Lay Catholics have long been expected to “pray, pay and obey.”
This is so engrained in a lot of Catholics that literally thousands of them stood by while priests molested and raped their own children. When bishops bullied them into silence, they allowed themselves to be silenced.
Catholics have also long accepted the notion that they have to right to know or be a part of any decisions that are made by their Church. If a bishop wants to close their parish and tell them to drive long distances for mass, they are helpless to do anything about it. If a bishop places a priest who is verbally abusive, tyrannical and cruel in his dealings with them, they have to accept it.
I doubt if most Catholics even think to ask what the bishops really do with the money they donate, or how much money the bishops receive from outside sources.
So it is a huge thing when a bishop says that he and other bishops must “cede authority” by allowed laity to have something to say about how they are dealing with the clergy sex abuse crisis. In the world outside the Church, this would be laughable. It is akin to being impressed and grateful when a rapist, robber or arsonist “cedes” his by allowing someone else to investigate his crimes.
The whole discussion is very revealing as to how we got to this horrific, generational, organized, worldwide sexual abuse of children in the first place.
From National Catholic Reporter:
Individual Catholic bishops across the United States must renounce some of the supreme authority they have over their dioceses to allow for the creation of a new national body to investigate misconduct allegations, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said.
When the U.S. bishops meet in November to consider the continuing clergy sexual abuse crisis, Cupich said the prelates “have to be very clear about an accountability procedure for accusations about bishops.”
“Bishops have to, as a group, say, ‘We cede our rights as bishops to have somebody else come in and investigate us,’ ” the cardinal told NCR. “Every bishop has to be willing to say, ‘I will allow myself to be investigated by an independent group if there is an accusation against me.’ “
In an exclusive Oct. 13 interview, Cupich spoke about what the U.S. bishops should do during their annual meeting — to be held in Baltimore Nov. 12-14 — to address concerns raised after the revelations about now ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians.
The Chicago cardinal, who is taking part in the Oct. 3-28 Synod of Bishops as a papal appointee, also spoke about his own experience working with abuse survivors, the mentality bishops need to adopt in allowing themselves to be held accountable, and the scapegoating of priests with homosexual orientation.
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