Der Spiegel recaps the events in Belgium. Cardinal Danneels can’t imagine why anyone thinks he didn’t act properly in handling allegations of sexual abuse. But
A few days after the police raids in Mechelen, a dozen men gathered on the steps of the cathedral in Brussels. Ten years ago, on Jan. 25, 2000, they said, they along with eight other men told Archbishop Danneels how they had been abused by Belgian clergymen. Danneels had turned them away. He couldn’t know, he said at the time, whether they were telling the truth or if it was pure fantasy. Then he urged them to keep quiet about it because their prattle would damage the Catholic Church.
Danneels was no better, maybe worse, than other bishops. He is a leading “progressive” in the Church, and his fans hoped he would be the new John XXIV, further modernizing eh Church and making it fit better with the modern European ethos.
Der Spiegel tries to fit the disagreements about how to handle sexual abuse into a liberal-conservative conflict:
This has led to a power struggle between liberal and conservative forces in the Vatican. The conservatives in the church state see the zero-tolerance policy of US bishops as a means of curtailing the rights of accused priests. By contrast, liberal spirits are pushing to rapidly investigate and refer cases to secular authorities.
This liberal-conservative dichotomy is inadequate for an understanding of what is going on. A better framework would be seeing on one side those who want to maintain the reputation and privileges of the clergy (let us name them the clericalists) and on the other side those who want a purification of the clergy and of the Church.
Some of those who want a purification, like Cardinal Schönborn, are closer to Catholic Reformers like Pope Pius V (another Dominican), Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Charles Borromeo. They do not want to conform the Church to the world, but cleanse it of the rottenness that is a barrier to the preaching of the Gospel and the cultivation of a life of holiness.
Leon, most reporters view things in a conventional political and ideological context, and don’t have the imagination or intelligence to realize that events happen outside of that context, let alone to think outside of it. That’s why Der Spiegel frames the debate the way it does. It shouldn’t surprise anybody that “progressives” like Daneels (or like Mahony in the U.S.) would stonewall on the matter. They want and need power to implement their own agendas. They’re no less clericalist than Pope Pius IX was.
The liberal-conservative dichotomy is not just inadequate, I think it is a purposeful mis-direction.
Although Cardinal Schoenborn seems to have taken a proper stand on the abuse issue, many would question whether he can accurately be described as on the side of “purification” in general. An internet search on him turns up some pretty strange stuff:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL0157328520080407
http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2010/06/cardinal-schonborn-buries-pornographer.html
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=5144
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/medjugorje_bishop_says_cardinal_schnborns_visit_brings_greater_suffering_to_his_diocese/
http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=327463&sid=0eb1f60e3753030822e3d30538501df5
It’s hard to know what to make of all this, but if any of it is true, it’s pretty disturbing–especially in someone who is being widely touted as “papabile”.
Let’s add Catherine of Siena and Peter Damian to this list of people seeking the purification of the church in their own times. I think it’s important that we all enter into sincere prayer and reflection at this critical time in our church. Everyone has some gift to contribute. It is not surprising that various members of the hierarchy just “can’t see” what the difficulty might be. Accusing yourself of truely dishonorable actions is not something that comes easily to human beings. We exist now in the paradox of seeking the purification of our Church and praying for the leaders who got us here in the first place.
Cardinal Schoenborn is a progressivist who works on one hand to usher filth into the Church and prevent or sabotage good appointments, like he did with Fr. Wagner of Linz, who’d been hand-picked.
The liberal-conservative dichotomy is correct, it’s the false premise that liberals are sincere in their interest in dealing with the probleman and appraising its significance.
This has always been a problem with liberal homosexual priests and their episcopal protectors.
We need to get serious about not letting homosexuals in the seminary and restoring proper catechesis in schools and seminaries.