Still in denial despite Wempe and other cases
"If the archdiocese had done the right thing...I would have been spared years of despondency," said the brother of a victim of Michael Wempe at Wempe's sentencing on Friday to three years in prison for one count of child abuse.
What with time already served, Wempe's stretch will be a little over a year. He will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
As we know, and as the many news accounts of the sentencing pointed out, Cardinal Mahony returned Wempe to priestly assignments even after knowing of his predilection for boys.
Archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg said the "archdiocese has expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness for mistakes it made in dealing with Father Wempe."
What next, after "remorse" and "ask[ing] for forgiveness?" The lawsuits. Hundreds of millions in payouts. The Michael Baker case, with no wiggle room. More charges and trials? More scandal, more souls harmed, and more victims' lives wrecked. Church closures?
And still the "liberals" claim to see no link betwen homosexuality and molestation, and to want to continue recruiting and ordaining homosexuals to the priesthood. And Cardinal Mahony still brings in keynote speakers who urge seeing "Brokeback Mountain" and who ridicule the Vatican instruction as "yada-yada-yada." This ideology is expensive, in many ways.
What with time already served, Wempe's stretch will be a little over a year. He will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
As we know, and as the many news accounts of the sentencing pointed out, Cardinal Mahony returned Wempe to priestly assignments even after knowing of his predilection for boys.
Archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg said the "archdiocese has expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness for mistakes it made in dealing with Father Wempe."
What next, after "remorse" and "ask[ing] for forgiveness?" The lawsuits. Hundreds of millions in payouts. The Michael Baker case, with no wiggle room. More charges and trials? More scandal, more souls harmed, and more victims' lives wrecked. Church closures?
And still the "liberals" claim to see no link betwen homosexuality and molestation, and to want to continue recruiting and ordaining homosexuals to the priesthood. And Cardinal Mahony still brings in keynote speakers who urge seeing "Brokeback Mountain" and who ridicule the Vatican instruction as "yada-yada-yada." This ideology is expensive, in many ways.
posted by Quintero at 10:40 PM
4 Comments:
I agree with your sentiments. Jesus did not call us to 'remorse' or to penance - he called us to repent. Repentenace is turning away from the sin, which the Catholic Church is not doing. There is no forgiveness without repentance.
Dear Annie,
Thank you for writing about the absolute necessity for each of us to turn away from sin.
I would amend your sentence a bit, by changing it to, "...which too many in the Catholic Church are not doing." The Church as a whole is holy, thank God.
I wonder what the Cardinal preached about when the Sunday Gospel was about the Good Shepherd.
Pope Benedict XVI's homily was profound (as usual). Here's a snippet:
Before reflecting on these three essential characteristics of being shepherds, it'll be useful to briefly remember the previous part of the discourse on the shepherds in which Jesus, before designating himself as the Shepherd, says to our surprise: "I am the gate" (Jn 10:7). He is the one who must be entered in the service of the shepherd. Jesus places in a very clear way – one which stands out – this root condition, affirming that “He who ascends another way is a thief and a robber” (Jn 10:1). The word “ascend” [“salire”] evokes the image of someone who goes up into a closed-off place, climbing, to where he wouldn’t be able to legitimately arrive. To “ascend” – this can be seen also as the image of careerism, of the attempt of arriving “on high,” of procuring for oneself a position by means of the Church: to serve oneself, not to serve. It is the image of the man who, through the priesthood, wishes to make himself important, to become a personage; the image of him who has in his sights his own exaltation and not the humble service of Jesus Christ. The only legitimate ascent toward the ministry of the shepherd, however, is the Cross. This is the gate. To not personally desire to become something, but instead that we be for the other, for Christ, and so by means of Him and with Him be for men the One they seek, that He may lead them along the path of life. The priesthood is entered by the Sacrament – which means precisely this: by the total donation of myself to Christ, that He may make use of me; that I may serve Him and follow His call, and that these must be in contrast with my desires of self-realization and esteem. To enter through the gate, who is Christ, means to know and love him always ever-more, to unite our will to his and that our work becomes one and the same as his.
Roger, are you listening?
JOSEPH D'HIPPOLITO SAYS...
And still the "liberals" claim to see no link betwen homosexuality and molestation, and to want to continue recruiting and ordaining homosexuals to the priesthood.
Very true, Quintero. Yet the "conservatives" claim to see no link between mandatory celibacy and the attraction homosexuals have to the priesthood.
As far as Pope Benedict is concerned, clayton, I'm tired of pretty words. I want strong action, which we haven't seen from Rome in, how long now?
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