When Pope Benedict XVI announced the “Year of the Priest” that concluded Friday, he probably didn’t have in mind the sort of year he got.
He acknowledged as much in a closing Mass, telling more than 10,000 assembled priests in St. Peter’s Square that “in the very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light.”
Benedict had been widely expected to use the occasion to issue his most sweeping and detailed mea culpa to date for the clergy sexual abuse scandal, and perhaps to announce new measures to cope with it. The scandal has rocked the Roman Catholic Church in Europe this year, nearly a decade after it shook the American church to its roots.
But the pope did neither, blaming the problem on “the enemy,” Satan, even as he begged forgiveness from God and from the victims of priest abuse, as he has several times recently. The latest comments failed to satisfy at least some in his audience, who called for greater accountability and more concrete measures to combat abuse.
Anybody else notice the contradiction in this slanted article? The headline says that the Pope offered no apology. The SNAP representative quoted says that the Pope is endlessly apologizing.
It is increasingly clear that some pressure groups will never be satisfied, no matter what is said or done on this issue. Of all the phrases in the English language, ‘It’s not enough’ must be one of the easiest, and the cheapest, to trip off the tongue.
#1. Terry Tee,
Do you think the Roman Catholic Church has, in its investigation correctly interpreted the data, correctly identified the underlying problems and has employed remedies based on this that will diminish the chances of what has happened in the future? For example what do the numbers in the Jay report say to you about the incidence of abuse by married priests? It is low at 1.2% but what if it is adjusted per capita? Pope Benedict recently reaffirmed celibacy for Priests. Donald Cozzens wrote that among the offenders he interviewed, he would classify as them as “focused sociopaths”. What criteria on psychological screening devices are seen as a disqualifiers for aspirants?
Fr Dale, I have not read the John Jay College report, only news reports about it, nor am I acquainted with screening procedures. All I know is that I have read somewhere (apologies that I cannot remember source) that clergy rates are comparable with teachers. Also, a recent review article in the Times Literary Supplement highlighted abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention where I would presume that most ministers are married. Even so, whatever the comparable figures, we would all agree that even one case is one too many. I just wish though that the lobbying critics would give Pope Benedict due credit for what he has done so far without shouting in knee-jerk response: ‘Not enough! Not enough!’
#3. Terry Tee,
Agreed. It would be useful if other church bodies would cooperate and pool their data with kind of a meta analysis conducted. Church bodies need to come together on this.
From the Pope’s letter to the Catholics in Ireland:
There is nothing the Pope can say or do that will satisfy the critics. For those who suffered abuse at the hands of priests, this is perhaps understandable. For the rest, it is simply evidence of a visceral hostility toward the Roman Catholic Church and the deeply conservative man at its head. God bless and uphold Pope Benedict as he continues his efforts at reforming his church.