Make no mistake: there is a huge similarity in the modus operandi of the bishops that hid predator-priests from prosecution through denials and obfuscation and the M.O. of the Canadian bishops that are hiding and denying the truth about Development and Peace. The scandal is very different, but the underlying culture of hiding problems and being above reproach is the same. Very little has changed. Even the most faithful bishops in this country are gun-shy when it comes to openly denouncing the Development and Peace scandal. Have they not learned anything from the sex abuse scandal?
Lukewarm Catholicism is a systemic problem that requires a comprehensive big-picture strategy. I don’t have a miracle solution, but we should be thinking big.
(...)
It’s our duty to try and fix the problem of lukewarm Catholicism. But if we don’t, God won’t hesitate to send us persecutions to clean house. The lukewarm will then bail out of the Church and be pruned away, leaving a more fervent Church for the future. That’s the last resort. It would be most uncharitable for us to sit back and wait for God to do this. After all, we want the lukewarm to convert, not to apostatize and be lost. So let’s get moving.
I said it before and I'll say it again:
As long as the regulations to root out sexual abuse are just paper edicts, and the Church does not promote people who are gung ho about the faith, another scandal is going to erupt.
It's people who matter. The regulations are necessary of course. But if you don't have people who are not keen to obey those regulations out of a sense of duty to God, Truth, and Honesty (instead of just keeping their butts out of jail) forget it.
There'll be another scandal around the corner. We must promote people who love the faith as it is taught and who feel bound in conscience by it. Because if they don't, they will hide abuse once again, if they feel they can. Now it may not be sexual abuse. It'll be some other form of abuse of power. But it will happen. It's human nature. If rules don't matter, you don't follow them if you can get away with it.
