Press title for Crux article. As with Chile, an incredible and inexcusable move:
Argentine bishop accused of sexual misconduct returns to work at Vatican central bank
- Inés San MartínJun 13, 2020
In this handout photo provided by Salta's government Judicial Branch Press Office, Argentine bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, second from left, a cleric close to Pope Francis, appears alongside his lawyer, Javier Belda Iniesta, at a judicial hearing in Oran, the northwestern province of Salta, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. Zanchetta was notified by members of the court that he will be put on trial for alleged abuses against two former seminarians. (Credit: Salta's government Judicial Branch Press Office via AP.)
9 comments:
I am old enough to remember when large numbers of Catholic lay people went to confession regularly.
It was not uncommon then to have a priest in the confessional (being more judge than healer) to come down very hard on any premarital sexual intimacy, on any use of artificial birth control; and not just 6th and 9th commandments sin, but also, for example, come down hard on any cop or public servant who took the smallest bribes and so on.
But now we know, that often a priest being a promiscuous pederast was not enough reason for him to be laicized; and a bishop's career could continue upwards despite it being known by other bishops that he was a promiscuous, homosexual predator! And or, also, at the least, simultaneously financially irresponsible and greedy.
And also, what has amazed me for over 20 years are the number and variety of words and terms used by Catholic Church leaders that are almost Orwellian euphemisms.
Just don't criticize Pope Francis, or else you will be accused of being a Viganoist or worse yet, a snowflake!
Cardinal O'Malley criticized Pope Francis' first major, major, major errors concerning bishops in Chile who were under accusation and the pope made out that it was a leftist agenda, whatever that means in Chile.
Vigano isn't the one to criticize this pope, but someone like O'Malley or some other close ally to the pope for it to have any chops.
And the comment that is first is one of the reasons for the Church's meltdown since revelations started pouring forth about sex abuse but only relatively recently moving from priest who did the dastardly perverted deeds, but to bishops who kept reassigning them after having been caught and sent to therapy. It is here, that Pope Francis seems to be tone deaf and exacerbating the sex abuse scandal in an incredible way.
If I dare say, Pope Francis and most social liberals in the Church when they speak of mercy do so from an enabling of the sin perspective rather than nipping things in the bud with good judgement, appropriate justice and then appropriate mercy. Restoration to a previous life, vocation or career isn't true mercy, but enablement in heinous situations.
Your last paragraph is powerful and should provoke much thought and "real reflection", not just a " knee jerk" response.
Off topic, Father McDonald,
Polish President Andrzej Duda accused the LGBT rights movement of promoting a viewpoint more harmful than communism and said he agreed with another conservative politician who stated that “LGBT is not people, it’s an ideology.”
“That was Bolshevism. It was the ideologizing of children,” he said. “Today, there are also attempts to push an ideology on us and our children, but different. It’s totally new, but it is also neo-Bolshevism.”
Earlier in the week, Duda signed a declaration drafted for the stated purpose of helping families that included language on “protecting children from LGBT ideology” with a ban on “propagating LGBT ideology in public institutions.”
Father McDonald,
Excellent statement!
Do we understand forgiveness? It seems that we tempt the Holy Spirit to change our substance rather than that we should humbly accept what we are and act within those constraints. If we actually pity the poor man why tempt him further? Why humiliate him with a reward?
During the pandemic I have heard many people moaning about how they needed Holy Communion. What about Confession? I got that done, not problem at all, on a kneeler six feet away from my priest in the sacristy. If I were about to die, which should I choose? If the governor and bishops ‘deny’ me Holy Communion but I can have Confession, have I not won that contest? Am I not prepared for eternal Communion with my Lord?
Good point, rcg! Unfortunately we didn’t have either sacrament available in our parish, and I believe Confessions have just restarted. Such a difficult time for all.
Call and ask for an appointment. That’s what I did. I think quite a few are doing that.
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