UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave
Kevin O’Brien
For some reason I take a lot of things personally.
For instance, the Sex Scandal in the Catholic Church.
I love the Catholic Church, which is the Body of Christ, and which I have paid dearly in many ways to enter and to try to conform myself to. So when bishops behave badly by enabling those who prey upon children to do so, I get very upset. These are men who are the successors to the apostles, “other Christs” among us – and yet they typically behave in ways that make you wonder if they worship Christ or Satan. And I can only echo Boys’ Town founder Fr. Flanagan, “I wonder what God’s judgment will be with reference to those who hold the deposit of faith and who fail in their God-given stewardship of little children.”
And lately I’ve been on a bit of a roller coaster. It appeared that Pope Francis had made a big statement by sacking Bishop Livieres, who not only enabled a priest accused of both sex abuse and embezzlement by giving him access to children and money, but who made this priest (a priest called “dangerous” by other bishops) his vicar general.
But then, quickly, the Vatican claimed that Livieres was not removed because of his role in the Sex Scandal.
Or did they? Commonweal points out that the situation is more complex than that., and that the reporting of the Vatican’s denial was a bit confused. Livieres handling of the priest in question was certainly the catalyst that led to his removal, even though it might not have been the sole reason.
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