SCOTLAND
Catholic Herald
By FR ALEXANDER LUCIE-SMITH on Monday, 20 May 2013
This is the sort of headline that no Catholic can want to read: “Three months on, a cardinal is banished but his church is still in denial.” The subtitle goes on: “Cardinal Keith O’Brien has been told to leave Scotland for ‘prayer and penance’, after resigning over charges of sexual misconduct. But his accusers still wait for a proper inquiry.” You can read the whole article, by Catherine Deveney, who first broke the story, here and a further article here.
What is depressing about the article in contained in the words “three months”. It is three months since the Cardinal O’Brien story broke, and still it rumbles on. In other words, three months have passed, and still the Church has not formulated an adequate response to the crisis occasioned by the cardinal’s fall. The Church needs to take control of this story and assure the faithful that the matter is being dealt with firmly and with reasonable speed. We also need the assurance that adherence to the truth is paramount.
Instead, reading what Ms Deveney has to say, we get the impression that headless chickens are still ruling the roost, partly as a result of the way power is devolved in the Catholic Church. Who deals with this? Is it the Scottish bishops? Is it their media office? Is it the Nuncio in Wimbledon? Is it Cardinal Ouellet in Rome? Is it the Pope himself? This sorry state of affairs is compounded by the fact that three of the complainants are serving priests. If priests can’t get a hearing, who can?
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.