August 27, 2018
WASHINGTON— Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued the following statement.
Cardinal DiNardo's full statement follows:
"In communion with the Holy Father, I join the Executive Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in taking upon ourselves his exhortation, 'this open wound [of abuse] challenges us to be firm and decisive in the pursuit of truth and justice.'
"On August 1st, I promised that USCCB would exercise the full extent of its authority, and would advocate before those with greater authority, to pursue the many questions surrounding Archbishop McCarrick. On August 16th, I called for an Apostolic Visitation, working in concert with a national lay commission granted independent authority, to seek the truth. Yesterday, I convened our Executive Committee once again, and it reaffirmed the call for a prompt and thorough examination into how the grave moral failings of a brother bishop could have been tolerated for so long and proven no impediment to his advancement.
"The recent letter of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò brings particular focus and urgency to this examination. The questions raised deserve answers that are conclusive and based on evidence. Without those answers, innocent men may be tainted by false accusation and the guilty may be left to repeat sins of the past.
"I am eager for an audience with the Holy Father to earn his support for our plan of action. That plan includes more detailed proposals to: seek out these answers, make reporting of abuse and misconduct by bishops easier, and improve procedures for resolving complaints against bishops. Inspired by his recent letter to the people of God, and his motu proprio of two years ago, As a Loving Mother, I am confident Pope Francis shares our desire for greater effectiveness and transparency in the matter of disciplining bishops. We renew our fraternal affection for the Holy Father in these difficult days.
"To the survivors of abuse and the families who have lost a loved one to abuse, I am sorry. You are no longer alone. Since 2002, hundreds of professionally trained staff across the country have been working with the Church to support survivors and prevent future abuse. Nationwide, the Church has a zero-tolerance policy toward priests and deacons who abuse, safe environment training, background checks for those working around children, victim assistance coordinators, prompt reporting to civil authorities, and lay review boards in dioceses.
"In other ways, we have failed you. This is especially true for adults being sexually harassed by those in positions of power, and for any abuse or harassment perpetrated by a bishop. We will do better. The more she is buffeted by storms, the more I am reminded that the Church's firm foundation is Jesus Christ. The failures of men cannot diminish the light of the Gospel. Lord, by the help of your mercy, show us the way to salvation."
6 comments:
All these statements from the bishops sound the same: "We're going to come up with a plan, and when we finalize that plan, then we'll have a PLAN! People will gasp in wonder at our great plan!" But as to what the plan would do, no one knows. What can the USCCB do? All they ever do is issue noisy statements about DNC talking points. The only thing the USCCB could do to "discipline" a bishop would be to kick him off whatever committees he's on, and maybe make him eat salad at their meetings.
The Pope has shown little appetite for disciplining bishops for such petty matters as gay sex, so this sounds like a bunch of bull crap to me. Maybe if the fathers of these abused seminarians addressed the issue with their fists, the problem wouldn't be so widespread (such would be a sacrilege, of course, but would a priest give a heavy penance for that?). The only way to stop these bishops (short of a black eye) would be to go straight to the press and make their lives so awkward that they can't move.
Regarding pedophile priests, it's not sufficient to punish the priests themselves. Whoever let them out of the seminary has to have skin in the game. Two pervs and they get laicized as well! The rectors need to have a talk with the seminarians at the start: "I aint going to hell for any of you!". Of course, that implies seminary leaders (and bishops) who believe in hell, neither of which is in abundant supply in the year of our Lord 2018.
I was hoping Di Nardo was going to man up and demand that the Pope and Wuerhl resign. We shall see what comes of this "initiative." Color me skeptical
fox investigating the hen house, too little too late, the usccb has lost it's credibility, we'll do better this time, really we will, trust us. sorry but no, the council knew everything long ago and did NOTHING about themselves just made the life of any pastor more difficult, and afraid to even touch anyone, anywhere, anytime. There is an old saying caca rolls downhill and those on the bottom get it piled on. The rot starts at the top
Bureaucratic B.S..
The USCCB needs to be disbanded and closed up.
“Lost a loved one...?” Were they killing people too? This whole statement, including the desire to study and find solutions sounds like cut and paste from othe apologies. Man, what weak caca. They already have the goods on some folks, but of course those folks have the goods on them. Someone needs to flip the switch and start this thing.
Cardinal DiNardo sounds indeed a little bit like a corporate executive. We Catholics expect holy men to speak more like how St Francis or Maximillian Kolbe might comment on such a devastatingly vile assault on our religious sensibilities, never mind the carnage among the faithful and the priesthood.
Even Bishop Barron commenting on the happenings sees just abuse of power not the work of the Evil One who has enthusiastic supporters among the collage of cardinals. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is repeated and this time by his most intimate friends! How can the Holy Father comment no comment?!
Jesuit martyrs of old dying for the faith, their memory cries for justice but their successors in the Society of Jesus are more interested in justifying their right to sexual perversion. How can the Holy Father not comment?
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