THIS IS COPIED FROM DEACON GREG KANDRA'S BLOG: PLEASE NOTE HOW UGLY ARE THE VOICES OF THOSE WHO HATE POPE BENEDICT NOW AND WHEN HE WAS NOT THE CONTMPLATIVE POPE

From ‘Powerful’ to ‘Embarrassing’: Reaction to Benedict’s Letter

April 11, 2019 by Deacon Greg Kandra

Via Pixabay/Public Domain

It’s only been out there less than a day, but already Benedict XVI’s 6,000-word letter on the sex abuse crisis is stirring reactions. Many are quick takes from social media. A few who have absorbed it have offered more thoughtful analysis.
CNN’s Delia Gallagher summed up the reactions succinctly:

His comments on the sex abuse crisis seem certain to inflame tensions between conservative Catholics, who largely blame homosexuality and lax sexual ethics for the scandal, and liberals, who say there is no known connection between homosexuality and pedophilia. As word of Benedict’s essay spread Wednesday evening, conservative Catholics hailed it, while others called it “embarrassing.”

Here are some first takes from around the interwebs. I’ll add more as they trickle in.
From Michael Brendan Dougherty, in the National Review Online: 

Benedict’s intervention in this debate is powerful and a sad one. The very fact of this letter — its lucidity and depth of thoughts — can’t help but inspire a question from Catholics. Why did this man resign from the office of the papacy? The stated fears were ones of incapacity, but in this letter, he demonstrates an acute view of the Church. For many Catholics who disagree with Benedict’s diagnosis of the problem, it will occasion the question about Benedict’s supposed commitment to retiring into silence. What does it mean to have a former pope who is so loquacious and opinionated?
And yet, reading this occasionally acerbic and aggrieved letter, this writer felt gratitude for Benedict’s papacy and for a God who, in this time of exile, preserves one righteous man as a living promise of many more saints to come.

From Father John Zuhlsdorf:

Against those who would tear everything down, he contextualized the genesis of Veritatis splendor and then defends it against the German attacks on theology which would have resulted in disaster.  He has, surely, the papalotrous in mind.
Benedict includes in this piece, which rambles in and out of his familiar tropes, a poignant cri de coeur. And he calls for radical recovery of the love of God, our love for him and our recognition of His for us, and the establishment of “habitats of faith”, where Faith can dwell.

As I read it, I sensed Benedict’s great pain.

From R.R. Reno in First Things: 

The tone of the document is his usual one, that of calm and matter-of-fact statements. Overall, it’s more testimony than analysis, testimony from a man who lived through cultural convulsions and theological betrayals. And it’s a faithful man’s testimony of God’s enduring love.

From Brian Flanagan, Associate Professor at Marymount University, via Twitter: 

This is an embarrassing letter. The idea that ecclesial abuse of children was a result of the 1960s, a supposed collapse of moral theology, and “conciliarity” is an embarrassingly wrong explanation for the systemic abuse of children and its coverup.

From David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, on Twitter: 

Another major problem with Benedict XVI’s opus blaming the abuse crisis on liberal mores and gays and secularization etc: As a friend notes, B16’s narrative runs against everything said and done at the February summit. So it is deeply problematic and damaging at a crucial time.

From C.C. Pecknold in the Catholic Herald: 

Benedict asks our question directly: “Why did pedophilia reach such proportions?” His answer is not political but theological: “Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God.”
Since we are no longer accustomed to speaking well about God in society, this answer is bound to meet with some indifference. But I suspect that after all the studies are done, after the review boards are formed, cases heard, after new protocols and safeguards are in place, Benedict’s answer will be the one which endures. What will be remembered as the seed of renewal, as the root of restoration, is precisely Benedict’s counsel that we turn our faces back to Christ who is the perfect image of the Father’s love.