Go here to read the story. All Church led efforts to attack the problem of predator clergy proceed as follows: protestations of the need for change within the Church in order to protect children; programs implemented to educate the laity about how they need to keep their hands off children; self congratulatory missives indicating that the problem has been solved and the few rotten clerical apples dealt with; some new outrage explodes and the process repeats. The men at the top have zero interest in solving the problem, and the real problem, as far as they are concerned, is to mollify the rubes in the pew, while they go merrily about business as usual.
Ezekiel 34:1-10
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ho, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep; 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
Well, the rubes in the pews keep sending the “men” at the top money to fund their fun, games, and Wine & Cheese parties (aka Synods, Congresses, World Meetings, etc), so there isn’t much reason for the “men” at the top to change.
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Well, not entirely true, I guess. There has been a precipitous drop in rubes over the past few years (decades). And the rubes who do show up (the ones getting married and having children) tend to prefer the all-but-banned Tridentine Rite and homeschooling.
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There will be much wandering in the desert before the Promise Land is populated once again.
PF has never let doing his job get in the way of his agenda.
I laughed when I had to be “virtis or virtus” trained. I didn’t realize the pew sitter was the cause for the sex crimes of the clergy. Since then I am more and more careful than to trust the bishops and above when then come up with new and better ideas that seem insane. We need real shepherds and fewer pencil pushers with white collars.