Eastern Oklahoma Catholic July/August 2010 : Page 5
f r o m t h e e d i t o r Secondary victims of clergy abuse are the vast majority of our priests m t h e e d i t o r Secondary victims of clergy abuse are the vast majority of our priests came up. The C o m t h e e d i t o r Secondary victims of clergy abuse are the vast majority of our priests came came up. The Catholic said repeatedly, “I cannot defend the indefensible,” but I attempted to explain the complexi-ties of Canon Law, the presumption of innocence and other complica-tions. The friend, who works in law enforcement, didn’t want to hear any of that. She just kept saying – ever more loudly – “It is a crime! It is a crime!” The most recent outbreak of A reports of worldwide sexual abuse of minors by clergy has been excruciating for most Catholics. Surely by now we all agree that the most grievously hurt by these crimes are the victims and their families. But, right in line after the victims are the over-whelming majority of priests, those good and wise, kind and gentle men who have committed their lives to serving God and His people. In late 2002, the year this scandal exploded in the United States, Bishop Edward Slattery scheduled a weekday evening Mass at the Church of Saint Mary in Tulsa to comfort any sexual abuse victims. He was advised against doing this, and warn-ings that there would be more priests than people in the pews turned out to be true. But the Bishop was undeterred. That evening, he told the priests that they would not escape this dark cloud for the rest of their lives. In some people’s eyes, all the good works of priests would be overshadowed by the horror of the crimes committed by some of their brother priests and covered up or passed along by some bishops. If priests wore their clerics to the grocery store, to a hardware store, to a restaurant, it was not unlikely that their life’s work could be slandered or belittled. The Year of the Priest ended in June, but that doesn’t mean priests don’t still need our prayers. Drop a note to a priest you know, and let him know how much you appreciate him. Com-pliment him on a homily. Few priests turn down cookies or an invitation to dinner. Priests are probably more prepared for being treated unjustly than most of us; they have spent years and years studying and practicing what the Gospels and other Scripture teach. If they are frustrated, angry or discouraged by being tarred unfairly, they know to turn to passages such as 1 Peter 2:19-20: “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffer-ing because he is conscious of God. phone conversation with a long-time friend turned ugly this spring when the topic of Catholic clergy sexual abuse w o r l d n e w s what in the world? the top 10 Catholic news events 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Aid to the Church in Need donates to Christian television in the Middle East – Britain’s Aid to the Church in Need pro-vided funding to a Christian satellite television network for the Middle East and North Africa to help reach more Christians in the countries where it broadcasts. Relics of St. Thérése will be in South Africa – Through July 12, the relics of St. Thérése of Lisieux will travel around Johannesburg corresponding with the time frame of the international World Cup sports event. Rosary booklets distributed to Zambia inmates – Maximum-security prisoners and death row inmates in Zambia received booklets about the rosary through a joint initiative of two United Kingdom charities in response to inmates’ requests. New Catholic TV station launched in Pakistan – Good News is the name of a new Catholic satellite channel launched by the Archdiocese of Karachi in Pakistan that is available via satellite throughout Asia, Africa, Oceania and Europe. Annual Path to Peace Award recipient – Mary Ann Glen-don, a Harvard law professor, was presented with the annual Path to Peace Award by Archbishop Celes-tino Migliore, apostolic nuncio to the United Nations and president of the Path to Peace Foundation. Vermont diocese to sell headquarters to settle abuse lawsuits – The Catholic Diocese of Burlington has settled lawsuits involving clergy sex abuse and put its administration building and a former Catholic summer camp on the real estate market to help cover the cost. Mary Ann Glendon (CNS file photo) Vatican Supreme Court upholds closing of Boston parishes – The Vatican Supreme Court denied the appeals of parishioners trying to save 10 parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston from closing. Bishops award nearly $1 million for Church rebuilding – Projects aimed at rebuilding Church infrastructure damaged by the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile will receive nearly $1 million from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Nun excommunicated for authorizing an abortion – Mercy Sister Margaret Mary McBride, who concurred in an ethics committee’s decision to abort the child of a gravely ill woman, was “automatically excommunicated by that action,” according to Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix. 10 New Catholic Extension fund to aid U.S. mission work – The Catholic Church Extension Society has created the Sister Marquerite Bartz Fund to support the ministries of women religious around the country and named it for a nun murdered during a robbery at her home on a Navajo reservation. Church July 15 | Our Lady of Mount Carmel July 16 | St. Apollinarius, bishop and martyr July 20 | St. Lawrence of Brindisi, priest and doctor of the Church July 21 | St. Mary Magdalene July 22
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