Uh oh

Last updated on: June 2, 2012 at 11:21 am by Dave Griffey

Uh oh 2012-06-02T11:21:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So it looks like Cardinal Dolan paid abusive priests a few grand so they would get out of town. According to the NYT, and picked up on rather gleefully by such notable sources as the radically anti-Catholic Huffington Post, this occurred while he served the Archdiocese in Milwaukee.

First impression? It stinks to high heaven. It sounds like a golden parachute for kiddie rapists. Now, that doesn’t mean it was. I would need to know more, and hopefully Cardinal Dolan and the Church will comply. I think the quicker the response, the better the outcome. Even if it turns out to be something truly deplorable, as so many in the media no doubt hope suspect, being open and transparent would ease the guilt of the Church as a whole. If there was guilt, and the Church once more appears to be more concerned with covering its own arse than looking out for what is right, then we might as well hang up our crucifixes for a while, at least in terms of influencing our society.

FWIW, I’m not one who tries to make the Church appear blameless throughout history. At an RCIA class, I heard a couple seminarians suggest that the Reformation was all part of some big misunderstanding, that there was nobody really selling indulgences for profit. No. It was just a big mix up, exploited by Luther. Well, that’s not how the historic tea leaves line up as I read them. Nor does the Church emerge from the age of later Roman Imperialism, the Middle Ages, the Age of Exploration, or even the modern age unscathed, again, at least as I read the history.

That doesn’t mean anything about the truth of its message, of course. If every American owned slaves, we don’t suddenly conclude that therefore all men aren’t created equal. We conclude that equality is true, and Americans sucked at living up to their own lofty ideals. Even when we disregard any good that Americans did in the slavery issue, we still insist that the ideal that we are created equal is true.

So even if the Catholic Church once again descends into its own dark night of the scandals, it doesn’t mean that the Faith proclaimed to the world is wrong. It just means that the Church, peopled by people, can be warped and twisted by those people like anything else. Hence the need for a redeemer. Oh, and it’s also why I tend to be somewhat forgiving by non-Church entities that try to do the right thing and still fail.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 2, 2012

Sign up here

Next Post

June 2, 2012 Because Democrats appear to be increasingly inspired by the worst China has to offer

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the Greek word "makarios", used in the Beatitudes, mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Blessed Holy Peaceful Humble