Early morning raids on chanceries across the country…allegations that some bishops are not handing over to the authorities ALL the names of perpetrators and alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse…the false notion that any sex with a priest could be consensual despite the disparity in power involved…and lastly…bishops policing themselves, (because that has worked so well in the past), are more NOTHING!

More nothing from the Church, more nothing, and just in case I’m not being clear, more nothing.  Thank God, and I mean that both literally and figuratively, that secular authorities are now starting to do something. (Of course this is after decades of collusion with the Church.)  I’m going to paraphrase something Oprah Winfrey said about if there was a bad apple in her employ. She said that she certainly would see that the person in question would get help but she would no longer employ them.  One of the reasons that it seems profound is that is the exact opposite of what has been adopted by the men of the Church.

The Wilmington Diocesan news paper has a tiny section on the front page along with a tiny picture of the bishops at their meeting in Baltimore with a blurb: Bishops ‘bring sense of urgency’ to Baltimore, then it directs you to page 7. The issue is only 12 pages and the 12th page is an advertisement for hospice. The fact that the paper decided to  print that the bishops have a sense of urgency now in 2019 belies their lack of urgency in 2002.

What is making them all-of- a-sudden have a sense of urgency?  Could it be early morning raids on chanceries across the country…allegations that some bishops are not handing over to the authorities ALL the names of perpetrators and alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse…the false notion that any sex with a priest could be consensual despite the disparity in power involved…and lastly…bishops policing themselves. Could the urgency have to do with possible prison time?

The entirety of Theodore McCarrick’s debauchery caused his own demise in the Church…after many, many years and many, many protectors.  And what happened next?  NOTHING, unless you consider inertia something. Victims of predators, all predators, suffer for life. The residual trauma is always present. It is akin to original sin washed away at baptism, the effects of original sin is still there. That’s why we sin. The effects of abuse are always present. That is why we don’t trust others. And then the Church reinforces that mistrust by their actions and inaction.