One might think that a settlement of $660 million to settle 500 cases of clergy sex abuse would satisfy the needs of justice. However, one cannot help but criticize the church's leadership (Cardinal Mahoney) that has waited until the day before court cases were to start to arrive at a settlement. For these many years, they have stonewalled the prosecution's attempt to (a) examine documents, (b) address the needs of victims, and (c) admit to the horrendous criminal activity and the irresponsible management of clergy who were moved from place to place in spite of their criminal behavior.
It is the lack of responsible leadership that is the worse aspect of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. If clergy who abused young people were properly processed criminally immediately and removed from the status of priests, the numbers of victims would have been reduced to the rate of other helping professions, e.g., teachers, youth workers, etc. The high number of victims can be attributed to irresponsible leadership and no bishop has been sanctioned. This is a source of great anger and frustration. How can an organization that promotes justice and love be credible when their leaders cannot exemplify the virtues held as standards?
No comments:
Post a Comment