McCarrick Matter Puts Past Situations In New Light

Both LifeSiteNews and National Catholic Register raise a very serious question.  That is, "In light of what they knew regarding Cardinal McCarrick's crimes of perversion, why did his brother bishops say nothing, essentially allowing McCarrick to carry on unfettered?"  We even know that when Pope John Paul II was considering the bestowal of the "red hat" on then-Archbishop McCarrick, a group of seminarians (some prior targets) went to Rome to advise against this appointment; the were ignored.

I now link to an article written a few days ago by Eric Sammons.  It appears on the One Peter Five site and is entitled "Who Watches The Watchmen?  The Fatal Flaw Of The Dallas Charter".   He, like I, resided in the Archdiocese of Washington at the time and we experienced in our different ways the damage control mechanisms of the DC chancery when the Boston Globe first broke the story regarding the rampant abuse of minors by clerics.  He relates his experiences as a parent of being treated as a potential abuser when he challenged the fatal flaws of Virtus.

My experience of the damage control was different but still quite revealing.  In the wake of the scandals, the chancery decided to have discussion panels at various parishes to detail to concerned Catholics "what they were doing to address the problem".  I realized very soon after the first and only session at St Raphael's in Rockville that its purposes was to quell our questioning and displeasure.

The room at St Raphael's was packed.  The panel of so-called "experts" from the Archdiocese first tried to tell us that nationwide only about 10% of pedophile cases are homosexual in nature.  That didn't work when we pointed out that we were not concerned with pedophilia as it occurs in the general population but that which is perpetrated by Catholic clergy, and that indeed is over 90% homosexual.  For the rest of the evening, the "experts" adopted  "deer-in-headlight" facial expressions as they tried to suffer through and end their torture quickly. This first of these sessions turned out to be the last as well.  Clearly these "experts" were instructed to brainwash us into disregarding the homosexual component.  Now they probably had no idea that their boss Cardinal McCarrick was one of those abusers, and we certainly didn't.  However, last week's news puts my St Raphael's experience in a new light.

Also put in a new light is the situation that occurred at my parish over six years ago, when Father Marcel Guarnizo was expelled from the Archdiocese for denying Holy Communion to a flagrant lesbian.  I needn't go through these details, including the ADW's despicable conduct towards Father, but when you consider that another pervert, albeit retired, still wielded much influence in the chancery, we get a bit more insight into the mindsets of ADW leaders.

Some of my colleagues voice optimism that this revelation might signal a paradigm shift in attitudes of church leaders towards gay sex abuse among their clergy.  I remain cautious for leopards don't change their spots overnight.  I voiced a possibility that Cardinal McCarrick, since he is already of advanced age, might simply be "taking one for the team", and if our attention is diverted to other matters, he might simply be left alone to be quietly rewarded.  But I may happily be proven wrong.  God does work miracles.