UNITED STATES
Channel 3000
I’ve read a couple of strange reports recently that lead me to an idea for how the Catholic Church might redeem itself.
The first came out of Rome. The Vatican is urging Catholic religious leaders to wear black cassocks when visiting Rome. A cassock is an ankle-length robe that buttons down the front.
“The very example of those who, sealed with the episcopal dignity are faithful to the daily use of the cassock proper to them during daily office hours becomes an explicit encouragement to all,” the Vatican said.
OK, that was one story: The pope apparently wants to class up the clergy in Rome.
The second report came from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting held recently in Baltimore. Well, actually, it wasn’t a report. What happened is Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City attended the meeting, participated in its legislation – and no one said a word about the fact that he was recently convicted of criminally endangering children by knowingly covering up evidence that one of his priests was molesting kids.
There are those who thought Finn’s fellow bishops might have noticed. There are even those who think that, once a bishop is convicted of a major crime, he might consider retiring.
What do these stories have in common? Each of them suggests a mindset within the church that clergy are not bound to the same rules of the road as are lesser folk.
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