A Benedictine Mess

It may be an understatement to say that the Roman Catholic Church is in its greatest crisis since the rudderless drift it experienced in the 1970s, but it suits the circumstances well enough. Pope Benedict XVI is apparently at a loss over what to do about clerical sex and physical abuse scandals dating back over fifty years. Indeed, he seems to have trouble accepting the fact that they actually happened.

No one can blame Benedict for all of the child molestation cases, obviously, but he can be held responsible for not addressing them in a forthright manner. He shows more regret than remorse about cases in the United States and Ireland, and he seems oblivious to the charges of possible connections to similar cases in Germany - especially that involving his older brother, also a priest, who has admitted to slapping children's faces. Georg Ratzinger directed the choir at St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg, Germany and was present when several instances of abuse described by one man who living in the boarding school linked to the choir as "sadistic punishments in connection with sexual lust" were supposedly committed. It's inconceivable that Father Ratzinger could not have known about it. And the fact that the Pope was archbishop of Munich and Freising, whose jurisdiction included Regensburg, seems to suggest that he knows more about the abuse cases than he is willing to let on.

As the successor to John Paul II, Benedict has sought to continue a hard line against moral relativism and modern consumerist capitalism, suggesting a sense of continuity in the Church. Ironically, this continuity has extended to the pedophilia cases. The first such cases, mainly out of Boston, surfaced in 2002, late in John Paul's papacy when he was aging and becoming less proactive in his role as Holy Father. The transition to another pontificate has hardly helped the Catholic Church deal with the legacy of these cases of abuse, and Benedict is ceding moral authority by the day with his current posturing.

If the Church is going to survive this scandal, it's going to have to be more open and more relevant to its parishioners. The Vatican can't just preach to the faithful; it has to listen. Somehow, I suspect that it may fall to the next papacy to begin the listening and healing process.