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  Allow Female Priests and Heal Thyself, One Area Catholic Says

By William G. Ladewig
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
April 10, 2010

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/90400574.html

As a lifelong Catholic who is a product of the church's schools and who has endeavored to take its homilies and sermons seriously, I have tried to look at the current scandal that surrounds the church and the Vatican as a minor blip on the history of a great institution that has cared for the sick and the poor and given solace to people for centuries.

All of these efforts are guided by Christian principles of doing good for others. But somewhere between the altar and the confessional, the Catholic Church has fallen and can't get back up.

As the dark and seedy side of the church is being examined by the abused and tortured victims who have heroically stepped forward to demand retribution for the crimes afflicted upon them by a male-controlled monolith, I am shocked to my core amid continuing, gut-retching stories of abuse and coverup.

Two hundred deaf boys in Wisconsin being abused by a priest who apparently felt that he had his own little fiefdom among youth who, being deaf and, in most cases without the ability to speak, could not protest. The massive coverup, stretching in a direct line from the Milwaukee archbishop's office to the Vatican, and most certainly including civil authorities and members of the legal community who advise the Milwaukee archdiocese, makes me wonder just who is looking out for the most vulnerable and disabled among us.

In defending itself, a member of the Vatican's insider good old boys priestly network uses his bully pulpit to liken the coverup of sex abuse cases to the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism. What's next?

From Europe to the United States, the Catholic world is calling for an investigation into these abuses and is demanding that the boys club be examined, the bad apples sorted out and steps taken to care for the victims. To continue under the theory that "no comment was issued by the Vatican" leads Catholics to a conclusion we do not want to reach, namely that the church is riddled with these issues and problems and that once light is cast upon the good old boys sex club, the church will shrivel up and be forever destroyed by the evil of its ministers and its leaders.

Can my church be saved? I really don't know. I suspect so, but certainly not with the leadership that has been lacking so far.

What the church needs to do is to turn inward and investigate itself, with outside voices being involved in a transparent attempt to get to the extent of the problems and to set forth controls so that it does not continue in the future. It must reach out to the victims, not hide behind legal statutes of limitations.

It needs to form restorative justice circles in every parish where victims exist. The circles should be formed with the victim and parish members and include either the offender or parish priest as representative of the offender. This circle should hear the victim out and then as a group decide what sum of money should be given to the victim based on his or her individual situation.

At the very least, authorization should be given to the victim for therapy, paid for by the church. The funds for these circles would come from the sale of schools and churches that no longer are needed as their flock flees from the evil underbelly of their church.

If this is not enough, the Vatican can sell off its precious artwork and other assets. Only when the parishes and the priests themselves realize the effects of this molestation can the church begin to heal. Transparency would be the window to the world to show that the Catholic Church really recognizes its past misdeeds, is willing to make amends and remain a place of Christian values.

It would be foolish for me to believe that there will not be further transgressions by pedophile priests. The church must seriously look at what's happening in the seminaries where priests are being trained, look at the issue of celibacy and marriage for priests and examine its position on a female priesthood.

Granted, allowing women to become priests would shatter the good old boys priestly network and admit that women and men are equal, something the church has been unwilling to do. But most important, allowing women into the priesthood provides a natural gatekeeper system in a good old boy network that has gone badly haywire.

The church has been run exclusively by men for centuries, and this practice has brought us to this present crisis. It is time to let women have an equal voice in Catholic governance and help set things right.

The Catholic Church can die out, or it can elect to heal itself by opening its doors to its people. Only when the governance structure changes and transparency reigns will the Catholic Church regain its position as a moral interpreter of the world.

 
 

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