Putting All Of The Cards On The Table

I make no secret that I love the Catholic Church and know that it is the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ as opposed to any and all other denominations which were founded by mere ordinary men.  I believe that the scandal of the moment is not any indication of a lack of holiness on the part of the Church because the Church gets its holiness from its founder, Jesus. I also am aware that Jesus has promised that His Church will stand the test of time because it will be protected by the Holy Spirit from teaching error.  I do think, however, that it is the time to put all of the cards on the table and make an end of this sex scandal that has affected the Church over the last decade or so. 

One of the first things that Pope Francis should do is to kick Bernard Law out of Italy and send him back to the United States where he can answer for his criminal conduct in covering up the abuse of young people.  His presence in Italy is an embarrassment to the Church and an affront against justice.  Next, each ordained person must be questioned in writing under oath and asked straight out if they had ever committed any sort of sexual offense against either children or adults in violation of their vows or if they participated in any cover-up of any abuse.  I am not naive enough to think that the guilty will confess. But if later it is found that they did indeed engage in some sort of sexual crime or coverup, the written testimony where they perjured themselves could be used as evidence against them to defrock them from their priesthood. 

The Church has made remarkable progress in safeguarding young people.  For example, I participate in an adult choir where we might have contact with young people one or two days out of the year and I had to take training and pass a background check to remain in the choir. 

The Church has paid a heavy price for what a minuscule number of renegade priests and their supervisors did. The Church will recover because the good she does vastly outweigh the effects of the scandal and it is Christ that said that the Holy Spirit would protect her through the ages.