The current Archbishop of Los Angeles has ordered the former Cardinal of Los Angeles to sit down and shut up. (Close enough. Mahony was forbidden any "public duties," meaning no more ceremonial appearances followed by champagne-and-cake. Not really a big deal in effect--but the symbolism is significant.)
Mahony--a vainglorious fellow--slapped back at his successor, Gomez.
...All the advice was to remove priests from active ministry if there was
reasonable suspicion that abuse had occurred, and then refer them to one
of the several residential treatment centers across the country for
evaluation and recommendation....
If that sounds familiar, it should: it was Weakland's "defense", too, after he gave up on the "the kids seduced the priests" bullshit.
But there's a problem with that defense which Ms. Scalia didn't mention: the repeat offenses. The old Jewish saying holds: 'Screw me once, shame on you; screw me twice, shame on me."
Weakland and Mahony both allowed serial predations. (Cousins, too, here in Milwaukee.) I'll grant the veracity of Mahony's line: in fact, 'send 'em to a shrink and they'll be fine' WAS the 'best advice' in those days. (It was wrong, but...)
However, when the same perp bops another boy or three after Treatment One, it should have been curtains for the collar-privilege and hard-time for the perp.
We note that Mahony avoided that discussion, just like Bertie.
Yes, a bit late, but kudos to Ab. Gomez.
ReplyDeleteA pity that then Ab. Dolan didn't do the same with Weakland awhile back when it took the parishioners of a Brookfield parish to bring the message home to him.