HAS THE TIME REALLY COME?

The fall from grace of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will be, I predict, a watershed moment in the scandal of Clergy sexual abuse which has critically wounded the credibility of the Church and been the cause of so many abandoning the Faith.

Up until now, Bishops in America and elsewhere have been quite successful in deflecting the responsibility for the repeated victimization of young people, doing more to protect the institutional Church than to provide justice and solace to the abused, their families and their parishes.

But the disgrace visited upon the once-popular former Archbishop of Washington who was courted by both secular and ecclesiastical celebrities is a development of which every Bishop should take notice.

For decades since the story first broke, the People of God have shared stories of being ignored or rebuked by their Bishops who turned a blind-eye to their laments and allegations, choosing instead to protect diocesan coffers and maintain a strict code of secrecy.

For decades, reports in both Catholic and secular media have alleged that many Bishops willfully failed to report their knowledge of these crimes to law enforcement.

All the while, the Holy See remained the silent observer, never engaging the scandal and never taking any significant action against the Bishops.

But Cardinal McCarrick’s banishment from public ministry, coming as it has on the heels of the Chilean sexual abuse scandal signals that Church authorities may finally be on track to begin administering justice within the ranks of Bishops themselves.

And there are certainly questions that need answering from Cardinal Wuerl of Washington as well as the Bishops of the Dioceses Cardinal McCarrick previously governed, all of whom were aware of other charges of sexual misconduct against the Cardinal McCarrick, yet said nothing.

Certainly, public sentiment is on the side of secular authorities who have begun to move without hesitation in announcing public indictments of criminal behavior against Bishops.

The ball is in the Vatican’s court.

Thus far, the Holy See has been slow to take any canonical action against members of the hierarchy.  But, it must realize that the days when Cardinal Bernard Law could be re-assigned from his disgraced leadership in Boston and assigned to a feathered-nest in Rome are over.

They best be, for the Church cannot survive the scandal of Bishops engaging in a conspiracy of silence.

The Bishops' complicity in this sordid story is, in my opinion, as rampant as that of the abuse itself.

The Holy See must hold Bishops accountable.

The moment is upon the Church.  

Bishops need to understand that there is no longer be anyone else to blame nor anywhere they can run.

It’s about time!