Bishops Deny Accountability

Who owns church buildings, parish halls, ball fields, parking lots, chanceries, cathedrals? Why an eruption of charges from Catholics of anti-Catholic hatred, as in Connecticut, where a couple of legislators offered a bill spelling out ownership of Church property by the people?

We are the Church. Vatican II said so. The Church is obviously and certainly not one Ordinary of the Diocese, be he bishop, archbishop or cardinal. The fury of anti-Catholicism was raised so high the bill was withdrawn, lest Catholic voters get upset.

Not much depth, I fear, but long ago when law was simple -- last century -- we thought the bishop was corporation sole and as such the "owner" of the parishes and everything else in the diocese.  Although, I think some dioceses also incorporated each parish as a separate legal entity, but am not clear on how "ownership" was set out.

Some have suggested that bishops looked the other way on learning of a sexual abuse of a child, because they thought it was just a sin, not a crime. On sin vs. crime as some kind of explanation for episcopal cover-up, I have trouble buying that. Rape of a child is pretty horrible and can't be washed away, like Pilate and his hand basin, with a "Boys will be boys, won't they, Your Grace?" 

Murder is a sin; also a crime. When a bishop learned a priest murdered the cop giving him a ticket for speeding, do we even stop to ask, "Did the bishop cover it up?" 

In Boston, spitting on the sidewalk is a  crime. As far as I know it's not a sin. That might be a better analogy to offer as a washout of the alleged criminality of bishops who cover up  sins and crimes and disgusting conduct of those under their power and control.

Loyalty to group, be it a law firm in which a senior partner is caught bribing a judge, or a diocese in which a priest molests children, always puts heavy pressure on the powers-to-be within the group to hush it up.

I have known law firms where conduct of some lawyers was reprehensible, but no whistle was blown either to the Managing Partner or the Court overseers of the ethics of lawyers. 

We protect our own.  I know, I know, not exactly Vere dignum et justum est -- Truly right and just it is -- but we grew up hating squealers, and we still detest whistle-blowers in business or government. 

I think, simply, that hierarchs were trying to protect the Church, without even thinking of the ramifications, and put all their efforts into keeping the lid on. Once it gets out, they knew very well, chaos would swarm. As it has and does.

Yes, I have yelled loudly against "reprobate" bishops, but that was my own pretension to justice and law and the decency of morality. In truth, I understand well what the poor bedeviled bishops were trying to do and are now trying to undo.

As a lawyer, I always felt that the charge of obstructing justice was a weasel way of putting a criminal in jail, especially one they couldn't convict on regular evidence. Aha? said the frustrated prosecutor, "If we can catch him in a lie, he's obstructing justice." Right? Yes, right, a cop-out kind of right.

What I don't understand is the present conduct of bishops, archbishops and cardinals, in and out of courts of law, toward the abused child, the distraught parent, the rules of evidence, the statutes of limitations, their fear of bankruptcy.

I don't understand their reliance on legal procedures to such a twisted extent that they mock the law. Talk about obstructing justice!

I do not understand why bishops do not tell the truth. Maybe they are too scared?

If only they looked at the Beatitudes, said the Our Father out loud, real slow, and cared, not only for the abused but also for the abusers, they'd be better men of God. They're still pretty pathetic in their blind, unquestioned loyalty to Rome, when the Church is in their own backyard. All they have to do is look and see, be honest, and pray for courage to do the right thing. Help the people harmed and those who harmed them.

I will never understand their fury in refusing to be held accountable. They demand accountability from every single Catholic man, woman and child in their dioceses. Woe to the Catholic who tries to dodge the justice of a bishop.

And yet, and yet, all Ordinaries are ordained men of God, not exalted creatures elevated above us. They cannot live in any kind of peace and ease by looking in the mirror and stuttering, "But, I am accountable. Only to the Pope and to God."

Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals! Tell the truth.

All ye Hierarchs! Be accountable.

Is that too much to ask of educated men, grown men, distinguished men, our bishops and archbishops and cardinals and the one they elected as their Pope?