The Bishops’ conference: liberals versus liberals

Only two points of view are being represented at the bishops’ conference on the sex abuse scandal: (1) the modified limited hangout (i.e., punish actual sex abusers while ignoring the hierarchy’s role in supporting and covering up for them), and (2) the reform position (i.e., democratize the Church, end celibacy, let women be priests, and so on). What this means is that one side is still covering up its grievous sins, born of liberalism, while the other side wants even more liberalism. According to Rod Dreher, there are no traditionalist voices being heard at the conference, and the real problem, which is the licensing of homosexual conduct among the clergy, is not being addressed.

Here are the key passages from Dreher’s article:

Also absent from the conference: any official place for conservative voices of reform. Appleby and Steinfels had some good things to say, certainly, but concluded with liberal-style calls for more lay involvement.

“This doesn’t look good,” said Phil Lawler, editor of Catholic World Report. “Who on the agenda, anywhere on the agenda, is known as a stalwart defender of Catholic teaching on sexual morality?”

Lawler’s comment gets to the heart of why conservatives are not welcome here: They would have raised the issue of homosexuality among the clergy, absent which this scandal cannot be fully understood, much less dealt with.

Helen Hull Hitchcock, leader of the orthodox Women for Faith and Family, asked the bishops in an afternoon press conference what it meant that as many as 90 percent of these publicly known abuse cases involve priests having sex with teenage boys. She did not get a straight answer, so to speak.

Goodbye, Good Men author Michael S. Rose, whose red-hot book reports on homosexual corruption in the seminaries, said the bishops seem to understand well that they will not face significant pressure from the news media to address the homosexual question, and are acting accordingly. He notes that the only element of the press showing any real and sustained interest in his extremely relevant book is talk radio.

Later in the evening, it was reported that the bishops had decided not to adopt any kind of formal disciplinary mechanism against themselves.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 14, 2002 07:53 PM | Send