Unapologetic Catholic

SNAP unfairly accused of "heresy"

Read the open letter.  Do you see where SNAP called for the destruction of the Catholic Church?

Do you see where SNAP called for democratic elections?

Neither did I.

Yet the Cardinal George Fan Club claims that SNAP has called for changes in church governance. Mark Shea joins in the fun and drifts into fantasy land claiming SNAP’s letter is a "desperate attempt to cling to power." What was he thinking! "Cling!" As if a group of people abused by priests ever had power. His rhetorical aim is worse than Dick Cheney’s on a quail hunt.

Mark Shea also accuses SNAP of advocating for a system of checks and balances modeled after the U. S. Constitution.No they didn’t. They asked the Cardinal to do his JOB as a Catholic Bishop. They asked him to do what he committed to do at Dallas: Transparency.

The Cardinal George Fan Club is the worst kind of Catholic apologist. They meet the worst aspect of the dictionary definition of apologist: making excuses for a person or institution.

I’ve noticed a peculiar habit in many Catholic blogs that claim to be orthodox. When they disagree with other Catholics they go to great lengths to characterize that other position as "unorthodox. Disagreement is not enough--the opposing point of view is wrong and, therefore, must be unorthodox. 

The SNAP letter is a good example.  Despite accusations of heresy, It does not call for any reorganization of the Church. It asksthe Cardinal to consult—get advice from other people. SNAP’s letter still leaves the Cardinal in charge and solely responsible. I don’t know the facts underlying the Chicago situation. I do know that, regardless of the underlying facts, Cardinal George is not practicing the transparency he preached in Dallas:

Artilce 7:  Dioceses/eparchies are to be open and transparent in communicating with the public about sexual abuse of minors by clergy within the confines of respect for the privacy and the reputation of the individuals involved. This is especially so with regard to informing parish and other church communities directly affected by ministerial misconduct involving minors.

Manzanar

Our family went skiing this past weekend.  On the way back we stopped at Manzanar.  I happened to stumble across the site several years ago when it was just some abandoned foundations in the middle of nowhere.  Since my last stop, the U.S. government has put up a very impressive visitor's center.

This was a reflective visit and, as I walked around, I pondered the icon of one of the most extreme episodes of injustice in U.S. history, surpassed only by our treatment of the Indian populations and slavery.  The concept of American concentration camps is hard to fathom.

The visitor’s center describes how different groups of Japanese Americans handled this terrible injustice.  Many young men enlisted in the U.S. armed forces during World War II while their relatives were interned in the Manzanar concentration camp. The most famous of these Japanese American units were the 442^nd, the “Go for Broke” division, and the 100th Infantry “Purple Heart Battalion."  Not trusted to fight in the Pacific theater, these units suffered heavy casualties in the Italian campaign.  Our country owes a huge debt of gratitude for the bravery of these men fighting against fascism.

I am in awe of these men who sacrificed their lives for their country that was incarcerating their families.  I’m afraid bitterness would have overcome me.  Still, their combat bravery highlighted the awful injustice being done.

Others reacted differently and refused to be relocated to the camps.  These Japanese Americans took a different tack against injustice.

Yet in many ways they achieved just as much.  Fred Korematsu refused to be relocated and went to jail for standing up for justice, just as Martin Luther King and Gandhi did.  As a result of his personal integrity, he lent his name to a Supreme Court case synonymous with injustice, the Dred Scott decision of the twentieth century.  His own denunciation of authority with dignity made him a hero as much as the brave members of the 442nd.

The different roads to justice undertaken by the Japanese Americans in World War II allow all of us today to reflect on our own approach to justice today.

How do we seek justice for those around us?  How do we prevent injustice?  The Church has a lot to say about justice.

Along with most other people, I struggle with how to prevent injustice and mostly how to handle injustice in my own life.  We all have one example of handling personal injustice, but I doubt I would be brave enough to emulate that example.  My personal failures only add to the injustice in the world today.

How can this happen?

Cardinal George doesn't get it.  In a letter to the laity of Chicago, he apologizes for what he calls "the great embarrassment every Catholic must now feel."

This is on the heels of disclosures that the Cardinal failed to remove a priest accused do sexual abuse.  The predictable happened--the priest abused again.

The news report says, "The 11-year-old boy, who came forward Monday, claims the abuse began in October 2004 and continued until Dec. 31, 2005 -- four months after George had decided not to remove McCormack from St. Agatha, instead appointing another priest as a monitor to ensure McCormack was never alone with children. "

Note this was not an "old" complaint. This was after the bishops instituted procedures to prevent these things from happening. 

Clearly, Cardinal George is not serious about stopping clergy sexual abuse.  Cardinal George admitted he didn't react more hastily to the McCormack case because the priest had an "excellent reputation."  Don't they all?

"We thought this was done, or at least contained, and it doesn't seem to have been. I can only apologize for that."

No, that's not true.  You can resign.  We should be able to find a bishop who is capable of simply follwing procedures to prevent clergy sex abuse.  Cardinal, we are not embarrassed.  We are angry.

In a not unrelated note, a legal scholar calls for a congressional investigation of the Catholic Church.

In the imortal words of George Bush, "Bring it on!"