Benedict's in a box in talking about the crisis

dismiss bishops guilty of ignoring priests guilty of sex abuse

As a survivor of abuse by priests when I was a child and a teen, I am less incredulous about how clueless the hierarchy remains than I am about how lay Catholics insist on remaining perplexed. To the shock of many and dismay of secular therapists, I remain Roman Catholic.

Mr. Allen posits that the challenge is finding a way to move forward constructively without constantly bringing up the past. This is a surprise in the matter of child sexual abuse? That, Mr. Allen, is the same problem survivors face - and have overcome. Their stories have much to offer.

These stories are already at work in the Church. There is (admittedly just) one diocese in the United States with a deeply committed program to minister to people who have survived abuse by those with authority in the Church. The program has demonstrated powerful results, even beyond profound recoveries from the faith trauma. In it, survivors bring their experience to help all those who have suffered abuse or violence. Social workers, survivors, priests and Bishop work together to nurse wounded faith, which plays a central role in overall recovery.

Here, too, priests, seminarians, deacons, therapists, social workers, youth ministers, teachers and administrators - many working within the diocese gather to listen to the stories, reporting their own faith is uplifted and their own work with others improved.

I have devoted my life to this work with this diocese - a most unlikely conclusion to an arduous and sorrowful journey toward recovery and joy.

If the Pope or others really want to see the true potential they ought to look in my home diocese, to which I donate all speaking fees. All proceeds from the book I wrote from my speeches, RESTORING SANCTUARY, also are donated to support this program. Of which the Pope and all the hand-wringing lay Catholics seem strangely ignorant.

May God grant knowledge and peace.

I think there is a bigger problem. Is the sex abuse problem a crisis? I would argue it is a problem that will always exist as it exists in society. Crisis implies that the abuse is happening in the her and now. What we are discovering is past abuse and cover up. So, I don't think the "abuse" is a crisis. And, just like in society vigilance will always be required. In regard to that definition of the situation, the Church and the Pope have not much and perhaps are more safe than our own homes.

Is the coverup the crisis? If so, there is nothing one can do about that really. For example, Cardinal Law was investigated. Like it or not criminal charges were not made. There is also no evidence of a vast conspiracy either. Is the coverup a manufactured crisis - no, it is real and offensive and hurtful to the victims and the church. But this type of behavior exists in all organizations. So what is the crisis?

What is the crisis? The crisis really is a lack of faith and trust. Seems to me that in this regard the Pope has done all he can to speak on the important themes and hold people accountable. But the crisis has given a gift to those who don't really believe or want to reform the Church into a more Protestant form of the religion to make their case against the Church. Sad really because we are an ancient faith which has endured many crisis and when we adhere to the creed we come through these things. That this isn't recognized as effective by others, doesn't mean the Pope isn't doing anything. I only means we have lost our ability to be religious.

The Pope's words will continue to ring hollow and insulting until he announces that he has removed from office and honor the several hundred cardinals and bishops known to have done the most to preserve the Church's traditions of clerical sexual abuse. His reaction to the Belgian operation ("deplorable"), his refusal to accept resignations Irish bishops offered because of their own negligence, and his continuing honor to Cardinal Law say more than any words of dismay.

Benedict has played the usual answer of the church for priests in trouble: namely, throw them out into the ditch.
That is hardly the norm for an institution whose founder spoke of forgiveness, saying
"with what measure you measure, you will be measured." All the rhetoric about charity means nothing
if sins cannot be forgiven, and if emotional disorder cannot be healed. Anything else denies every Christian
principle there is for rehabilitating fallen sheep--and priests are part of the flock with the same rights
as sheep=hood in general. James McCormick, disgusted

Why is this such a difficult question? Of course the pope has to keep apologizing, even though it's not new. But of course he has to take action as well, and that will be new. However, as long as he continues to protect such people as Cardinal Law, as well as the Irish bishops who tried to resign, as long as he tells Cardinal Schoenborn to keep his mouth shut rather than calling for Sodano (the protector and champion of Maciel) to resign -- and for the reform of the curia -- will it be possible to take the apologies seriously?

This is like a confession in the name of the church. It is good that the church is contrite for the sins of sexual abuse by clergy. We do not know for sure whether the motives are because they are forced by public disclosure of the crimes of many priests, but even if it is imperfect, it is still good that Pope Benedict expresses that contrition publicly. Now come the next necessary steps: acts to be performed by the church "in order to repair the harm ... and to re-establish habits befitting disciples of Christ." Without those acts, the words ring hollow.

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1491 The sacrament of Penance is a whole consisting in three actions of the penitent and the priest's absolution. The penitent's acts are repentance, confession or disclosure of sins to the priest, and the intention to make reparation and do works of reparation.

1492 Repentance (also called contrition) must be inspired by motives that arise from faith. If repentance arises from love of charity for God, it is called "perfect" contrition; if it is founded on other motives, it is called "imperfect."

1494 The confessor proposes the performance of certain acts of "satisfaction" or "penance" to be performed by the penitent in order to repair the harm caused by sin and to re-establish habits befitting a disciple of Christ.

Why is the Vatican so slow to get it? I'm sick and tired of the "same old, same old." Perhaps Benedict's age is telling and his short term memory is going; that would explain his repetitious apologies. But in prepared speeches? Well, the inner circle is all old, so ....

What Allen calls "nit-picking" looks like objective reporting to me. Every word the pope uses is important. If Allen were more objective, instead of acting like he is on a commission to canonize the criminal pope, he might recognize this.
How can the pope's apology be believed? By taking balme and suffering the consequences, along with all the other bishops who had anything to do with the abuse, either by what they did or didn't do.
Until this happens, this pope should not mention the whole sorry mess again. He is just making a fool of himself. Most people see this, and one day, even pope supporters like Allen will see it as well.

Actions that do not back up "words"-----"Pope Benedict XVI has decided not to accept the resignation of two Dublin auxiliary bishops who resigned in the wake of the Murphy Report investigation into clerical child abuse in the archdiocese."

All he had to do was accept the resignations not try to talk them into resigning or God forbid, disciplining these bishops.............but NO the church would rather discipline a nun (OK excommunicate!!) for working in real life struggles with people and walking that journey with them instead of pontificating. That nun is more of an image of God than the pope will EVER be.

Cheers,

Actions speak louder than words. Benedict XVI needs to back up his apologies with solid action. Optional celibacy and more women in ministry is what he needs to act on. He is wasting precious time as the young people walk away from the church.

Talk is cheap. It's actions that count. This Pope is creating a disaster. Perhaps he represents the way the Catholic Church really is. If so, it's only the beginning of a disaster as more and more people not only leave, but lose their faith in God and regard religious institutions as a danger to the world.
This Pope speaks with forked-tongue- on sexual abuse, women, welfare of families, Islam, Judaism and the residual Nazi thinking recently welcomed into the Church. He speaks disrespectfully to other's morals, condemning those who do not even care about his opinion as if he is ruling the world. Thank heavens the Papacy no longer controls armies.
What a shame. Catholicism could be- and has been- such an enriching, constructive force in the development of mankind and the world.

Empty words. His apologies will not ring true until he takes action. The structure that created this problem needs to be changed. When will the church return to Jesus' message?

The Pope is lucky to be in a figurative box. I become increasingly acerbic too. Is this some kind of Helter Skelter? 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Some freak in California handcuffs boys and rapes them at gunpoint, and this Pope chose to do nothing. Hundreds of thousands of children all over the world defiled and ruined. Some are no longer there because they had to kill themselves. I'm calling this Helter Skelter. Can the world do nothing about this? Do we have to wait til the children go nuts and start chopping off heads? Do we have to let this guy tour the world with his endless insulting talk about what is unspeakable? These things were unspeakable when they happened. They are eminently speakable now. But not by this guy, the main enabler. Somebody has to shut this guy up. There is no happy ending here so long as civil society defers to these madmen. Thank God for the 10,000 in London today who give a damn.

In Mexico we sing with famous singer:" Ya lo pasado... pasado... no me inteeresa" (What is past... is past... it dont have interest for me...".The Pope can continue in his unfinished (it has to be IN THIS WAY with any historical and social sin... like the ORIGINAL SIN)... BUT He has to make something very "salutaris" for the problem and the sickness and the institutional sin... If He today announces in England:" today I estblaished a Pontifical Comission in order to study the way to resinsataurate the optional celibatarian priesthood in the next year in order to conmemorate the 50 years of the begining of the Vatican II"...

Good God, now he's having his big fake secret unspeakable meeting with victims in London. God forgive the victims who give him this empty stage.

As someone who was sexually abused by a priest as a young woman, the major emotions I experienced were confusion and self-recrimination. As a woman, I had been taught that my body was a "temptation" and thus I held myself responsible for many years.

It happened almost 40 years ago -- and it was only three years ago that I was able to recognize that it was not my fault. In the meantime my relationships had suffered a great deal.

Nevertheless I have never been inclined to sue the Church, and remain a devout member (of the mass every day, rosary every night variety). The church when I was growing up taught us that to think about sex was sinful -- hence we tried to "shelve" so to speak a very basic human emotion. Our priests suffered from this same pastoral advice as young men growing up.

Our priests have been victims of this kind of thinking however when the most basic of human emotions are not addressed, the ensuing compartmentalization of emotion and human behavior is disastrous.

I think often of the priest who abused me -- a dynamic man who gave wonderful meaningful sermons -- I feel for him and for others like him.

Certainly the Church is responsible for how this crisis was handled (a crisis that is all through our society, it just shocks and angers us when we find it in our church). But the underlying problem has been the pastoral position that sex was something easily sublimated. The media has provided us with a sea of titillation for which most of us had not formed the resources within with which to cope.

Frankly, I would feel demeaned taking money from the Church for this -- I find it far more healing to forgive.

What a blessing if BXVI,and the cardinals, bishops who were involved in the denial and coverup would read the NCR's readers comments. The Holy Spirit might wake up their dead minds to accept the wisdom and sincerity of faith in many of the laity. The number of laity leaving the RCC might seem insignificant but will continue if they find Jesus's truth elsewhere. The pics of BXVI vested "in wealth" offends, given the economic status world-wide. Contrast that with the pics of Blessed Mother Teresa in her humble habit receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Personally, I encounter Jesus through Blessed Mother Teresa. Pauline Bova NM

The Pope is doing what is needed. The press is still trying to sell a story that the world is now much less interested in. Now the world wants to hear what the Pope has to say, but some of the press doggedly clings to the sex abuse issue, rather than reflect and write about the rest of the Pope's message.

When Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the RCC Sexual Abuse Crisis aboard the papal plane to the United States in 2008, he said, "he was “deeply ashamed” and that “we will do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future,” it was big news.

And what do the Pope's words mean to NYC Bishop Dolan or any Bishop for that matter? Quite honestly, what do they really mean to the Pope?

Sex abuse victims blast NY archbishop
He “quietly and deceptively” lets serial pedophile resign
Harlem pastor gets to step aside instead of being ousted
At least ten men accuse prominent cleric of molesting them
Still, Dolan lets alleged predator write “self-pitying” letter to parish

“This is one of the most troubling cases we’ve seen in eight years”

Clergy sex abuse victims are blasting New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan for “quietly and deceptively” letting a suspended alleged serial pedophile priest resign and write a “deceitful, self-pitying” letter to his former parishioners last Sunday in which nothing was said about the child sex accusations against him.

In Dolan’s own to parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo in Harlem, the archbishop revealed that Msgr. Wallace A. Harris, who was suspended in 2008, would not be returning. But Dolan also said nothing about the fact that at least ten men have reported being molested as boys by Harris in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It’s just mean-spirited of Dolan to let a predator write a deceitful, self-pitying letter to parishioners essentially denying his guilt,” said David Clohessy of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Is this Dolan’s new policy with predators – resigning instead of being ousted, getting one last shot to win sympathy and put their ‘spin’ on their crimes, and basically discouraging others who were sexually assaulted from coming forward?”

Harris’ letter, apparently given out at masses last weekend, mentions several health problems he allegedly is experiencing.

Bishop Dolans Letter http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ny_newyork/2010_09_02_Dolan_MyBroth...
Msgr. Harris' Letter http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ny_newyork/2010_08_28_Harris_MyDear...

“Because Dolan has chosen to be duplicitous, we suspect some parishioners will continue to believe Harris is innocent,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP. “That means they’ll still trust their kids around him so it’s highly possible that Harris will again be able to sexually assault another Catholic child.”

“Harris should be on record as ‘permanently removed from ministry due to multiple credible child sex abuse reports,’” said Dorris. “Instead, because Dolan is so callous and reckless, Harris will go around presenting himself as a retired priest, which of course opens many more doors to families and positions of power and access to kids.”

“If you want to protect kids, you make it crystal clear that a cleric is a child predator,” said Clohessy. “If, however, you want to protect the church’s reputation, staff and money, you make it all murky and enable people to live in doubt and denial. That’s what Dolan is doing, and it leaves children vulnerable and victims wounded.”

SNAP is also highly critical that the archdiocese’s process of dealing with Harris took more than two years. The group is upset that Dolan did not announce his decision to not re-instate Harris to the diocese and the metro area through a news conference or news release.

“It’s interesting to see America’s most media-hungry bishop not even sending out a news release about one of the archdiocese’s most prominent accused priests,” said Clohessy. “There may be dozens of Harris victims scattered across the New York area and beyond. But Dolan clearly doesn’t want them to learn about this news or reach out to them offering help.”

For months after Harris was suspended in 2008, some parishioners hung posters on parish property by the church’s front doors expressing strong backing for Harris, with phrases like “We’ll stand by you, Msgr. Harris,” “Don’t believe the media hype,” “Born, raised, worked in Harlem,” and “One of ours.”

SNAP believes allowing such public displays of support for accused child molesting clerics, especially on church property, scares others with information about child sex crimes who might otherwise speak up.

“The archdiocese is at best tolerates and at worst sanctions a hurtful, intimidating ‘mob atmosphere’ that frightens victims, witnesses and whistleblowers into staying silent,” said Dorris. “That, in turn, puts children at greater risk of being molested and rubs even more salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of adults who were victimized as kids.”

Harris isn’t the only predator priest to have worked at St. Charles Borromeo. In 2003, Fr. Francis Xavier Nelson was convicted of molesting a 12 year old girl in Brooklyn.
According to the New York Times, “church officials supervising (Nelson) had been aware of the allegations in 1999 and considered them credible, but he was allowed to transfer from Brooklyn to the Archdiocese of New York.”
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2002_05_24_Wakin_PriestCharged...
According to BishopAccountability.org, Nelson “has since returned to his church in the diocese of Kottar in southern India, where he works in the bishop's office.”
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2010/03_04/2010_04_14_MercuryNe...

St. Charles Borromeo is the home parish of New York Governor David A. Patterson.

Harris was the event coordinator for Pope Benedict's Sunday afternoon Mass at Yankee Stadium earlier in 2008.

One reason that this problem sticks with us is that while we continue to apologize, we don't change the structure - we remain a patriarchal oligarchy, with the clergy on the inside and the laity on the outside without ownership or voice. The Bishops insist that they and they alone retain all power and that they cannot change the structure because it is the structure instituted by Christ, while we all recognize that Jesus did not start a new church - he never walked away from his Jewish heritage - but he taught a new message by his life of giving and service. He did not reside in palaces nor did he assume grand titles of the royalty or the empire. When those in power hang on to power and fail to realize that Jesus gave up all power - but not his authority and that they are different. The empire crucified Jesus - God incarnate in human flesh - emptying himself, but becoming food for the world. When we as church begin to wrestle with this spiritual reality, then we will be able to move on.

As for apologies, Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese has the right answer: "Nor is one apology enough. Like a husband who has been unfaithful to his wife, they must apologize, apologize, apologize."

See his excellent article, "Taking Responsibility" at http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12225

As for Benedict, again I am reminded of John Locke: "The actions of men are the beset interpreters of their thoughts."

So, how shall we interpret Benedict's thoughts/apologies, except by gauging his actions? His actions, beyond summoning bishops to meetings, issuing theological reflections on sin and secularism, are confined to a few elementary steps long overdue:

1) extending canon law statutes of limitations 10 years and granting appeals beyond that

2) allowing the removal of priests administratively without long trials, before forwarding cases to Rome (after decades of rejection of US bishops' pleas for canon law reforms)

3) accepting the resignations of three Irish bishops, while refusing to accept those offered by two others (meanwhile, countless enabling bishops throughout Europe and the US, including Law, have been promoted to higher office; none removed by the Vatican, others retiring with full honors)

4) abuse of the mentally handicapped that began after their 18th birthdays is now covered, along with minors (that it was ever excluded is an obscenity, yes?)

These necessary though modest changes took about eight years of relentless (and I mean relentless) pressure, accompanied by Vatican statements deflecting blame on American culture, the media, the Jews, secularism, the devil, doctors, (take your pick) does not inspire confidence. IOW, the Church was dragged kicking and screaming into improvements.

Reports to civil authorities are required only where the local law so stipulates. Many US states do not have mandatory reporting laws for clergy; Ireland does not, Belgium does not, Germany does not, far as I can recall from following developments.

So, the secrets have reasonable chance of continuing. Even Ireland's guidelines calling for police notification ran into reservations from canonists, and were not given Vatican recognition. The US gets away with mandatory reporting only because the law requires it in certain states, so the Vatican accepts that bishops obey the law where it applies. Grudging compliance.

Now for the actions Benedict needs to take to give teeth to his words about doing everything possible to help victim/survivors:

1) Remove the top echelon of complicit bishops from office (there would be few left if all were included) and retire Law from his membership on powerful Vatican boards. There is no genuine accountability when past wrongdoing is ignored.

2) Order the release of documents about abuse cases to government investigation agencies, survivor attorneys and the public. The Vatican refused to turn over files to Ireland's investigating commissions, and like bishops everywhere, fights page by page to keep evidence hidden. We need the truth, the facts, so healing may begin. Will Belgian church officials be forthcoming without court order, or force civil authorities to squeeze every legal appeal/maneuver possible before cooperating? US bishops are expert at scorched earth legalities to avoid accountability.

3) Publish a worldwide database of proven, admitted and credibly accused priests so that children have a greater chance of protection. So many priests with abuse records have been transferred internationally, as well as among dioceses in a country.

BishopAccountability.org has done what it can to gather the names of about 3,000 out of 5,000 accused, and employers like school districts have found applicants on the list. One victim even found his therapist's name there.

As for how remarkable Benedict was in promptly going after Maciel of the Legion of Christ: Upon Maciel's consignment to a life of prayer and penance in 2006, Benedict never even acknowledged Maciel's sexual abuse. There was no mention whatsoever of Maciel's victims, and no verdict of guilt, after three decades of seeking justice.

The victims who brought the canon case didn't exist officially as far as the Vatican was concerned. That was immensely hurtful. And it took about three more years before there was admission by the Vatican of sexual abuse, but always and ever in euphemistic language. No survivor has ever been publicly invited to the Vatican.

So, grudging reforms only in reaction to enormous outside pressure, primarily self-excusing rationales, eventual inch-by-inch admissions of slowness (that's all?), and never, ever, direct Vatican, or personal culpability for criminal negligence. A wide crime wave over decades just happened unwittingly.

Aggressive, proactive response is lacking.

The pope is an old man, now, and cannot be expected to create the steps necessary to hold accountable those bishops and cardinals who, if not molesting children themselves, have enabled the pedophile clerics to do so all over the world. Parading Benedict around the globe under these circumstances qualifies as elder abuse.

The men nearest the pope, like Cardinal Levada, cannot advocate for accountability because Levada himself placed a known pedophile, Rev. Gregory Ingels, in charge of establishing clergy sex abuse policies for our entire country. As long as Levada, Law, and all the enabling hierarchy are not held accountable, the pope's words of apology are absurd and our beloved catholic faith is made mockery of.

The pedophiles and their enablers have been running the orphanages and the ones in the know are still in the know and still in charge. They don't give a fiddler's fiddle about the children, the least among us.

But each time, he squanders precious time that should be spent on stopping child sex crimes and cover ups now and in the future.”
....
SNAP needs to read the data. The sexual abuse crisis (per the John Jay data) is an artifact of the 1960s and 1970s The number of cases since John Paul the Great took the chair of Peter is down by 95%.

The data show that the Church has moved to stop child sex crimes, as much as our fallen nature is likely to allow.

These should be the words we are hearing. "Today I'm accepting the resignation of Cardinal Law." The would speak loudly.

The Pope is a man who wears many hats. The "crisis" is a reality which has many faces. The People of God hear/speak from many perspectives. This is true of all of the various manifestations of the People of God: victims/survivors, abusers, clerics-who-cover-up, clerics-who-don't, the non-cleric baptized including religious sisters/brothers, clerics with ecclesiastical/juridical offices and so on.

I see the above as part of the box Pope BXVI is in. Because the Church (capital C)encompasses all the above and more, no amount of talk or even isolated moves by him will solve anything. The Church (capital c) has lost respect, moral stature and integrity everywhere. Mr. Allen is only partly right when he states the Pope has two options (say or do something new - like develop a new policy, spiritual initiative or gesture of accountability - all piecemeal projects incidentally and therefore dead-end moves). Actually there is a third option - structural reform - which encompasses the three items above and much, much more. So far though this has been a something abhored by him, the curia, other ecclesiastical "allies" (Mr. Allen's word, not mine) and their benefactors.

I was intrigued with Benedict's references to Mental Illness as a causal factor in the whole abuse issue. One realizes this can be much misinterpreted, given the terrible mis-use made of Psychological Assurances that were so ritualized in how Bishop's dealt with reports of Abuse in the past, using them as cover for not taking responsibility and just moving offenders on to a new happy hunting ground, but if he is serious, I would like to see Benedict taken up on the need for this discourse.

Where to begin? Right now I would start with asking Benedict to sit down and review the eight to ten hours of video tape Charlie Rose recently broadcast on his PBS program, with the Medical, Neurological, Psychiatric, Bio-Phyists, (many other specialists), who are the cutting edge collaborators in what is commonly now called "Brain Science" -- a fast moving multi-disciplinary research effort that has the potential for offering true breakthroughs in how a variety of types of Mental Illness are both understood, and approached at the level of therapy. After carefully reviewing the Rose Interviews, perhaps studying the transcripts and the literature they reference, perhaps then some sort of semi-public seminar could be set up so as to illuminate the importance of the effort, and suggest that it might help address real problems. Perhaps Rose and his collection of leading researchers could be part of such a dialogue -- that would be real information gathering so as to understand the field. It certainly would introduce new dimensions to the dialogue vis a vis the Catholic Abuse Crisis.

I do not see the Roman Catholic Church as any sort of leader in this scientific mission. It is an instutution that over the centuries has denounced modernism, and empirical science is decidedly modernist, but given today's landscape, and the need to figure out what to do with and for both those who traumatize, and those who have been traumatized, it should be carefully following the work in the field of Brain Science, and the possible applications to the Roman Church's own problems. In fact, the increasing interest in this field is mostly secularly driven. Human Rights Groups want to comprehend what to do for "child soldiers" who have been raped, brutalized, and handed an AK 47 to use in tribal or street warfare. The US Military is slowly comprehending PTSD, and realizing that costs of treatment will break the national budget as things are moving now -- better the VA and Military Medicine invest in potentially useful research. And State Corrections Departments, faced with sexual offenders with long sentences plus post sentence commitment orders, are looking at the impact on State Budgets, and their missions. The Catholic Church should get in line as an institution with interests in this area of research. It should not attempt to structure the research, to issue opinions and the like -- it should listen and watch, and perhaps from time to time attempt to form significant ethical questions for the qualified scientific researchers. But keep them out of the back room where research is structured, and grants proposed and made.

And among beliefs frequently expressed here is the notion that little can or should be done either for the offender, or for those who have been profoundly abused by serial offenders. Sadly this just assumes that Psychology and the Neurological Medical Sciences are static. 'is as it was, is as it always shall be' perhaps. Well that is just false. Forty years ago or so, we sent Thousands upon Thousands of Mentally ill and Impaired persons off to the back wards of god awful Mental Hospitals with disgnosis such as Depression, Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar disorder, and the like to simply live as vegetables, on grounds they might harm themselves or others if not caged. Today, if they are lucky and have access to quality Health Care based in some of the early understandings in this field, many fully function in society. In fact, several of the Researchers Rose presented on his programs were precisely brilliant individuals such as this. One in particular was studying specific characterizable and measurable brain damage resulting from childhood sexual trauma -- a sub-speciality of some import to a topic that should interest Benedict. And yes, others were looking at measurable brain differences characteristic of known sexual offenders.

For those who did not happen onto Charlie Rose's series of interviews, they are Archived at his PBS website. Transcripts too, plus additional bibliographic materials. One can become informed.

But the British Paper, The Guardian, carried a most ironic picture of the New Scotland Yard HQ sign today in its coverage of the Papal Visit to London. Threats were picked up against the security of the visitors, and New Scotland Yard quickly made arrests, and reviewed all security arrangements. Doesn't it strike funny that Benedict's court is DEPENDING on the investigative qualities of New Scotland Yard for his own security, but he still has not "blessed" the crime fighting abilities of their detectives (or that of any other criminal investigators for that matter) in providing security for just ordinary folk who might be a victim or target of someone known within his church organization as a potential threat? I am not certain that one needs to go so far as run police or abuse investigative phone numbers as news runners under every bit of video during a Papal Visit, but he has yet to say much about the necessity of co-operating with Civil Authority in investigating and legally dealing with offenders. He can't vocalize the criminal content of the whole matter, and the legitimacy of the demand for following the civil laws in all states where Churches exist. If he wants to say something new, he could talk about this irony and about crime prevention.

When discourse about a set of problems seems to devolve into repeating things that have already been said over and over again, time is to reach across the borders of paradigms or disciplines, and do a little intellectual comparative work, perhaps a little borrowing from how others understand the similar. That's how you keep discourse healthy and forward moving.

The damage is done. It cannot be undone. This crises will not destroy the Church, but it is a wound that will not heal anytime soon. One thing for sure, the credability of the Bishops regarding talking about sexuality is zero. Only a few "Rad-Trads" take them seriously on contraception and they know it. This sexual abuse by priests debacle have put the last nail in that coffin. Frankly, at this juncture, it would benefit the Vatican to have a moratorium on ranting about contraception and focus on abortion, issues of war and peace, and justice for the poor. The obsession the clergy seems to have with what the married laity do in their bedrooms is not doing anybody any good. Time to move on and build credability.

Beyond the media comments that accompany each of the pope's trip abroad, I know little besides the pope's apologies. What actions have been taken? What further specific actions would people like the church to take? What do we need to do to stop the crisis, specifically?

The reason the church can't move forward is because it doesn't really understand what happened. Why have so many priests felt the need to sexually abuse children and why did the bishops feel compelled to cover up the crime, thus facilitating it growth exponentially? Until the church can answer that question, it can't do more than say, I'm sorry.

B16 in a box of the church's own making! Ratzinger could never have risen through the clerical ranks to the papacy without the support of the reactionary conservatives in the curia and hierarchy. So how could he turn his back on them so easily?!?

As my sainted sixth-grade teacher, Sister Mary Adelaide, would say: "In for a penny, in for a pound!"

Irony of ironies: And yet, that is the very thing he must do if he wants to rescue the church from its present downward spiral. Don't hold your breath waiting for this pope and hierarchy to do the selfless thing: they love their power too much, and not he gospel enough.

I must say that I am beginning to believe that perhaps the Vatican strategy is for this slow-motion implosion of the church to continue unabated, more millions being disaffected from the church and ultimately abandoning it, a retreat of the church from science and the modern world to behind the Vatican walls for a century or so until it is safe again for the corrupt and complicit when no one remembers or cares anymore to come out into the light of day again.

For some time now I have believed that B16 and his hierarchs are hoping for a schism that will leave them isolated, but safe, with all those trouble-making "moral relativists" in democratic societies no longer around to torment them with cries for justice and reason.

It has happened before. Remember the "prisoners of the Vatican." It can happen again.

The Pope, Rome, they just don't get it ..... saying you are sorry is one thing but allowing the perpetrators to remain as Priests and Bishops just doesn't ring with ordinary Catholics. Bishop Law is mentioned rarely nowadays , but the fact that he's still a "big shot" just is not acceptable.

Simply read the book 'Goodbye, Good Men' to see how the Post Vatican II Church let non Catholic 'psychologists' fill seminaries with blatant homosexuals and those who didn't go along with the agenda were labeled 'rigid' and persecuted. I sincerely believe the Holy Father is doing a balancing act to carefully to preserve the 'devastated vineyard' of the Church. What an incredible job for a man in his eighties! Meanwhile insurers give Catholic youth institutions the same rates as public schools and such institutions of other sects and religions. Why? Because the risk is no greater. There are more public school sexual abuse cases by far per capita than in catholic schools. Facts? The media doesn't need them.

I wonder what else you want the Pope to do, perhaps bring out the guilotine to hang all priests who are guilty of pedophile. The present Pontiff has done great church in purifying the Church of this Sin. Perhaps what we have forgotten is that the Church is not just an institution out there, the Church begins with the family, and the family is the domestic church. what we have not asked ourselves is how many pedophiles we have operating at this moment in the homes and in the society outside the Church. What have the society done to control these pedophiles. Instead society have infested the whole atmosphere with a devilish aroma of heinous pronography and glorification of sex which will eventually create more pedophiles and sexual abuse offenders. as long as we have not addressed the issue of sexual abuse in homes and families, we shall never have an end in perhaps having pedophiles within the ranks of teh ordained clergy because it is candidates that the society produces that are presented to the Church to be ordained as priests. Priests do not fall down from heaven, they are products of their society. My advice to Allen and all others who are saying that the Pope should do more is that we should think about what to do with our sex infested society where nothing is sacred anymore and children are having their first sexual experiences too early. Such a culture will continue to produce more pedophiles in the society in the future.

until the pope is willing to act as well as talk, this crisis will not go away. he needs to publicly discipline those bishops/religious superiors whose inaction caused the problem to become a crisis. there are six us bishops that resigned for their abuse of children, why haven't they been defrocked? ncr could give the pope a list of bishops who played hide and seek with the molesters, if the nuncio can't provide one. pope benedict needs our prayers.

The first thing he can do is to strip the arch-hidder of pedophile homosexual priest, "Cardinal" Mahoney of his job and send him to do penance for the rest of his life in a strict monastery. Why have the the Catholics of Los Angeles had to endure this man for so long? And why doesn't the NCR start a ground swell movement remove him -- they were so fast off the mark with Law.

And when did we hear anything about defrocking the arch-hidder of pederasts of the mid-west, Weakland with his payoffs?

Hypocrits.

Mr. Allen says that the pope is left with two options: "Either he must figure out something new to say, or he has to supplement his words with actions – some new policy, some new spiritual initiative, or some new gesture of accountability, which would lend his words new significance."

The problem is that Pope Benedict is incapable of instigating real change because of the guilt he and his predecessor bear in not addressing the scandal when they were getting regular information about the abuse going on right under their noses. They made a decision to "save the church from scandal" and "damn the children." Benedict continues to meet with a few abused individuals here and there almost like he's seeking forgiveness from them for his own peace of mind.

Benedict could have already begun to undo the grave damage of this horrible betrayal of sex abuse by 1. making celibacy optional, and 2. inviting women to become part of the church leadership (which addresses the ordination of women). Inviting women and married couples (parents) to the table would certainly have made a difference in how the priest sex abuse scandal was handled. Until we see women, married couples and married priests involved in the highest decision making of the church, the all male make-up of the leadership won't have much credibility for most Catholics in the world.

Unfortunately, Benedict seems stuck in a medieval time warp where the church is still all powerful and he hopes eventually the hubbub will die down. But there is every indication that Benedict intends to leave this mess for the next pope to deal with.

B16, the Hierarchy and the Curia have spent decades "dithering" & spinning verbal wheels to minimize their realization that PROFOUND CHANGES IN THEIR OWN BEHAVIOR is the only way out of thie self-inflicted problem and scandal in the Church...
It sounds like long-term "fugueing" as the mental health specialists say is a sign of self-inflicted stalement and blockage in the recovery process...

1) REMOVE ANY Clerical Superior from active service, who has any coverup behaviors about sex abuse, financial fraud/scamming, etc... ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP LEVELS!!! No more protection for clerical moral cowards, since they have overwhelmingly displayed their unfitness for their leadership roles for everyone in the world to see...

2) REFORM THE CURIAL MONOPOLY AND RESTORE THE NATIONAL EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES TO REAL LEVELS OF DECENTRALIZED CHURCH GOVERNANCE... If this means a wholesale re-invention, not just another revision, of the Canon Law, so be it!!! It has about as much relevance to the Church and the People of God in the 21st century as the Justinian Legal Code, which it imitates...

Just a small example from real life -- the US Military Code of Justice is fine to deal with sloppy performance of drill practices or combat training runs, but when serious crimes such as rape or murder occur which might invovle military personnel, smart commanders call in the local civilian authorities to handle it...
Only after military perpetrators are finished in civilian courts, do they hold a court-martial to kick them out...sometimes even if not convicted, since their behavior is "conduct unbecoming a member of the US Armed Forces and bringing them into disrepute and scandal"...
The Constitution is the highest law of the land, just as Christ's 2 great commandments and the Beatitutes should trump Canon Law in its applications...

The Catholic media are obsessed with how popular or unpopular the Vatican is among the faithful. Like all media people, evidently, they're hoping for lots of unrest so they'll have something exciting to write and chat about. Without controversy, religion must seem to them terribly dull.

Next stage is to figure out how to deal with this??????Put your money where your mouth is. Stop the pathetic, unauthentic rhetoric and clean house. Any other institution would have fired every "manager" responsible for this travesty. The Church is able to continue to fill the airwaves with the rhetoric that is indicative of a non accountable system where ordination=permission to do whatever the ordained pleases.
Good and holy people deserve good and holy leaders. Unfortunately those good and holy leaders have been trained to be passive rather than courageous and comfortable rather than prophetic. Sad, sad, sad....

Javier's words, "That nun is more of an image of God than the pope will EVER be." I experienced "images of God" often in my 43 yrs. working in the Church. I knew very many nuns/sisters who were Christ-like, loving and protecting children. They refleced Jesus more than most of the priests I knew. There were some exemplary priests, and they were a joy to work with.
A great shining example is Blessed Mother Teresa who loved and protected children and still does through her Missionaries of Charity. She deserves to be named Saint. Our brothers and sisters in India lovingly call her Mother.
Benedict XVI would reflect Jesus better not vested "in wealth." The cardinals, bishops,and also priests who don ostentatious Mass vestments do not portray the humble Jesus. Given the economic suffering world-wide, could they not wear simpler clothing?
Pauline Bova,NM

In the article, Mr. Allen says:

That would seem to leave the pope with two options. Either he must figure out something new to say, or he has to supplement his words with actions – some new policy, some new spiritual initiative, or some new gesture of accountability, which would lend his words new significance.

Note his use of the term "some new gesture of accountability." As long as we're talking about "gestures," we're missing the point of contention for many people.

For a church to be effective today, it must have the trust of those who would be led. By not instilling and implementing personal accountability within the episcopacy, Benedict continues to reinforce the hierarchy's priority that places the protection of priests over that of children. Yes, we've heard the words, the apologies, and seen the photo-op meetings. But the church has been too effective in teaching us that the nature of a Sacrament is that of an outward sign, instituted by Christ, reflecting an inward change. To be effective, I was always taught true repentance requires that one needed not only to be sorrowful, but that when/where possible, one must try to make amends, AND to make a strong commitment to not return to that sin.

By continuing the system wherein a Bishop is like unto a king, in that he is responsible to nobody, save for perhaps a pope who will not hold him accountable, Benedict continues to send that very specific message that what we are hearing are only words. So the foundation of trust in the bishops, and what they teach, is being eroded, as that trust washes away.

Benedict needs more than words. He needs to make changes that clearly and unmistakeably sends the sign that there has been a true change of heart within the episcopacy. To me, that's the real box he's created for himself: the sending of signs that do not indicate a true change of heart. And of course, this means that there are two sets of rules: those that we are to follow as taught by the bishops, and those which are reserved to the bishops themselves.

Would this be too radical that one good priest preferably Bishop and even better a Cardinal would voluntarily spend years in prison for the clergy abuse as way of doing penance for these crimes? Priests have historically volunteered to be arrested for a variety of petty protests that got them high notoriety. Why not volunteer to do time in prison on behalf of all the pedophiles and abusive clerics in the church? It would remove the fear of prison that has caused to many clerics to ethically compromise themselves into protecting guilty priests, Bishops, and Cardinals.

To Sr. Miriam,

By all rights, it should be the Pope himself that does life-long penance for these crimes, not because he is personally guilty but because it would be a sign to the Church and the world that the Church recognizes the enormity of the sin and resolves to make amends.

Let the Church elect a new Pope and let the present one, if he finds it in his heart, spend the remaining years of his life as a living symbol of the Church's penitence.