AmericanPapist Comments
"Odd on how not that much has changed since this cartoon was drawn".....Do what they say, not what they do...for the leaders do not practice what they preach.Very little compassion and facilitating healing has be shown...but how often do people really listen to our Pope and take his teachings to heart. Jesus too...who said, what they have done to me, they will also do to you.
HOW ABOUT:
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I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of Duin's reporting and knowledge. Who the heck references the Index or even knows what it is or why it existed? Is she consistently this good AmP?
Anyone who has been to the National Shrine and has seen Msgr. Rossi get into or out of his car can see that he is, in every sense of the word, a sophisticated man. I do not doubt that he actually thinks that removal of the book is in the best spiritual interest of his flock. I also do not doubt that he wouldn't have thought this had he not gotten pressure from, ahem, even more sophisticated men, as Diogenes prognosticates. The failure here is not one of panic or fear, but of not recognizing that healing requires that the truth be fully separated from fiction regarding this scandal. Msgr. Rossi perhaps is not himself aware of how little his flock may really know.
This seems to me to be the same sort of behavior that sits beneath improper catechesis and horrible ignorance of the actual contents of the Bible in some Catholic parishes: loving parishioners like children requires treating and educating them like children, and not allowing them to "put away childish things" despite the fact that it is plain that they must in order to see God more clearly as in a mirror, or eventually face to face.
(By the way, what kind of crappy combox is it that doesn't recognize the spelling of 'catechesis' on a Catholic website?)
Teep, the combox doesn't recognize spelling - your web browser does. I take it you're using Firefox - I don't think Internet Explorer even checks spelling.
I wonder how many books by Joan Chittister or Garry Wills are there in the bookshop?
Ken, I've never seen any and I've been there several times.
I'll second that the National Shrine bookshop carries orthodox titles.
Great news ... pardon my cynicism. it's just my experience that some orthodox places allow certain popular writers to creep in.
Brian, Ken; Nothing heretical, but a lot of the fluffy stuff. If you want the classic books, go to the Pauline bookstore.
My encounter with Msgr. Rossi:
We were at the shrine to work on a GS religious badge, and asked Msgr if there was anything there about the ways that people from different countries venerate Mary. He didn't know but pointed out that Blessed Kateri! was a Native American! and made an inane, fluffy comment! about diversity!
So I'm not really surprised that he's turned out to be just as useless in regards to the abuse crisis.
Don't get me started on the Paulines. They do great stuff, but their bookstore here in St. Louis has a few odd titles, including the aforementioned.
That said, I did get my one-volume Latin Summa from them 20-odd years ago. Wonder if they still publish it.
Brian W.,
Ahh, yes. It is Firefox isn't it. Hmm. I love hubris!
So I take it no one is all that moved or disturbed by this sort of development at the Shrine then?
Perhaps only Sister Aloysius and her friends would be miffed.
Teep,
Maybe some are tired of reacting outside of saying '*&%@!' to themselves? :-I
In reading Duin's article, my sense is that to Msgr. Rossi, out of sight, out of mind. Forgetting that the decades of Catholic education forged a certain skepticism and desire to dig deeper. The book deals with an issue the hierarchy would like to forget. Not a chance. Not with every angered argument over tuition payments. Not with every slight impropriety done by a cleric. Not for another couple decades. It was is and for the forseeable future will be the pink elephant in American Catholicism's living room. Not in praise, but in sad observation.
Teep,
In my 35 years of recovery, there have been several priests who helped me along (including BXVI), several who neither helped nor hindered, and several who have audaciously decided that they get to set the timetable for my healing (comes down to that, when you think about it, eh?) : "Time to move on!" Says who? This Msgr Rossi is just a jerk. Good thing he's not at a real parish; I know what it's like to have parish priests like this, and I don't wish it on anyone else.
Teep, disturbed, yes. Surprised, no. That's probably why most people don't have much to say.
Not in any way to defend particular actions or general trends to "sweep it all under the rug," by priests and laity at all levels, but I wish to urge a word of caution against calling priests things like "useless" or "jerks." No matter what they do, no matter how reprehensible or insufficient their actions, we can never call any Father "useless." However hard it is to forgive our priests we must always respect their office; any man who is acting "in persona Christi" at least part of his life must be respected as such! It is a great sorrow we as a Church, and even greater as individuals, must bear, but we cannot allow Satan to use their sin (or faults to whatever degree) to turn our hearts against the heart of the Church, her priesthood.
I'm sorry for the speech. I was just disturbed by some comments here and at the Diogenes combox. I think it is a particularly damaging temptation for us to fall into, considering that the driving principle behind following what "sophisticated individuals" want you to do instead of standing for the truth is a fundamental faithlessness in the strength of one's office as a priest and in Christ's providential mercy. Those clergy nearer the "top," so to speak, are under great temptation to place their pride in their worldly power -- stepping into a fancy car, or "helping out" those in power. Priests like Msgr. Rossi need our prayers (and that's not rhetorical -- seriously, please pray for him and all of them) that they recognize their immense "usefulness" as bearers and ministers of the sacraments -- and there alone. Our priests need to know that we need them, and sometimes they need to reminded that it's because they bring us Christ.
Okay; now I'm really done preaching. Soapbox officially stepped-down-from!
Amy,
"jerk", okay, but I used the term "useless" in describing Msgr Rossi in the context of how helpful various priests are in helping me to heal from the trauma of being sexually abused by another monsignior, beginning at the age of seven. If you and Msgr Rossi don't like it, offer it up and put together the pieces of your shattered life; I call it like I see it. So sorry I have little compassion for the real victims. Not.
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