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	Mazzaglia: Sinners and Forgiveness By Frank Mazzaglia Milford Daily News April 04, 2010 http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/x905413714/Mazzaglia-Sinners-and-forgiveness UNITED STATES -- Apparently, the New York Times is not having the influence it thought it would have as evidenced by hundreds of thousands of people crowding the Vatican for Easter Mass. Pope Benedict XVI remains worldwide spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics. Some Catholics aren't surprised. The New York Times isn't keen about the Catholic Church in general or Pope Benedict in particular. After all, his election marked a stinging defeat for Catholic liberals desirous of turning the ancient faith into a modern convenient spiritual cafeteria. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the tough disciplinarian who championed traditional orthodoxy. Tightening control over a goofy left wing in the Church was costly. He inherited some dedicated internal enemies. Other people experienced a cold shudder to think that the leader of the world's Catholics was a German. More than that, in the final days of the Second World War, a very young Joseph Ratzinger had been forced to be a part of Hitler Youth. Laurie Goodstein, who wrote the Times' March 25 story on the Wisconsin priest accused of abusing as many as 200 deaf boys, didn't mention that. She didn't have to. All that aside, the indisputable fact remains that at the time when Rome was becoming painfully aware of sex abuse by some of its priests, it was still seen as a moral failure. Even many controlling civil authorities viewed it as a misdemeanor. At the time this information was reaching the Vatican, nobody realized that child sexual abuse was a seriously incurable mental problem. Goodstein herself noted that the accused priest at the center of the story "...also got a pass from the police and prosecutors who ignored reports from his victims..." Trying to protect the church, or any institution for that matter, is hardly a vice. Is there any organization that invites the promotion of an internal scandal? Where the church can be faulted is in not reaching out, publicly or privately, to help abused children. Then again, when trial lawyers whiff the sweet smell of money, there's no stopping them. Here's a personal thought. My father had angina that got progressively worse. He died from his heart condition at an early age. Had the medical establishment known then what they know now, he would have most likely lived to a ripe old age. Do I have a legal suit against his doctors for knowledge that they did not have? Still, there are Catholics who remain angry. They even talk about leaving the church. Now in an age where the church is devoting a great deal of time and energy towards convincing lapsed Catholics to return to the fold, there is something to be said for another perspective. A lot of this vitriol comes from people who have broken church rules and who take scandal as an opportunity to express a false kind of righteous indignation. Nevertheless, anyone who would abandon his or her faith just because of a priest or a bishop, even the bishop of Rome, should do just that. Leave! It makes no sense to remain in a church they can't support.. Besides, there are many denominations where they would be warmly welcomed. Hopefully, they will find contentment there. The remnant would result in a smaller but more zealous Catholic church. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi recently pointed out that Rome didn't even receive the celebrated Fr. Lawrence C. Murphy case until 1996, years after civil authorities had already dismissed it. As it turned out, Fr Murphy died just two years later. Pope Benedict XVI himself, in a recent letter to Irish Catholics, emphasized the need to cooperate with civil justice in abuse cases. Catholicism, for better or for worse, is now and always will be a church of sinners and forgiveness. Meanwhile, as the circulation of The New York Times continues to dip deeper with each passing day, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world come to the Vatican in record numbers seeking the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI. Contact: afmazzaglia@aol.com
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