• The Best Possible End to the McCarrick Affair
While the Vatican’s decision to laicize Theodore McCarrick was a valuable step, it is not, and cannot be, the end of the affair. Mr. McCarrick was the elephant in the room at the recently concluded Vatican summit. We still don’t know who promoted McCarrick’s rise and whose careers benefited from McCarrick’s protection. At least one person has the power to bring this affair to a more satisfactory conclusion: Mr. McCarrick himself. - February 28, 2019
• A failed Vatican ‘summit’ only postpones the final reckoning
As I predicted a week ago, the ballyhooed Vatican “summit” on sexual abuse has produced little more than strong statements: statements of the sort that the Catholic laity have come to expect… and to mistrust. - February 27, 2019
• The preposterous case against Cardinal Pell
Cardinal Pell has been convicted of molesting two young men. One of those alleged victims, who is now deceased, denied having been molested. - February 27, 2019
• Weaponized Self-Pity, Part II: ‘Gay’ Clergy
COMMENTARY: Dear priests: We need you to be holy, first and foremost. We need you to be celibate and honor your vow of chastity. And way down the list of your self-understanding, our understanding of you, comes your identity as ‘gay.’ - February 27, 2019
• In Defense of Ignorance of the Pope
I grew up with a deep affection for the pope. My childhood featured Pope John Paul II, and my siblings and I learned to love and appreciate him for being a bold defender of the Catholic faith. Indeed, the pope’s portrait was hung prominently in our home. His Koran-kissing, or further, his appointments of kissing cardinals, was never mentioned. Nor was our inability to attend a licit Mass, much less a traditional Latin Mass, ever considered within his realm of power to amend. I grew up trained like most Catholics: to love the pope and never to question his actions and ordinances. He was erroneously bestowed a free pass on most, if not all, Church ailments. - February 26, 2019
• After the Summit
Great winds – the venti russi (“Russian Winds”) – blew through Rome the last day of the summit on the protection of minors. They knocked down branches and toppled trees, killing several people. Many Catholics around the world - February 26, 2019
• The Vatican Abuse Meeting: Passing the McCarrick Test
ANALYSIS: By its end, the Vatican summit felt incomplete, with scant mention made of the root cause and other aspects of abuse. - February 25, 2019
• Celibacy is the Answer, Not the Problem
Many Catholics, even the most faithful, seem to have given up on priestly celibacy. In our post-sexual revolutionary age, many view celibacy as an unhealthy repression of sexual drives, fostering the epidemic of clergy abuse today. According to this line of thinking, if we want to get rid of clerical abuse, we must get rid of celibacy. - February 24, 2019
• Prominent Sex Abuse Whistleblower on the Summit: ‘This Cannot Be the Catholic Response’
During the press conference for the Vatican Summit on Sex Abuse, early Monday, Cardinal Blase Cupich was asked by CNN’s Delia Gallagher to address whether “part of the problem is that priests, bishops and Cardinals are, themselves, engaged in illicit sexual behavior and therefore unwilling to denounce each other.” - February 21, 2019
• This day in history—a windfall for the Saint Gallen Mafia
On this date—February 21, the feast of St. Peter Damian—18 years ago, at a Vatican consistory, Pope John Paul II raised 38 prelates to the College of Cardinals. Among the men who received red hats that day are the following, who are very much in the news this week, amid the discussion of the sex-abuse scandal: - February 21, 2019
• Abp. Vigano: Vatican Summit Opening on Feast of St. Peter Damian Is Providential
In a message to the Pope and bishops attending the meeting, the former nuncio points out the connection with the 11th-century monk who fought against ‘sins of sodomy and simony’ in the Church, and reflects on the conversion of St. Peter the apostle and first pope. - February 21, 2019
• Pope Francis at Opening of Abuse Summit: ‘Hear the Cry of the Little Ones’
The Holy Father calls for a ‘synodal, frank and in-depth’ discussion and for ‘concrete and effective measures’ to be taken. - February 21, 2019
• Mr. McCarrick’s Laicization Is a Small Step in the Long Journey to Church Renewal
As the latest sexual-abuse crisis to plague the Church has continued to unfold, I am convinced that we are still in the early stages of this cataclysmic, if providential, event. - February 21, 2019
• Overcoming a Credibility Crisis
REGISTER SYMPOSIUM: Ours is a wounded and humiliated Church, one in desperate need of healing. - February 21, 2019
• Analysis: In spite of itself, Vatican abuse summit may still do some good
The Vatican’s abuse summit this week will not solve the problems plaguing the Catholic Church in the U.S. In fact, it doesn’t aim to. - February 21, 2019
• Thank you, Cardinal Mueller
Now that the initial excitement has died down some, it’s a good time to take a calmer look at Cardinal Gerhard Mueller’s recently published Manifesto of Faith. He begins by quoting Our Lord: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” (Jn 14:1) Troubled, indeed, are the faithful in these days. The doctrinal and moral chaos in the Church is manifest and grave. We are seeking both guidance and the courageous refutation of errors. - February 21, 2019
• The Abuse Summit: It’s Only the Beginning
February is not high tourist season in Rome. Skies are gray and temperatures low. St. Peter’s Square is relatively empty. But journalists filled the nearby Press Office earlier this week – more, according to one veteran, than since the death of St. John Paul II –because of the summit on the sex abuse crisis, which begins this evening with meetings between abuse survivors and participants, and continues Thursday through Saturday with formal sessions, parts of which will be streamed on the Vatican website. - February 20, 2019
• A Vatican meeting programmed for failure
Brace yourself. Tomorrow the Vatican begins a public-relations offensive in response to the sex-abuse scandal. Unless I am much mistaken, unfortunately, a public-relations effort is all that we can expect. - February 20, 2019
• A Brave Priest’s Powerful Response to Gay Clergy: “Nobody Forced You to Become a Priest”
I have no patience for priests who ‘come out’ as gay and insist the priesthood is some sort of cage. Nobody forced you to become a priest. The faithful don’t need to deal with your issues, pal. They don’t deserve to deal with any of our issues. We serve them. Period. - February 20, 2019
• Will the Pope’s ‘Pastoral’ Approach Lead to Any Real Action on Sexual Abuse?
The Feb. 21-24 meeting takes the view that bishops who think as the Pope wishes them to think about their role as shepherds will then do the right thing in tackling sex abuse. - February 19, 2019
• The Church and ourselves: Changes for a more effective mission
The year of Our Lord 2019 promises to be momentous for the Catholic Church. My goal is to make it also the most effective year yet for CatholicCulture.org’s mission of fostering authentic Catholic renewal. What do I mean by both of these statements? - February 19, 2019
• Priesthood and the Crisis of Masculinity—Dr. Suzanne Baars, PhD
The renowned Dutch psychiatrist and Nazi camp survivor Conrad Baars, MD, diagnosed the roots of the current priesthood crisis some 50 years ago. His insights into what he and longtime collaborator Dr. Anna Terruwe called “deprivation neurosis” are unusually accurate and they anticipate today’s headlines. As a therapist, writer, and editor, his daughter Suzanne Baars is carrying on her father’s work. She dives deep into her late father’s work and how it applies to the current scandals. - February 19, 2019
• Cardinals Burke and Brandmüller: ‘End the Conspiracy of Silence’
In an open letter, the cardinals call on bishops attending this week's Vatican summit on clerical sex abuse to end their silence on moral corruption in the Church and uphold the divine and natural law. - February 19, 2019
• Analysis: What can the Vatican sex abuse summit deliver?
At a press conference in Rome this morning, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago underscored the scope and expectations around this week’s global Vatican summit on sexual abuse. - February 18, 2019
• Anatomy of the healing process
Healing—more than repentance—is on the mind of bishops everywhere. Reporting the recent laicization of former Cardinal McCarrick, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the present of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement: “No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the Church. For all those McCarrick abused, I pray this judgment will be one small step, among many, toward healing.” - February 18, 2019
• If Francis Should Resign, What Then?
After providing evidence for the existence of widespread corruption in the hierarchy – corruption that, he claims, Pope Francis knew about and enabled – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò called on Pope Francis to resign: “He must acknowledge his mistake and. . .must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them.” - February 16, 2019
• Outraged Catholic laity forced action on McCarrick. But that’s just a first step.
The Natonal Catholic Register report on the laicization of Theodore McCarrick, by Edward Pentin, is excellent: thorough, balanced, and accurate. I strongly suggest that you read the entire piece. - February 16, 2019
• Analysis: After McCarrick sex abuse verdict, money and power questions remain
The Holy See announced Saturday the conviction of Theodore McCarrick on charges of the sexual abuse of minors and adults - aggravated by the abuse of power - and solicitation in the confessional. The administrative penal process imposed a penalty of laicization. - February 16, 2019
• What does it mean to be laicized, defrocked, or dismissed from the clerical state?
Archbishop Theodore McCarrick was laicized this week, after he was found guilty of sexual abuse and other canonical crimes. But what does it mean to be “laicized,” “defrocked,” or “dismissed from the clerical state?” - February 16, 2019
• Cardinal Farrell as camerlengo: an astonishingly ill-timed announcement
The selection of Cardinal Kevin Farrell as camerlengo was noteworthy—not because the cardinal will have new influence at the Vatican, but because the appointment confirms the influence that he already enjoys. However, the timing of the appointment was absolutely stunning. - February 15, 2019
• Gänswein, Burke, and Brandmüller Address Questions on Pope Benedict’s Resignation
It has become a subject of heated debate: did Pope Benedict XVI validly resign from the papacy? An article we published late last year on the topic of so-called “Benevacantism” had over 900 comments. Across the Catholic sectors of social media, one sees this question discussed, often heatedly, on a regular basis. - February 14, 2019
• Mr. McCarrick’s Mess
More than sixty years after his priestly ordination, nearly five decades after he began sexually abusing young men and boys, more than four decades after his episcopal consecration, and at least nineteen years after his preying on seminarians was first reported to the Vatican, Theodore McCarrick is – we are told – on the verge of being removed from the clerical state. - February 14, 2019
• Apocalypse 2019? We Have Been Here Before
As in previous catastrophes, God did not abandon his Church, and he will not do so now. - February 13, 2019
• McCarrick may be sanctioned, but the cover-up continues
According to multiple reliable sources in Rome, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick will soon be laicized—defrocked—in punishment for multiple instances of sexual misconduct. The Vatican will announce the penalty, apparently, just before the long-awaited meeting of the sex-abuse problem. That’s not a coincidence. - February 12, 2019
• The Mueller Manifesto
Cardinal Gerhard Mueller published a “Manifesto of Faith” (see here) last week. Actually, it was leaked prematurely by a Polish group. The Manifesto was supposed to appear yesterday, the eve of the anniversary of Benedict XVI’s announcement of his resignation, which also happens to be the eve of the anniversary of Mueller’s ordination. - February 11, 2019
• Fulton Sheen’s Clear Warning About the Anti-Christ
In 1947, Archbishop Fulton Sheen forewarned what no one thought possible for these times. - February 10, 2019
• A New Creed?
It is an interesting fact that Christianity’s three most famous creedal statements, the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, contain no moral doctrines. - February 8, 2019
• Not all religions are part of God’s plan
Taken as a whole, the joint statement on Human Fraternity that the Pope and the Egyptian imam signed is a remarkably strong document. Unfortunately that one jarring sentence—which seems to suggest that God wills the rise of false religions—has distracted attention from the statement’s powerful defense of human life, its condemnation of religious extremism, its critique of materialism, its call for defense of the family. - February 7, 2019