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The Spectacle Blog
A few words about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI yesterday. I am not a Catholic but I believe the significance of this event warrants a thought or two.
Benedict’s resignation was the subject of conversation at work today. The consensus was that he was either forced out or that he had done something untoward. It is lamentable that people are so suspectible to conspiracy theories.
I reminded people that he is 85-years old, not in the best of health and never wanted his tenure to end in the manner of his predecessor. This seemed to mollify a few people.
Yet one cannot underestimate the damage the sexual abuse scandal has done to the Catholic Church (particularly here in Boston). This went on for decades and the Church did a great deal to aid and abet what became the largest paedophilia ring in the world. Of course, it must be acknowledged that Benedict did a great deal to bring this scandal to light before his ascension to the papacy. Still, it will take decades to recompense this breach
Regardless of who the College of Cardinals chooses to lead the Catholic Church, the best thing it can do to renew the faith of its followers will be through deeds rather than words.
View all comments (7) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/02/12/thoughts-on-the-papacy-the-fut
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Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.13.13 @ 1:24AM
All I can say is, God I hope its nothing like that.
RJ| 2.13.13 @ 2:32AM
Recently in Los Angeles, church documents were released to the public relating to retired Archbishop Mahony's attempts to cover-up sexual abuse by certain Catholic priests. On January 31, 2013, former Archbishop Mahony was relieved of all of his public and episcopal duties in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Yet this man, as Cardinal will now be in a position to choose the next Pope. The church has lost its moral authority, which is a tragedy. When will it see the errors of its ways and take appropriate corrective action?
ReaganVol| 2.13.13 @ 8:33AM
There is no question of the culpability of many of the Church leaders in America for all that they did or did not do over recent decades in addressing the scandals throughout the country. However, to simply to make the outrageous comment 'largest pedophilia ring' in the world is lazy journalism at best and the lowest form of bigotry and Catholic bashing at worst. The fact remains that although pedophilia did occur on a few rare occasions among all of the reported cases, the vast majority of incidents ONLY had to do with homosexual priests and teenage boys. This is far different than what the media, including your factually incorrect comment, continues to perpetuate. Finally, it should also be strongly stated as well that even 1 case of any sexual indiscretion by a Catholic priest is an abomination, the proportion of priests involved in this type of behavior is still a fraction of what occurs in just about any other large organization such as the public school system. Get your facts (and spelling) straight before making such despicable assertions against what STILL remains as the largest force for charitable good the world has ever known.
David T| 2.13.13 @ 9:53AM
The Catholic Church swept a lot under the rug, but it certainly didn't "aid and abet" the practice of pedophilia, which is sexual preoccupation with prepubescent children. The vast majority of cases involved sexual contact between teenage boys and homosexual priests. Even then, the rate was not out of proportion with what is found generally.
The Catholic Church, thanks in great measure to the efforts of Pope Benedict XVI, has confessed its sins and tried repair the damage to the extent that it can. The offending priests are now mostly dead or retired. Better screening and formation of priests is weeding out the unfit. The "lavender mafia" is a thing of the past. The Catholic Church will survive this blight because the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it. It will boldly continue its mission to take the Light of the Gospel to a darkened world.
JP| 2.13.13 @ 11:24AM
Aaron,
The entire scandal is one that goes back several decades - probably around the end of WWII. There is really no genesis point one can look to, other than like minded priests (gay) eventually recruited like minded young men from the major and minor seminaries through out North America. It is also a little known fact that many of the Bishops who did cover-up the abuses were in fact themselves gay. The scandal of retired Cdl Weakland (Milwaukee) is a case in point. If ever the term Lavender Mafia fit, it was within his chancery.
Progressives have been somewhat successful in attempting to purport that this scandal had nothing to do with gays, despite the fact that 98% of the victims were males between 12 and 17. Almost all of the priests who molested these boys were also practicing homosexuals.
Additionally, our public schools are even in worse shape. There are far more cases of teachers molesting students than there ever were priests molesting boys.
Frog in Uniform | 2.13.13 @ 1:42PM
I hate to disagree with you Monsieur Aaron but Messieurs ReaganVol & David T are definitely right.
I perceive your statements as bashing of Catholics. We Catholics are perfectly able to do it ourselves, thank you. Whenever I read or hear the sentence "I'm not a Catholic, but..." I think I hear the Gates of Hell squeaking uncomfortably too close for my taste.
To each his own: If priests or bishops were compromised in pedophilic acts, I believe they were brought to justice. The amount of pedophiles among the teachers or the management of Boys Scouts of America doesn't threaten the very existence of BSA or the Department of Education.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.13.13 @ 3:23PM
All though the Orthodox Church (to which I belong) considers the Roman Catholic Church to be in heresy, there is no doubt in my mind that the Roman Catholic Church is by and large a force for good in the world and should be the sole representative of Western Christians. With that said that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be a "spring cleaning", a purge of pedophile clergy and a purge of members of church hierarchy complicit in any cover-ups for whatever reason. Pedophilia is not a problem just among Roman Catholic priests who are supposed to remain celibate, unfortunately I've personally known an Orthodox priest (who was married with children) who was recently arrested for molesting children, not to mention the teachers in the Los Angeles school district who were also recently arrested for child molestation. I think the main focus of the next Pope should be to purge the Church of any and all pedophiles, purge the hierarchy of any clergy involved in cover-ups and the continuation of Benedict's work to revive key liturgical traditions in the Church.