Two must-read articles on the abuse crisis

1.  Massimo Faggioli has a very good article up on the Commonweal site, entitled "Trent's Long Shadow / The Abuse Crisis and Seminaries, Dioceses and the Laity".  What I appreciate about it is its "root cause analysis": it attempts to go deeper than some of the rather superficial diagnoses and solutions that are commonly proposed, e.g. that it's a problem of gay priests and that therefore the solution is to drum gay priests out of the rectory and gay candidates out of the seminaries.   Faggioli brings a historical perspective that caused me to think anew about various aspects of the church that I normally take for granted or don't think about, such as "Why do we have parishes?" and "What was the laity's role in the church in past eras?"  I emerged from his article with the conviction that a new ecumenical council is needed.

2.  Rev. James Martin, SJ, on the America site: "The witch hunt for gay priests".  Among the many infuriating aspects of the McCarrick scandal is that it has enabled those members of the conservative commentariat who have long held the erroneous conviction that the waves of sexual abuse crises in the church should be understood as crises of homosexual abuse by gay priests.  Martin reviews some of this toxic commentary (some of which, unfortunately, is emanating from church officials), and then follows his now-customary practice of debunking it, calmly, precisely and faithfully.  Fr. Martin, who I believe has suffered quite a bit for his courageous advocacy for gay Catholics, is a blessing to the church.  I encourage all of us to pray for him and support his advocacy.

Embarrassed to Death

 At the men's group, the sheep are muttering like they did on the early pages of Animal Farm. They are tired of answering the question of whether they are still Catholic, and, if so, why. These are guys who, most of them, have been showing up at 6:30 a.m. every week for going on 20 years to hold each other accountable for discipleship. They now ask themselves the question they are tired of answering.
 I was meditating on our collective fate this morning when WBUR in Boston aired its report from El Salvador on how people we deport are processed. About 300 a week seem to be flying into El Salvador, where their wrist and ankle chains are removed and they are given their belts back so the country can welcome them "home." Great reporting. Made me want to puke.
 To clear my palate,  I had to crank up Joan Baez's "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon," better known as "Deportee."
 And when I got back to the radio, national NPR was interviewing the reporter of today's Washington Post story about Trump's latest birtherism, taking away passports from people who can't prove their mother gave birth legally in Texas 40 years ago and declaring them non-citizens. This is a genteel form of ethnic cleansing, but when you take up ethnic cleansing, it won't stay genteel very long.

Archbishop Vigano's letter: two episcopal reactions

I receive a Catholic news email blast from time to time called CWN Headlines.  Today's installment included two reactions, presented one right after the other, to Archbishop Vigano's recent letter.  I paste them here with no comment, except that, on one level I found the contrast pretty humorous; but on a deeper level, sobering.  It seems there are deep fissures running across church leadership, and Vigano's bizarre missive has made them stand out.

Not much, just great for 40 years

 Even with everything else going on, the death of Neil Simon should not go unremarked. Two hundred years from now,  there will be revivals of Antigone, Hamlet and The Odd Couple. I am not so sure about anything else.
 Cast your mind back to 1963 when someone told me I absolutely had to see Barefoot in the Park because it was the story of our lives. Simon had already written Come Blow Your Horn and Little Me. Five years later he wrote Plaza Suite, which was three one-acters set in the Plaza Hotel. Somehow that migrated to television, and Mimsey locking herself in the bathroom and not coming out  on her wedding day is something I can't think about without laughing.
 I was going to quote a line from that act. But there aren't any funny lines in it. I also thought about  quoting the funniest line I think Simon ever wrote -- it has to do with the floor an apartment is on -- but it would take two paragraphs to explain why it is funny, and explaining it would kill it.

And now for something not related to sex-abuse scandals ...

I have been reading the encomiums about the late Senator John McCain in these days following his death, and I see a tendency toward hagiography at times.

Kind, humorous, plain spoken, courageous, principled, all these are on display in this little vid clip from Late Night with Seth Myers. But McCain himself would have been the first to point out his own flaws--a failed first marriage, infidelities, quick temper, the Keating Five scandal, etc.

Cardinal Cupich's response

Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, and in a manner of speaking my clerical boss  - or boss's boss - has written a letter to the people of the archdiocese in response to the sexual abuse scandals.  It appeared in our church bulletin this week.  I'm not just currying favor in saying that I think it's one of the strongest responses I've read so far.  It's here:

https://www.archchicago.org/en/statement/-/article/2018/08/17/letter-from-cardinal-blase-j-cupich-to-the-people-of-the-archdiocese-of-chicago-in-response-to-the-pennsylvania-grand-jury-report

In addition, at two masses I attended this weekend, the celebrant (a different celebrant at each of the two masses) preached about the abuse crisis.  There was no applause nor much of a visible reaction in both cases. 

Former Vatican ambassador says Pope Francis, Benedict knew of sexual misconduct allegations against McCarrick for years

DUBLIN — A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis — among other top Catholic Church officials — had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against former D.C. archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick years before he resigned this summer. 

The letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was recalled from his D.C. post in 2016 amid allegations that he’d become embroiled in the conservative American fight against same-sex marriage, was first reported by the National Catholic Register and LifeSite News, two conservative Catholic sites. The letter offered no proof, and Viganò on Sunday told The Washington Post he wouldn’t comment further.

[Full story in The Washington Post]