Many in the Church hierarchy seem to think that the most brief acknowledgment of wrongdoing and an indistinct promise of reform will generate sufficient goodwill.
Keep in mind that the pope is the CEO of a global monarchy with a very troubling track record when it comes to the safety of kids.
Benedict has the power, with a stroke of a pen, to really make a difference and protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and restore trust in the hierarchy. He just refuses to use that power in any way that brings true reform to the Church by putting an end to decades of secrecy and recklessness.
Instead, he only uses words. Words can be powerful weapons, especially when the pope is taking on worldwide crises over which he has no control, like poverty, war, racism and AIDS. But over this scandal, Benedict has virtually limitless power. And his words, however eloquent, protect no one (except perhaps the Church’s criminals and enablers).
Sadly, this pattern of talking a lot but doing little to tackle predatory priests, nuns, brothers, bishops and seminarians “trickles down.” When the media and the parishioners are moved by gestures and impressed with words, few in the Church hierarchy feel compelled to take tangible steps to oust child-molesting clerics, or have them criminally prosecuted, and help their still-suffering victims.
I stopped reading after “Keep in mind that the pope is the CEO of a global monarchy . . . ” Wrong!
This is rather ad hominem, but the pugnacious tone of Mr.
Clohessy’s article invites that approach.
I googled the name “David Clohessy” and found this Wikipedia article :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Clohessy
He is/was director of SNAP, the organization advocating
for those abused by priests. However, the article mentions that
his brother, Kevin Clohessy, a priest, has been accused of
sexual abuse. Wikipedia provides a link to a St. Louis Post Dispatch
article which incisively asks :
“What do you do when you’re an advocate for those abused by
priests and your brother is a priest accused of abusing someone?“.
I guess Mr. Clohessy doesn’t detect the hypocrisy in sharpening
knives against the papacy and church, but fails to see the same
problem when it involves kith and kin.
The man is a fool. The Pope can not with a stroke of a pen wipe out the human attraction to sin nor the commiting of sin itself. The Pope is not a CEO and he does not have limitless power.
Does he know about the Bennison brothers? Ought to be informed so he can amuse himself some more.