archives

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Baltimore

Roughly a month ahead of this week's discussion among American bishops about the causes and context of the sexual abuse crisis, at least one prelate pointed to a force unlikely to be cited in an analysis prepared by Fordham University and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice: the Devil.

“We must recognize that the church is under attack, and the law is being used as an instrument,” Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Chicago said in an Oct. 15 homily at a “red Mass” for members of the legal profession in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Baltimore

A new advisory body formed to represent the “church in miniature” today told the American bishops that it supports a pastoral document on reproductive technology, to remedy what it called a “serious lack of understanding” of the church’s teaching on human sexuality, as well as a “social and cultural bias” against that teaching.

The National Advisory Council also indicated its support for a new church law that would require bishops to obtain approval from their diocesan finance councils and colleges of consultors before taking specific kinds of financial action, such as going into debt above $1 million.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Baltimore

Officially confirming Pope Benedict XVI’s visit next spring to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope’s nuncio, said that the visit could mark a rebirth of the church in the United States after the trauma of the sexual abuse crisis – “less about the suffering of the past, and more about the program of the future,” he said.

The visit, which will take Benedict to Washington, D.C., and New York, will take place April 15-20, 2008. The announcement ended speculation that Benedict XVI might add other destinations such as Boston to his schedule.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Baltimore

In a brief discussion this morning of the Iraq war, the American bishops appeared supportive of a proposed statement that “the current situation in Iraq remains unacceptable and unsustainable,” but two members pushed from the floor for stronger language on the dangers of Islamic radicalism.

The draft statement from Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington, would reiterate the bishops’ support for a “responsible transition” in Iraq, and opposes what Skylstad calls “two forms of denial” – one that ignores the human consequences of the current stalemate, the other that would opt for immediate pullout.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Baltimore

In what shaped up as the liveliest discussion of the morning, a proposed new rite for weekday celebration of the Eucharist in the absence of a priest brought the bishops face-to-face with the difficult choices created by a spreading priest shortage.

The draft rite was presented as a simple response to pastoral reality, but some bishops wondered aloud if it might amount to institutionalizing what should be seen as an exceptional and temporary situation.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Baltimore

Preliminary findings from a study on the sex abuse crisis by researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice appear to suggest that what happened in the Catholic church mirrored broader patterns in American society, rather than arising from unique forces within the church.

“This is in conflict with idea that there is something distinctive about the Catholic church that led to the sexual abuse of minors,” Karen Terry, a researcher with John Jay College, told the bishops.