Is there a reason that the US Conference of Bishops seems to be bureaucratic and more concerned about themselves and their perks than about the folks who are in the pews? Maybe they are just reflecting the tone on the top. Pope Benedict's pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland was released today. I found it very disappointing.
This should be the core of the letter:
- To the victims of abuse and their families
You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen. Those of you who were abused in residential institutions must have felt that there was no escape from your sufferings. It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the Church. In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel. At the same time, I ask you not to lose hope. It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, he still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church. I know some of you find it difficult even to enter the doors of a church after all that has occurred. Yet Christ’s own wounds, transformed by his redemptive sufferings, are the very means by which the power of evil is broken and we are reborn to life and hope. I believe deeply in the healing power of his self-sacrificing love – even in the darkest and most hopeless situations – to bring liberation and the promise of a new beginning.
Speaking to you as a pastor concerned for the good of all God’s children, I humbly ask you to consider what I have said. I pray that, by drawing nearer to Christ and by participating in the life of his Church – a Church purified by penance and renewed in pastoral charity – you will come to rediscover Christ’s infinite love for each one of you. I am confident that in this way you will be able to find reconciliation, deep inner healing and peace.
I'm not impressed. Later on, in part 11 as he addresses the bishops, "mistakes were made" was actually part of the letter. People in positions of power abused and raped children. People who had power over the abusers did nothing, in particular, they hid the crimes from the police.
It is a frustratingly bloodless, bureaucratic, cold document. The Pope asks the faithful not to judge the bishops by the evil they have done or by their coverup. Just buy into the doctrines and start to do what we say again. Of course the solution:
Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels specifically devoted to this purpose.
doesn't strike me as useful.
The whole thing strikes me as a bureaucratic attempt to spread blame so broadly that no one thinks that it is bad if there is nothing done. If the Pope really felt any remorse over the problems that occurred under his watch and in his prior job, he would resign in shame. I don't see that he feels any shame over this.