Today, Ross Douthat of The New York Times , in an op-ed entitled "A Time for Contrition", pontificates on the issue of Benedict and child molestation from the other side of the spectrum. My online response, if The Times deigns to post it (The Times' "moderators", who have repeatedly demonstrated that they are anything but "moderate", refused to post my prior comment to Dowd's op-ed, but as is often said, miracles do happen):
Silence in the face of child molestation is not a matter for mere contrition. There is nothing more wicked and depraved than the sexual abuse of helpless children, and there should be no room for silence regarding this issue.
Also, in December Benedict approved a decree recognizing the "heroic virtues" of Pope Pius XII, moving Pius one step closer to sainthood. Notwithstanding the opposition of Catholic scholars from around the world who have implored Benedict to delay the sainthood of Pius, Benedict seems intent upon canonizing a pope who remained silent during the Holocaust.
Douthat writes "Popes do not resign." Not true: Pope Gregory XII resigned to end the Western Schism, and Pope Celestine V decreed it permissible for a pope to resign and did so.
Benedict, for the benefit of his flock, should call it quits.
Sorry, Ross, there is no room for contrition here. Contrition be damned! Leaders do not remain silent in the face of child abuse. Benedict must go.
Here's what might start some forgiveness moving:
ReplyDelete1) Excommunicate and defrock everyone shown to have participated in the abuse and its coverup; report them to the civil authorities--I believe this is known as "relaxing [them] to the secular arm." (During the Inquisition, once the "Holy" church had finished racking and pulling fingernails and other picturesque interrogation techniques, would turn their "criminals" over to civil authorities to be hung, drawn and quartered--pulled into four pieces by horses--and/or burned alive. It was essential, then as now, to preserve the church's "purity.")
2) Collect all the "frocks" in question--to include the pope's own.
3) Erect enough wooden crosses in the St. Peter's piazza to accomodate all these suits.
4) Burn them on global television.
5) Require the pope to adopt a sackcloth-and-ashes outfit for the rest of his life and
6) spend 8 hours every day in silence on his knees hearing the victims describe their experiences.
That'll begin the atonement.
Ted Daniels
http://weneedus.tumblr.com
What would be the point of the Pope resigning? Benedict has done more to clear up this scandal than pretty much any other person when he was Cardinal. Perfect? Of course not, but still better than most. It would be different if the abuse crisis started in the last couple years, but we are talking about things coming to light from between 15 and 50 years ago.
ReplyDeleteLake, thanks for your comment. Queries:
ReplyDelete- Is "better than most" an appropriate standard for a person chosen pope?
- Do you think the scandals are over, or merely occurring on a diminished scale?
- Ireland was rocked by revelations of abuse, resulting in painful investigations, but will such scandals still surface elsewhere?
- Isn't a forthright, out in the open airing of the problem the best manner in which to deal with it? Isn't sunshine still the best disinfectant?