...from the Old Bailey to Tyburn, along the route we will take for the Martyrs Walk in June. (It's June 20th, mark the date in your diaries now).
All the time, the current storm surrounding the Church was in the forefront of all our minds, especially as we stopped to pray at the various churches along the way.
Where are the Church's defenders? Honour to George Weigel,who spoke up with clarity before anyone else, a lone voice and a brave one. Now a few others have joined in - including this correspondent. The French bishops and some others have spoken up, including Archbishop Vincent Nichols. IN the USA the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights has been working hard.
We need a group in Ireland which will rally to the Pope's letter and start taking action along the lines he urged - starting with prayer.There's a lot of talk about the impossibility of healing and so on - but healing has to start somewhere.
We need a lot less gloating - we don't need the voices saying "Oh, it's all due to the Church being harsh and repressoive in the old days" or "Oh, it's all the liberals in the Church since Vatican II". We need realism about the joy all this is giving to those who hate the Church and the Christian message. We need to work - now - to ensure that those who are seeking to use all this to crush the Papal visit to Britain are denied their goal.
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4 comments:
Prayers shared.
Dear Auntie Joanna
Please tell me this is some kind of sick and twisted 'spoof' .
Though I do fear there may be some truth behind it.
http://news.ronatvan.com/2009/06/20/germany-and-eu-to-legalize-pedophilia-and-with-it-child-pornography-as-well/
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Joanna,
Thanks from across the pond for your reflections during this difficult time for the Church.
Perhaps my reflections on the origin of changes to US law in the early 1950s to make the penalty for pedophilia more lenient may be of interest. That time, the atheists did it--
See--http://www.sanityandsocialjustice.net
In Christ,
Albert Schorsch, III
Chicago, IL
In our own diocese a priest was removed from active ministry last summer because of accusations of sexual abuse in the 1980s. The bishop released a statement to the local media once the allegations were made known to the diocese; no cover-up, nor any attempt to down play or sugar coat the accusation was made. I thought then as I do now our bishop acted quickly and prudently while demonstrating a level of compassion and charity toward the victims and the priest. After an investigation by an outside private investigator the case proceeded through the court and recently came to a final resolution. Transparency and the desire, while showing Christian charity to all involved, has kept a media assault at bay, which even in our relatively small media market is quite an achievement.
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