Deciding the future of the Catholic Church
Issue date: 4/15/05 Section: Opinion
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But while the cardinals have not even yet begun to meet in their conclave to begin their secret selection of the successor, the Catholic Church already gets an "F" for attempting to portray Catholicism in a good light.
Last Monday in the Vatican City, Cardinal Bernard Law led one of nine mourning masses for the late pope. Bernard Law is not just any of the 117 cardinals worldwide. Bernard Law is the cardinal who achieved international notoriety when it was revealed that as head of the Boston Archdiocese, he knowingly moved pedophilic priests from clergy to clergy, doing nothing about the abuses.
When public opinion rightfully became enraged regarding Cardinal Law, he resigned his position and was inexplicably appointed archpriest of Rome's Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, despite the pope saying there was no place in the priesthood for "those who would harm the young."
Now, the Catholic Church has indicated that instead of trying to move on and leave behind one of the few black marks on an otherwise mostly successful (albeit quite conservative) papacy, they want to "reopen a lot of the old wounds", as was so eloquently stated by Paul Steidler of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
And even after the damage was done, the church missed a chance to at least salvage a little of its honor, by refusing to comment on the selection of Law, thereby also refusing to offer an apology to the victims it might have offended.
However, while some people will never forgive this choice, the church still has a chance to redeem itself with the selection of the next pope. While liberal idealists would like to fantasize about electing a pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion, pro-stem cell cloning pope, they must realize that there is absolutely no chance of that happening. That does not mean all is lost, though.
While Pope John Paul II followed Catholic doctrine in his stances on all issues, such as being pro-life not just when it comes to abortion but also when it comes to the death penalty, and also supporting social justice causes as well as opposing gay marriage, he seemed to only want to have an influence on hot-button issues like abortion and gay marriage.