Wayne Northey: Pope Francis by all accounts is faltering on this, rather than robustly pursuing justice in all cases reported worldwide. Is it as straightforward as choosing love over fear? In this case, fear would be of the truth! Perfect love drives out fear (I John 4), we are told.
One can only hope and pray that the Pope will respond wisely, lovingly, and decisively — for all concerned. “God’s preferential option for the poor”, widely affirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, invariably has victims at the forefront.
A superb movie dealing with the sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts is appropriately titled Spotlight.
One of my dear Catholic friends, with a very deep spirituality, in response to all this, expressed to me his sense of deep sadness — and anger. Jesuit writer and editor at large of America magazine, the Rev. James Martin, urges in “The Virtues of Catholic Anger” an appropriate use of anger to bring about change. He cites Jesus as a prime example of this.
Former Catholic Rod Dreher, who left the Catholic Church due to sex abuse scandals, now Orthodox and senior editor of The American Conservative, in “What Must Survive a Corrupt Catholic Church” sums up for all Christians how to respond hopefully to this crisis:
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