Commentary: It's easy to see the problem of abuse as a lack of effective rules to root out bad actors. But I suggest that we take a medical metaphor for our lead. What's going on in the organism of the church?
2019 in review: Headlines included the U.S. bishops' approval of a plan to implement Pope Francis' Vos Estis Lux Mundi, a document that came out of the Vatican's February summit on the clergy sexual abuse.
Priestly Diary: Ambition is one of the worst and most destructive features of clericalism. It is time to take all the vestiges of the Papal States to the junk yard.
Your thoughts: NCR readers are welcome to join the conversation and send us a letter to the editor. Below is a sampling of letters received in the month of October 2019.
Tasked with finding ways his predecessor should make amends for abuses, including gross financial misconduct, Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, was able to meet with a top Vatican official to discuss those plans.
We say: In the short time since the church formalized a process for bishops to investigate other bishops' misconduct, we are finding out that process has had, to put it mildly, its hiccups.
The timing of the U.S. bishops' "ad limina" visits to the Vatican was a matter of Pope Francis' schedule and the regular rhythm of his meetings with the world's bishops.
Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, has asked the former bishop of the diocese to pay back more than $792,000 to cover the "inappropriate expenditure of diocesan funds to support a luxurious lifestyle."
Though most prelates who have resigned or been removed for sexual misconduct or cover-up no longer attend the biannual U.S. bishops' meeting, only one has been formally disinvited. And one convicted bishop continues to show up.
