"Keep your gaze fixed on Christ"
That was quite an issue of the LA Times today. Jesse Jackson in court to answer a minister's lawsuit accusing him of civil rights violations and making threats; ex-Fr. Michael Stephen Baker arrested at LAX on a child molestation rap; and retired Fr. Michael Wempe about to stand trial on child sex abuse charges.
The Times story about the Wempe trial says, "The new case highlights victims' claims that Mahony failed to protect them from abusive priests even after he was aware of the clerics' serious misconduct. During jury selection, several prospective jurors expressed anger with the Catholic Church's handling of accused priests."
Someone should tell those jury candidates that "the Catholic Church" is a tad larger than just Cardinal Mahony and his fellow U.S. bishops. We can see, though, why people might be upset that the Cardinal "reassigned Wempe to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 1988, after he spent six months in a residential center for predators."
The Tambergian claim that "nobody [--nobody!--] knew in 1986," or 1988 or later, that a priest who committed crimes against children and teens could not just pick up and continue as an "alter Christus," another Christ, after "treatment," is so at odds with truth and reality as to be not just absurd but sickening.
Instead, let us listen to Pope Benedict XVI. Today, reports Zenit.org, he received in audience the priests, deacons and seminarians of Rome's diocesan seminary. He told them that "prepared and courageous priests are needed who...convinced of the Gospel truth, are concerned above all with proclaiming Christ."
The Pontiff said priests must have "a serious commitment to personal sanctification and the exercise of virtues, especially humility and charity."
Finally, the Holy Father told the priests, deacons and seminarians "to keep [your] gaze fixed on Christ. The more you are in communion with him, the more you will be able to follow faithfully in his footsteps, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that your love for the Lord matures."
May we see the day, sooner rather than later, when all priests and seminarians really and truly "keep [their] gaze fixed on Christ." Amen.
The Times story about the Wempe trial says, "The new case highlights victims' claims that Mahony failed to protect them from abusive priests even after he was aware of the clerics' serious misconduct. During jury selection, several prospective jurors expressed anger with the Catholic Church's handling of accused priests."
Someone should tell those jury candidates that "the Catholic Church" is a tad larger than just Cardinal Mahony and his fellow U.S. bishops. We can see, though, why people might be upset that the Cardinal "reassigned Wempe to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 1988, after he spent six months in a residential center for predators."
The Tambergian claim that "nobody [--nobody!--] knew in 1986," or 1988 or later, that a priest who committed crimes against children and teens could not just pick up and continue as an "alter Christus," another Christ, after "treatment," is so at odds with truth and reality as to be not just absurd but sickening.
Instead, let us listen to Pope Benedict XVI. Today, reports Zenit.org, he received in audience the priests, deacons and seminarians of Rome's diocesan seminary. He told them that "prepared and courageous priests are needed who...convinced of the Gospel truth, are concerned above all with proclaiming Christ."
The Pontiff said priests must have "a serious commitment to personal sanctification and the exercise of virtues, especially humility and charity."
Finally, the Holy Father told the priests, deacons and seminarians "to keep [your] gaze fixed on Christ. The more you are in communion with him, the more you will be able to follow faithfully in his footsteps, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that your love for the Lord matures."
May we see the day, sooner rather than later, when all priests and seminarians really and truly "keep [their] gaze fixed on Christ." Amen.
posted by Quintero at 7:40 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you for this post, Quintero. I love your blog.
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