In my last post here, I praised Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger's handling of the recurring scandal of sexual abuse and its high-level cover-up in the Roman Catholic Church. While I do not retract that praise, I note that Scharfenberger has made no public comment on a more recent and major development of that story, the allegations of Archbishop Carlo Vigano. Nor -- apart from acknowledging he is aware of Vigano's attack -- has Pope Francis commented on it.
I got the above image of Vigano from a blog post by Rod Dreher, who did not create it. Dreher is a former Catholic who converted to the Orthodox Church about a decade ago, mostly because of the sexual abuse scandal. While I do not share all his views on church politics -- I don't share, for example, his hostility to Francis's apparent willingness to let some divorced and remarried Catholics take Communion -- Dreher does have credibility on this issue. And he sides with Vigano.
While Vigano may well be honest, that doesn't mean his proposed solution, the pope's resignation, is a proportionate response. There is also the danger that church politics may lead some of those involved in this controversy to paint the actions of those on the other side in an unfairly harsh light. In truth, I don't know what to think. I do know I haven't been to Mass the last couple of weeks, and that I genuinely would appreciate some guidance from my bishop.
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