UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave
My friends, do you wonder why people abandon the Church? Do you wonder why atheism is all the rage among the pierced and tattooed teens and college kids who work at Subway? Do you wonder why nobody takes the whole God thing too seriously any more?
Well, there are many reasons.
But one reason is this. It’s because so few bishops do what Los Angeles Archbishop Gomez just did.
Reading these files, reflecting on the wounds that were caused, has been the saddest experience I’ve had since becoming your Archbishop in 2011. … Effective immediately, I have informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties.
Thus writes Archbishop Gomez, banning Cardinal Mahoney, a “prince of the Church”, from any public or administrative duties. Why? Because Mahoney deliberately and with care and precision shielded child abusing priests from the law, shuffling them from parish to parish, and pawning them off on other dioceses. He let the predators have continued access to their prey – innocent children – as long as it did not cost the archdiocese any money or him personally any embarrassment. His reputation and the almighty dollar counted for more than the safety of children, for the effective treatment of priests, or for the service of justice.
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