The Legionaries' 2021 'Annual Report: Truth, Justice and Healing' was released April 6 with updates to their ongoing effort to 'give an account of their commitments to the victims of sexual abuse since the publication three years ago (December 2019) of all cases from their history.' They received four new allegations of sexual abuse against members of the congregation between March 2021 and March 2022.
During a general chapter meeting largely devoted to their order's sexual abuse crisis, the Legionaries of Christ elected U.S. Father John Connor as superior general for the next six years.
We say: God in this most vulnerable state has nothing to do with an ecclesiology or a manufactured orthodoxy that trades on privilege, power and deception.
For over four decades, Jason Berry has offered readers a mix of his intense examination of the ugliest side of Catholic reality and the soul-restoring gumbo of Louisiana life, particularly his hometown New Orleans.
We say: The response in certain circles to the Aug. 21 court decision upholding Cardinal George Pell's conviction for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s was as swift as it was irrational. Hysteria serves no purpose.
NCR Connections: California Catholic initiative points to new ways of engaging with worrisome cultural trends; and the decadeslong, slow-moving implosion of clericalism is accelerating.
NCR Editorial: Weigel's discredited narrative about the causes of the scandal and his illusory ideas on dealing with it do a great disservice to the Catholic faithful in this moment when so much of the church is finally squaring up to the awful truth.
We say: Benedict XVI's current meddling is neither sound analysis nor helpful to a pope making unprecedented efforts to reform the clergy culture. Benedict had his opportunities to call the church's hierarchical culture to account, but he failed.
