Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair
Is the Pope Catholic?
When I was growing up people used that phrase to emphasize how accurate something might be.
For instance you might ask me if the pie I am eating is as delicious as it looks. And my response would be “is the Pope Catholic?”
The pedophile scandal is said to now reach right into the Vatican.
It always reached into the Vatican.
The pedophile scandal is said to now touch on the person of the Holy Father, once a Cardinal in Munich.
The scandal always touched on Cardinal Ratzinger.
As I read the news reports and watched people on television getting all wound up about this subject, I could not help but see it as a “slow news day.”
The Catholic Church is nothing if not a hierarchical organization with layer upon layer of students, priests, various levels of bishops, Cardinals and finally one Vicar of Christ on Earth.
Does any reasonable person think that these things could have been done by priests who live in the church, retire to church homes, and die in the church without knowledge at every one of those levels.?
It would be foolish to believe that people at the highest levels of the church were not dealing with this particular problem of pedophile priests along with other nasty problems that would be present in any organization of the size of the worldwide Catholic Church.
In hindsight we are angry with the decisions made by church leaders when confronted with these problems.
There was an intricate web of secrecy surrounding these deliberations, but there is an intricate web of secrecy surrounding most of what the church does.
That is why people talk about the” holy mysteries.”
Did the Popes know this was going on? You better believe it.
Did they condone it? Of course not.
Did they arrive at the best resolution? Clearly, they did not.
Did the College of Cardinals know? Yes.
Did the Archbishops and Bishops know? Yes.
How about the rumor mill in the parishes? Of course.
Common sense provides the probable answers to all these questions.
Therefore the Holy Father, while serving as a Cardinal in Germany dealt with these issues, as his brother Cardinals did across the world. And any successor to the current successor of St. Peter also will have dealt with these issues.
There is not going to be a Pope in our time who was not at some level in this mess over the years. Can you imagine actually rising to the top spot in the church unaware of this kind of devastating situation? Could not happen.
Blame them for a bad management decision.
Blame them for not coming up with a better idea.
Blame them for trying to protect the church, to which they had given their lives, by keeping an ugly practice from seeing the light of day.
Blame them for failing to “suffer the little children” and for instead suffering the embarrassed colleague priest.
All along the way one priest, one parent, one Archbishop, one Cardinal, one Pope could have called a press conference, pointed out the sin, set in place a series of guidelines for the future, reached out and helped those who were harmed, and asked the world for forgiveness.
Instead their silence permitted an unspeakable and prevalent cancer to spread through the church and allowed it time to metastasize.
All religious are paying the price for that silence now.
It is not necessary for Pope Benedict to be singled out for a lashing about this. There is plenty of guilt to go around. The Confessionals should be filled with a lot of guys wearing red hats.
But when your company product is “forgiveness” you do not approach these things in a worldly way.
The church is bigger than this sin.
A huge majority of people involved in the life of the church never committed this sin. Most of those same people are as unhappy, sad, and even angry as the rest of us about this happening and about the way “management” dealt with it.
The church is bruised and the church is hurting.
For those whom have lives centered in the church and who find solace and comfort in the church, take on faith that the church will survive and prosper and still forgive.
Will the Catholic Church survive?
Is the Pope Catholic?
