AS EXPECTED, A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME

Back again and there appears to be no lack of news on the horizon.

Last week, the President and Vice-President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Cardinal DiNardo and Archbishop Gomez respectively, met with Pope Francis on Thursday of last week to discuss the allegations against former Cardinal McCarrick who resigned from the College of Cardinals after he was accused of the sexual predation of a young man and the repeated sexual harassment of seminarians.

What spurred the meeting was the letter of Archbishop Vigano who claimed that Pope Francis had known for years of McCarrick’s perverted behavior yet allowed him to have influence within the ranks of the Church.

Since the Pope said that he was not going to comment on the allegations, the USCCB heads apparently felt that they could pressure the Pontiff and members of the Roman Curia into calling for a public and very transparent investigation into the Archbishop’s claims.

“We shared with Pope Francis our situation in the United States—how the Body of Christ is lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse. He listened very deeply from the heart,” DiNardo said in a statement after leaving the meeting. “It was a lengthy, fruitful, and good exchange.” 

Really?

Fruitful in what way, Your Eminence?

What concrete decisions came out of the meeting with the Holy Father?

If there were some, don’t you and the Pope think the Catholic faithful who have been “lacerated" by these scandals are entitled to know?

The fact of the matter is that the meeting was a total waste of time.  

A PR gimmick with little or no effect.

DiNardo and Gomez should have known that from the very fact that the day before the meeting the Holy See announced a meeting between Pope Francis and all the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences around the world would meet in February of next year to “discuss” these issues.

The fact is the USCCB heads walked away and are coming back to the States with nothing to show for their posturing other than the fact that they and the Pope had a pleasant and (from one of the shocking photos of the meeting, an amusing) get together.

The Catholic faithful, again left out in the cold in addressing these scandals, are supposed to simply observe and reverentially accept that nothing happened.

The fact is Pope Francis has shown little disposition to address these scandals in a concrete and effective manner.

No wonder his favorable image among American Catholics has dropped from 83% in January of this year to 63% today.  Catholics and non-Catholics are fed up with the nonsense.

And while the faithful may have no structural or canonical resource available to them to hold the Pope and the Bishops accountable, they have Gospel and common human decency on their side when they walk away from these tarnished, uncommunicative and insensitive Prelates who masquerade as Shepherds.

What hubis!

But, honestly, did anyone expect anything else from this showcase confab?

If so, then you need some reality therapy.  And quickly.