed probably helps cut down on some time in purgatory.Just some developing thoughts.

[yendu bwam]

I believe initially,he was with the "progressives",I do think,he now knows and that's why John Paul II is insisting he clean up the mess he made. This must be very humiliating to the cardinal,far more punitive than exiling him to Iran where he could live in relative anonymity.

Hey saradippity. I think you are likely right. Law is being forced to clean up his own stinking mess. But so many times in the past, Law has placed the 'image' and prestige (what's left of it) of the Church ahead of the welfare of children. I am truly afraid that he will revert to form. People do occasionally change fundamentally. But it is a very rare phenomenon in my experience. And that, frankly, makes me wonder if the Pope's primary concern here is the safety and well-being of children. If that had been the Pope's primary concern, it seems to me he would have thrown out the shuffler bishops and immediately replaced them with no-nonsense (Christian) advocates of children's welfare and safety. He would have let, through such action, everyone know that what has happened will NOT be tolerated, and that there will be significant consequences to those responsible (in this world).

[ultima ratio]

Your post is of the "mistakes were made" variety. Cardinal Law did not follow bad advice. He knew what he was doing. He had plenty of evidence his coverups were harming kids. He had twenty years to figure out that when he transferred a pedophile it was guaranteed that children would be abused, even raped. He even praised Shanley in a letter so he could pawn him off one more time to an unsuspecting diocese. Yet he had absolute proof--a thousand page dossier on the man--that this priest had raped a six year old and had abused hudreds of other kids, that he was an active supporter of NAMBLA. And Law had around 82 such priests that he protected for over twenty years. I'm still trying to figure out what it takes for a cardinal to have his resignation accepted by Rome after such a display of absolute unmitigated corruption. Apparently the destruction of thousands of kids' souls is not enough to get anybody fired. Certainly not for you. You're still making phony excuses for the Cardinal.