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You\u2019ll understand if I\u2019m a bit grumpy today, after several days of watching the latest developments with the latest bishops\u2019 meeting, at which they profess to care about regaining the trust of American Catholics, even though the Pope forbade them from voting on measures designed to do just that, even though Cardinal Roger Mahoney \u2014 Mahoney! the cardinal from Los Angeles, censured in 2013 for covering up abuse<\/a> \u2014 attended and gave remarks urging bishops to be more<\/em> collegial (wasn\u2019t that part of the problem in the first place?), even though they punted on a resolution that merely requested that the Pope release documents related to McCarrick.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll pardon me, I hope, for not diligently sourcing the comments that follow, and I\u2019ll, in turn, recognize that I\u2019m not being as persuasive as I might be if I dug up sources and links.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure that many of the bishops recognize the urgency of responding to the crisis.\u00a0 Others speak as if it\u2019s a nuisance.\u00a0 Pope Francis seems to think those bring up the issue are led by demonic forces.\u00a0 I find myself torn.<\/p>\n With respect to abuse of children, I do have every reason to believe that the protocols put in place are effective, in the same way as I believe that about the Boy Scouts\u2019 requirements, though I know that no such set of regulations is ever foolproof, and children whose home lives leave them vulnerable to adults grooming and molesting them are still at risk, though with heightened likelihood of other adults stepping in by the greater understanding everyone has after their multiple hours of training.\u00a0 I can also believe that bishops are much less likely to shrug off and reassign abusive priests, if for no other reason than that they know it\u2019s not going to work, and I hope that parents and other people in a position of trust will listen to a child who reports abuse rather than, as happened in the past, shrugging it off because of the respect accorded the adult.\u00a0 Is the Catholic Church free of child molester-priests?\u00a0 Have they figured out how to ensure potential molesters are never ordained in the first place?<\/p>\n With respect to priests (even bishops) engaged in sexual conduct with adults, I don\u2019t know what to think.\u00a0 I simultaneously hear claims that any such conduct is grounds for harsh treatment, though, depending on the circumstances, room for reinstatement, but always accompanied by the firm acknowledgement that such actions are wrong.\u00a0 At the same time, I read claims that bishops accept their priests\u2019 sexual activity with a wink and a nod, so long as it doesn\u2019t scandalize anyone.<\/p>\n And on the third hand, when it comes to past misconduct, I don\u2019t know where to draw the line between ensuring justice is done and seeking vengeance on covering-up priests and bishops.<\/p>\n But yet here we are multiple months after the fact and, so far as I know, even bishops who were closely connected to McCarrick have all said, \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything,\u201d or maybe \u201cgosh, I heard rumors, but figured they were just coming from someone who had it in for him.\u201d\u00a0 No one has said, again, so far as I know, \u201cI apologize for having ignored these reports.\u201d\u00a0 Everyone is professing that they feel really, really bad about the situation, but no one is admitting any personal fault, just these bland apologies on the part of institutions that drive me batty.<\/p>\n And then they turned to the next item on the agenda, a pastoral letter telling us all to be less racist<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fine, I get it.\u00a0 No rabbit holes, etc.\u00a0 They can\u2019t put everything else on hold.\u00a0 And maybe the letter has some worthwhile points for self-reflection, though it seems to have a lot of the \u201cdrafted by committee\u201d feel, based on my admittedly quick skim of the text itself<\/a> \u2014 it provides examples of discrimination, tells us that racism is sinful, suggests that parishes should implement affirmative action in hiring and that priests should give homilies against racism and educate parishioners on \u201cdiverse\u201d Catholic saints, calls on Catholics and the Catholic Church institutionally to support political action against the effects of racism, and the like.\u00a0 It\u2019s a whole set of agenda items, many of which are good or at least harmless, some of which are suspect, if this becomes a declaration that good Catholics must support the Democratic Party, but which, in general, still pretty much misses the point.\u00a0 (It also seemed weirdly addressed solely at white Catholics, telling us to not be racist and make amends for our country\u2019s past, even though this group makes up only 55% of American Catholics<\/a> and is on track to be in the minority.)<\/p>\n How, after all, can you convince people of whatever it is you want to convince them, if they no longer believe you offer valuable insight and wisdom?\u00a0 There was nothing in this letter that said, \u201chere\u2019s a new insight that will help reach out to people.\u201d\u00a0 It took if for granted that they still have the same captive audience as, say, 50 or more years ago, that a bishop can demand of parishes, \u201cyou\u2019re going to spend your time on anti-racism initiatives now\u201d and everyone will just set right to work at it.<\/p>\n As far as I\u2019m concerned, the leadership of the church has two jobs:\u00a0 the mechanics of running the church and preserving doctrine, and the more intangible job of providing spiritual leadership.\u00a0 They might be doing perfectly fine at the former (though presumably this is largely delegated) but their effectiveness at the latter is highly suspect when they shrug off declines in numbers of Catholics, declines in the number of professing Catholics who are active, and endless increases in the number of ex-Catholics.\u00a0 Whether they cop to it or not, it\u2019s easy to believe that they have comforted themselves decade after decade that the number of people leaving the Church (which is not even remotely balanced out by converts to Catholicism) is offset by new Catholic migrants coming in, so not really a big deal, or, alternately, that drops in membership are just natural and a decline that must <\/span>simply be effectively managed.<\/p>\n Which is why I say that the core message is \u201cyou\u2019re on your own.\u201d\u00a0 If something that the Pope or your bishop, or another bishop, says, speaks to you, that\u2019s great.\u00a0 But we can\u2019t rely on them to fix anything \u2014 not about the sexual abuse issue, and certainly not about the issue of people leaving the church.\u00a0 I mean really:\u00a0 if you\u2019re like me, you encounter your bishop\/archbishop\/cardinal in two circumstances:\u00a0 when your parish is forced to play his recording asking for money, and when he\u2019s on the news about some political cause.<\/p>\n And, yes, here locally, Cardinal Cupich has his \u201cRenew My Church\u201d initiative, which claims to be about equipping parishes to be more effective at ministering, but the only outcome I\u2019ve seen so far is the assignment of \u201cchurch groupings\u201d and the periodic announcements of church and school closings.<\/p>\n But, again, I\u2019ve sent out yet another e-mail asking for help with serving after-mass donuts.\u00a0 And I\u2019m still discouraged at the prospects for any sort of rebuilding at the parish level \u2014 or, at least, some parishes are doing great and others are full of Catholics whose attitude towards volunteering is, as seems to be the norm for Catholics, \u201csomeone else can do it,\u201d and whose attitude towards evangelism is \u201cas long as I\u2019m nice to people and periodically mumble something about praying for them on facebook, that\u2019s good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n So that\u2019s the end of my rant.\u00a0 Please feel free to jump in with comments.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:United_States_Conference_of_Catholic_Bishops.svg; By Ng556 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0) or Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You\u2019ll understand if I\u2019m a bit grumpy today, after several days of watching the latest developments with the latest bishops\u2019 meeting, at which they profess to care about regaining the trust of American Catholics, even though the Pope forbade them from voting on measures designed to do just that, even though Cardinal Roger Mahoney \u2014 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