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	Editorial: Benedict punts on U.S. Bishops Dallas Morning News April 17, 2008 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-pope_17edi.ART.State.Edition1.46a9181.html On his flight to America this week, Pope Benedict XVI told journalists that he was "deeply ashamed" of the clerical sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. Catholic church for much of this decade. We hope he expressed that forcefully and at length yesterday in his meeting with American Catholic bishops. In fact, we wish he'd do so publicly. Six years after the Boston revelations broke open the scandal nationwide, the U.S. bishops who, aside from the perpetrators themselves, are most responsible for the catastrophe have never been held to account for their actions. Though two-thirds of bishops sitting in 2002, when the scandal broke, had shuffled around pederast priests, the U.S. bishops responded by placing a heavy yoke on parish priests and lay Catholic volunteers but effectively let themselves off the hook. So did the Vatican. In 2005, leading the traditional Good Friday ceremony in lieu of the ailing John Paul, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger denounced "the filth in the church." When John Paul died and Cardinal Ratzinger was elected pope, many hoped he would take firmer actions to discipline the errant American church's leadership. He has not. The bishops' role in the scandal has not been adequately explored or explained. Why did they do it? In his important new book, The Faithful Departed, Catholic journalist Philip Lawler explores this mystery and concludes that it had to do with a deep need to save face, at any cost. Mr. Lawler, a conservative Catholic and Benedict supporter, told us yesterday that he's comforted by the pope's admission of shame over abusive priests but that it isn't enough. Said Mr. Lawler: "It would be truly liberating to hear him acknowledge that he is also ashamed of the bishops whose negligence and even complicity allowed the scandal to fester and undermined public confidence in the church." True. Perhaps the pope and his American bishops believe that to have top churchmen face real consequences for grievous wrongdoing would make people doubt the church's moral authority. The opposite is likely true and that's their tragedy.
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