Another Coverup

Pope Francis’s big sex summit is over and the reviews are coming in. National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty says: “The pope’s summit is trash and a coverup.” The National Catholic Register described a quintessential question asked by a reporter: “At the press conference on Feb. 22, longtime CNN Vatican reporter Delia Gallagher pointed out to Cardinal Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston that in 2002 the American Cardinals were in Rome working to implement a zero-tolerance policy, and the main figure in that was then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Why, she asked, should the American people trust them again?”

O'Malley and Cupich

Why indeed? Ms. Gallagher didn’t get an answer. She got the runaround and so did faithful Catholics the world over. Cardinal Cupich was appointed a cardinal by Pope Francis on the recommendation of the now-disgraced former-Cardinal McCarrick, then designated by Francis as coordinator of this newest coverup of deviant sexual escapades by clergy at all levels, not just priests. As expected, Cupich dodged Gallagher’s question with still more nebulous platitudes just like McCarrick used seventeen years ago.

McCarrick and Cupich

The sex summit never mentioned Cardinal McCarrick, yet he loomed large anyway — the proverbial elephant in the room. Pope Francis still denies prior knowledge of McCarrick’s predatory homosexual behavior or that McCarrick had been confined to a secluded life of prayer and penance by his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Immediately upon assuming the papacy in 2015, however, Pope Francis reversed Benedict’s action and greatly increased McCarrick’s influence — until last summer when proof of his deviant behavior emerged. The week before last week’s the sex summit Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick, evidently thinking the whole affair would go away by doing so.

It didn’t. Catholics still want to know why Francis hasn’t released documents in the Vatican and in Washington, DC where McCarrick was archbishop which would prove one way or another whether Francis knew about McCarrick’s deviant behavior and his suspension by Benedict XVI. None of that was addressed and the McCarrick affair remains a festering boil. So does last summer’s testimony by Archbishop Vigano who identified a homosexual network permeating the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.

Media asked questions about the “gay” network too, but Cupich and other favorites of Pope Francis deflected them. At the summit was Robert Royal, president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. who wrote: “So, was it dealing with the full truth of the current problem within the Church not even to mention the element of homosexual predation — to sidestep the greater problem… [and] making it appear that the problem is the abuse of young children and not basically homosexual grooming? And isn’t it undeniable at this point that there were and are “gay” networks of mutual cover-up, not least in Rome, even at the very highest levels?”

None of that was on the agenda. It wasn’t discussed. Bandaids were applied to those festering boils too. To lance them would have been painful, yes, but then healing could have begun. Instead, they were covered up yet again in hopes that the anger of faithful Catholics out there would dissipate yet again as it did after the 2002 Boston Globe Spotlight series. Remember, it was then-Cardinal McCarrick using his soothing words to convince us all that everything would be okay, that he would fix it. I fell for it then but I won’t this time, and either will millions of others out here in the pews. This is not going to go away. It’s going to get worse. That’s how infections are.

So now what? What will “get worse” look like? Will there be another schism? Another Reformation? Will faithful Catholics zip up their wallets when the collection plate comes around? NBC News reported last October that: “Thirteen states now investigating alleged sexual abuse linked to the Catholic Church.” They include Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania (again), Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont. The US Justice Department is investigating possible RICO violations by various dioceses as well.

Oh yeah?

Cupich calls for transparency at Sex Summit?
He's Archbishop of Chicago

Media will be all over press conferences when each state reports out, just like they were last August in Pennsylvania. American Catholics will cringe again, and again, and again… Doesn’t the pope know that confession is good for the soul? Catholics call it “Reconciliation” these days, but it’s not being practiced at the Vatican, not in any real sense. There was an opportunity last week, but the highest officials in the Roman Catholic Church let it pass. So what’s next? As Bette Davis said in All About Eve: “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

2019? More Of The Same, Maybe Worse

This is the week many writers make predictions for next year. There was a time when I wanted to know what would happen tomorrow, next week, next year, but not anymore. It’s one day at a time for me now. Worrying about the future increased my anxiety so much that it interfered with daily functioning. The bumper sticker proclamation: “One Day At A Time” is good advice. The Creator divided our existence into day and night and designed us to require sleep every evening, then instructed: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” He taught us to pray by saying, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and not, “Make everything okay next year.”

If I continue sucking oxygen throughout 2019 I think we can expect times of joy and sorrow, sunny days and rainy days, restful nights, and sleepless nights. That’s how life has been for me so far and it will likely continue. If I knew of tragedies to come I would start dreading them now and that would diminish my enjoyment of today.

In 2018 there was plenty of consternation. Division between Donald Trump’s “deplorable” base and virtually everyone else in America deepened considerably. Would anyone be surprised if that continued? The stock market plummeted through December. Will it go lower still? There are lots of predictions but no one knows, really. How many times over the past two years did our mainstream media tell us that something President Trump said, did, tweeted, was suspected of, or was accused of was the last straw — that he’d really sunk himself this time and the American people would not tolerate him any further? Every week at least, every day at times, even several times a day. Should we expect that to continue? I don’t know why it wouldn’t.

There are over twenty Democrats and a few Republicans playing coy about running against President Trump in 2020. So far, only one Democrat has unequivocally announced his candidacy and his name is Castro. All will be guests on the Sunday morning talk shows and cable channels throughout 2019. All will express how horrified and appalled they are with Trump and offer themselves as alternatives. Expect Republicans like soon-to-be-former Ohio Governor John — my-father-was-a-mailman — Kasich, and soon-to-be-former Senator and aptly-named Jeff Flake, to continually repeat that they are not Donald Trump and do not resemble him in the least.

Will anyone be surprised if all the Democrats repeatedly call Trump a racist, xenophobic, transphobic, sexist liar? I won’t. Although nearly all criticized every president who ever sent the US soldiers into a Middle Eastern country, will they criticize Trump for pulling them out? That’s already started. How many will promise to abolish ICE? Most? Some have already, but will more make the pledge? When they’re subsequently asked if they support open borders, will they deny it? Of course, but only half of America will believe them. They’ll all promise to deport illegal alien criminals, but will any of them come out against sanctuary cities and states that harbor them? I doubt it.

Former Portland, Maine Bishop Malone

Catholics were shocked again and again through 2018 at the extent of corruption among US bishops and cardinals accused of covering up and/or perpetrating sexual abuse of altar boys and seminarians. Will there be more such reports in 2019? It’s very likely, considering that over a dozen state attorneys general are investigating hundreds of dioceses around the country. That’s in addition to federal RICO investigations going on nearly everywhere. FBI agents have been asking questions at my Portland, Maine diocese. Have they been to yours too? Just last week Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan found sexual abuse allegations against five hundred more Catholic clergy than what the Chicago Diocese had reported.

Cupich and McCarrick

Chicago Cardinal Archbishop Blase Cupich was appointed to the job upon recommendation by disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick according to testimony last summer by Italian Archbishop Vigano. “Regarding Cupich,” Vigano wrote, “one cannot fail to note his ostentatious arrogance, and the insolence with which he denies the evidence that is now obvious to all: that 80% of the abuses found were committed against young adults by homosexuals who were in a relationship of authority over their victims.” Following that bombshell, Pope Francis appointed Cupich to run the worldwide meeting of bishops in Rome in February to investigate clerical sex abuse! That should be interesting. Archbishop Vigano has called for Pope Francis to resign. Will he? No one knows.

As if all that weren’t bad enough, Patriots fans have to watch legendary quarterback Tom Brady show his age while realizing there’s no one on the bench capable of filling his shoes. Will 2019 see the Patriot dynasty coming to an end? The horror! I don't want to think about it.