Archdiocese Should Set Example

By Jared Rogers-Martin
Minnesota Daily
January 29, 2015

http://www.mndaily.com/opinion/columns/2015/01/28/archdiocese-should-set-example

Last year was arguably a year of bad news, the kind that made you cringe and feel sad. Unfortunately, 2015 is starting off much the same way.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Archdiocese has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because it needs to handle several lawsuits related to clergy abuse victims.

Filing bankruptcy is the right move in this situation. However, this bankruptcy shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

You may have come to know and love Pope Francis. Loved by many, he is certainly a great face for the Roman Catholic Church. But even Pope Francis and his arguably nontraditional views can’t erase years of scandal.

The Catholic Church needs to look to leaders like Pope Francis to prevent child abuse by priests and bishops from happening in the first place. For men who are as close to God as you can get, these acts sure aren’t evidence of piety.

The church should also implement counseling services for its leaders. This needs to be done for all churches and not just on a case-by-case basis. A quick Google search reveals that the options for counseling available now are limited.

Priests, bishops and the like often feel lonely and isolated. If these feelings are eliminated and leaders work through these issues, the church would have far less scandal.

Depressingly, one in 50 priests — or about 2 percent of them — are pedophiles, according to the Vatican. This number does not include bishops, archbishops or cardinals. But for those of you dismayed by the storied past of the church, there is hope yet.

The members of the church not charged with scandal serve as good examples for men who wish to become priests. If the church implements changes, the new generation of priests should be riddled with less scandal than their forefathers.