Sanity Is In Short Supply In The Upper Echelons Of Catholicism, But There Are Other Voices Lower Down, Closer To Reality

The Vatican Secretary of State had better wake up to some hard facts because as it sits right now he is becoming Benedict's biggest PR nightmare. Right behind Cardinal Sodano.

On a day when Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone has this to say:

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and pedophilia but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia," he told a news conference in Santiago.
"This pathology is one that touches all categories of people, and priests to a lesser degree in percentage terms," he said. "The behavior of the priests in this case, the negative behavior, is very serious, is scandalous."

And retired Italian Bishop Giacomo Babini is quoted as saying a "Zionist attack" was behind the criticism of Pope Benedict, because it was "powerful and refined" in nature;

And on a day when Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of L'Osservatore Romano, maintains the whole crisis is perpetuated by the media because:

"The media, not only in Italy, are in decline; their sales are less and less. This kind of news helps them sell." Journalists always have known that stories about animals and stories about sex sell newspapers, he said.

The sex story becomes even easier to sell when it involves the Vatican, he said.

(This link is to John Allen's take on the same press conference.)

And then he added:

"The need to sell is the first key to understanding this campaign. Then there is the hostility" against the Catholic Church, he said. "Anti-Catholic hostility certainly exists. This has been documented," Vian said."The preaching of the Catholic Church bothers many people in many ways," particularly when it comes to moral issues, he said. (Oh, it's not Jews, it's gays and feminists.)

And on a day when Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nicholls is denying he knew anything about predator priest David Pearce until he became Archbishop of Westminster- in spite of the fact he had previously served as Chairman of England's Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults while Pearce was doing his preying and Cardinal Murphy-O'Conner was ware of it:

And on a day when Vatican and Church sources are blaming everyone and everything for their own despicable actions, there was another voice. A voice calling for accountability, transparency, and actually doing something about all the verbiage the Church has said about putting the victims first. And it was a call that came from the altar.

In sermon, E. Longmeadow priest calls on Pope Benedict to step down
By Emma Stickgold - Boston Globe Correspondent / April 12, 2010

An East Longmeadow priest called yesterday from his pulpit for Pope Benedict XVI to step down, demanding greater protection of children and greater accountability from the Catholic Church hierarchy.

The church’s top leader has not been truthful, said the Rev. James Scahill of St. Michael’s Parish, violating an important tenet of the faith. His strongly worded sermon echoed sentiments he shared with parishioners several weeks ago, but this time, he spent more time and spoke with greater conviction on the controversial subject.

“Any who deny the truth deny Christ, and we, as people, must reclaim our church,’’ Scahill said in a phone interview last night. “Those in authority must be willing to admit to the truth, admit their horrific crime of coverup, and beg for forgiveness, and until that happens, there will be no healing.’’

Benedict has been heavily criticized recently for the way he has dealt with some abuse cases, and Scahill said that because of all the information that has been brought to light, the pope should resign.

Scahill, who became pastor of the church in 2002, has long been outspoken on the need for accountability among church leaders.

Parishioners generally were supportive of Scahill’s sermon, said Parish Council president Thomas LaMondia.

“I thought he did a great job of conveying how he feels and how the church feels about the whole issue,’’ he said yesterday. “I thought he did a really nice job of explaining that it’s really about the protection of children. . . . The church really needs to look at what they need to do to hold people accountable.’’

Controversy within the church over priests’ and bishops’ roles in the abuse scandal has been going on for more than eight years since the scandal broke in Boston but recently it has escalated, with new allegations about the actions of the current pope when he was an archbishop.

“If we cannot get a pope that’s going to give us the truth, then our church is dead,’’ Scahill said.

Mark Dupont, a spokesman for the Diocese of Springfield, was quick to distance the diocesan leadership from the comments made by Scahill.

“It in no way represents the position of the bishop,’’ Dupont said. “We find his statements to be unfortunate.’’

Scahill, he said, has not properly recognized measures to ensure safety undertaken by the American Catholic leadership, which has “led the world in their efforts,’’ as well as steps the Diocese of Springfield took over the years to deal with the issue of sexual abuse.

********************************************

The Diocese of Springfield was once led by Bishop Thomas L. Dupre. Fr. Scahill's long advocacy on behalf of victims started when he and Bishop Dupre got into it over comments Scahill alleges Dupre made in which Dupre states the Diocese was lucky that it's former bishop destroyed records of priests accused of sexual activity with minors. This was in 2002 at the height of the Boston scandal. By 2004 Bishop Dupre had himself been accused of sexual abuse and resigned, but not until he had done his best to demonstrate why we can not trust Catholic bishops to implement any non binding policies. And of course Canon Law more or less precludes placing Bishops under binding policies because it conflicts with their autonomy as bishops. That's why the Vatican only issues guidelines and that's why some guidelines which, serve to protect their position and resources and wealth, are universally followed, and some will be disregarded for the same reasons.

Fr. Scahill's long battle against his own diocese for transparency and accountability is worthy of acclaim. Say what you want about him, he has never lost site of who this abuse crisis is really about and that of course is not the greater glory of Mother Church, but the victims Mother Church has kicked to the curb and continues to kick to the curb.

Pope Benedict's upcoming trip to Malta should prove very interesting. Maltese victims, as elsewhere in Europe, are surfacing in droves and demanding Pope Benedict deal with reality and not the Vatican fantasy. Speaking of fantasies, someone should tell Cardinal Bertone to actually investigate what reality based mental health professionals know about pedophilia.

In the meantime, yesterday also produced Jason Berry's second installment on Maciel and his money machine--eergh the Legionaires of Christ--and Cardinal Sodano does not fare well. One wonders to just what 'family' does Cardinal Sodano owe his allegiance.