Carl A. Anderson writes to members of the country’s largest Catholic fraternal benefit society. Among the proposals, expansion of the zero-tolerance policy to include sexual activity or misconduct by clerics including bishops, and by seminarians
Carl Anderson
Scopri Top New
Pubblicato il 23/08/2018
Ultima modifica il 23/08/2018 alle ore 17:26
IACOPO SCARAMUZZI
vatican city
The leader of the Knights of Columbus calls on members of the U.S. Catholic organization to work for repentance, reform and rebuilding of the Church after the recent emergence of new sexual abuse scandals and suggests, among other things, the expansion of the zero-tolerance policy to include sexual activity or misconduct by clerics including bishops, and by seminarians.
“The Knights of Columbus - laymen, priests and chaplains together - will have an important role to play in rebuilding the Church. We must commit the Knights of Columbus to work for repentance, reform and rebuilding of the Church” the Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson writes in a public letter to his knight brothers.
The letter is based on two well-known events that are rocking not only the North American Church - but also Europe, Latin America and elsewhere, Anderson points out - namely, the sexual abuses committed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report on abuses. “Many feel deeply betrayed by those whom they long held in high regard,” Anderson writes, stating that “ the disgrace not only is borne by the perpetrators, it hurts us all, as does the silence of shepherds who have ignored the cries of their flocks”, because while there is no doubt that there are “many wonderful and faithful laborers in the vineyard of the Lord among our priests and bishops” it is “clear,” that “ in addition to devastating criminal acts, we have seen many other moral failings by clergy that represent a crisis of commitment to the Gospel”. And “ Too often the needs of victims have been subordinated to a distorted sense of mercy toward the perpetrators or an instinct for clerical self-preservation”.
Now, the head of the largest Catholic fraternal benefit society in the United States continues, the Knights of Columbus must commit themselves to work for repentance, reform and rebuilding of the Church. Repentance, first of all, “should include a full accounting of the misdeeds by those who have committed them. Archbishop McCarrick and others at fault owe us a full account of their actions, motivations and cover-ups. After years of having us confess to them, it is now time for them to come clean about what they have done and what they have failed to do”. This “will also help increase the recognition that clerical sexual abuse is a global problem that must be addressed at the highest levels of the Catholic Church. Moreover, priests and bishops who refuse to live according to their promises of celibacy should be removed from public ministry, not out of retribution, but for the protection of the faithful and to prevent future variations of the scandal we now suffer”.
Reforming the Church, the Supreme Knight of Columbus continues, includes “ many good ideas that have been proposed, such as a full and complete investigation of sexual abuse led by an independent commission that includes laity; complete transparency by the Catholic hierarchy into all matters of criminal sexual misconduct past or future; an expansion of the zero tolerance policy to include sexual activity or misconduct by clerics including bishops, and by seminarians; and a call for faithfulness by all members of the clergy, including bishops. There must also be an independent ethics hotline for reporting of criminal and other conduct at odds with Catholic teaching on the clerical state of life; and there must be protections against retaliation”. Reforms that - Anderson stresses - will be difficult for a Church largely unused to them, and we must support our bishops and our priests in embracing these reforms in order to rebuild.
According to Anderson, “We can help to rebuild our Church in several ways. Above all else, Knights — and our chaplains — must embrace love of God and love of neighbor. This is Christ’s great commandment and the founding mission of our Order. It is also exactly the opposite of the rejection of God and exploitation of neighbor that our Church has witnessed in these scandals”. After recalling then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger denunciation of “filth” in the Church pronounced in 2005 and Pope Francis’ recent letter to the People of God, Carl A. Anderson concentrates his intention to help renew the Church on a national level through a Novena of Masses, in the forthcoming organization of a national tour of the relic of Saint John’s heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment