WASHINGTON (CNS) — In an interview with the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” scheduled to air Nov. 16, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston said the Vatican needs to “urgently” address the situation of Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, who was convicted in 2012 on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse.
Bishop Finn is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to face criminal charges related to the priest sex abuse scandal that erupted within the U.S. church in 2002. In the Bishop Finn case, diocesan authorities who had been told in December 2010 of child pornography found on a priest’s computer did not tell civil authorities until six months afterward.
“It’s a question that the Holy See needs to address urgently,” Cardinal O’Malley said of the case, according to a transcript provided by CBS. He added, “There’s a recognition of that … from Pope Francis.”
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Cardinal O’Malley leads the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, established last December by Pope Francis. The cardinal’s appointment to the Archdiocese of Boston, as well as to the Dioceses of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Fall River, Massachusetts, followed the outbreak of clerical sex abuse scandals in each of those dioceses. He is one of eight members of the members of the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis on the reform of the Roman Curia and governance of the church.
“We’re looking at how the church could have protocols — how to respond when a bishop has not been responsible for the protection of children in his diocese,” Cardinal O’Malley told Norah O’Donnell of “60 Minutes.”
He agreed with O’Donnell’s assertion that under the Archdiocese of Boston’s protocols for child and youth protection, “Bishop Finn wouldn’t be able to teach Sunday school in Boston.”
In late September, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa, Ontario, conducted an apostolic visitation to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., to interview Bishop Finn and others in the diocese about the bishop’s leadership.
In the “60 Minutes” interview, Cardinal O’Malley also called the Vatican’s investigation into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and efforts to reform the organization “a disaster.”
An assessment by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called for the reform to ensure LCWR’s fidelity to Catholic teaching in areas including abortion, euthanasia, women’s ordination and homosexuality.
Asked if he thought women should be in more positions of responsibility in the Curia, Cardinal O’Malley replied, “Yes. I think there should be. And — hopefully, there will be.”
He offered no timetable as to when that could happen. “I can’t tell you what time,” he laughed, “but — hopefully soon, you know.”
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Hey G Kaplan, are you even a Catholic?
The Church survives because it is the Mystical Body of Christ, not because of going along to get along.
The Truth cannot be changed to suit the tastes of the modern media.
Dear Bishop Matano
Now that Pope Francis has embraced Darwin, the Big Bang and divorcees, there is real hope for a resurgence of the Catholic Church
Darwin said: “It is not the smarter or the stronger that survives, it’s the one who adapts the most.”
The Catholic church, thrived during the millennia, due to its ability to adapt, confirming Darwin’s observations. The recent dwindling numbers of followers in spite of exponential population growth, reflects the intransigence the church is driving its flock away. Religions who fail to accept reality become EXTINCT – we call them mythologies.
Francis’ embracing Darwin, the big bang theory and showing Christian forgiveness reflects a sense of wise adaptation and survival.
With 50% divorce rates, his compassion is shown in this excerpt:
“Months ago, an Argentine woman picked up the telephone and heard an unexpected voice on the line. It was Pope Francis. He told the woman, who was married to a divorced man and forbidden under church dogma from taking communion, that she could receive the Eucharist. She explained her priest had told her she couldn’t. So Francis responded: “There are some priests who are more papist than the Pope.” Washington post
To reject pope Francis’ sense of forgiveness, is to reject Christ’s teachings. If the old guard refuses to follow, a schism will ensue, further debilitating the church. I admire pope Francis as a true Christian and predict that with his loving guidance there will be a great Christian renaissance.
In a personal note, my mother, a devout Catholic, married my dad, a divorced man. To avoid shame, she never went to Church, and would not bring us there either. My mom would have never considered joining a protestant church, so we missed out on the teachings of the Christ.
By shaming these marriages the church not only loses its followers, but their children, so this domino effect is what debilitated not only our social mores, but the number of Catholics.
Many can’t afford to bring more kids to their family, thus contraceptives are used in 65% of catholic marriages. Science* has shown that contraceptives aren’t abortifacient, but some dogmatic priests claim birth control pills are abortifacient. Like in the case of the woman the pope telephoned, women who take contraceptive pills, are intimidated by their priest, so they can’t bring herself to take communion, so they too drops from the church taking along her family.
I for one, pray that the clergy, like pope Francis, accepts science, and by so doing, opens the doors and their hearts to millions of Catholics that for years have been pushed away from the loving warmth of the church. It is this love and compassion that Christ had hoped for when creating His church.