Sunday, August 11, 2002
What is so interesting?
Taken from the article I linked to yesterday...
The Rev. Canice Connors, the conference president, said in his opening address earlier in the week that he thought the bishops were "paralyzed in remorse" when they developed their policy and he accused them of scapegoating errant clergy.
I agree with his comments. Zero tolerance does do one good thing, it gets errant clergy away from children... in a parish environment. However, zero tolerance does some things which in my opinion are not very good. First it releases the clergy into the outside world, now completely unsupervised. Second, it gets rid of the "dirty secrets", making people think action has been taken and relieving the Bishops of any blame they have accumulated over the years (and they have). Third, it lacks any mercy whatsoever. This last one is the one I find the most disappointing, especially coming from a Christian Church.
I think Rev. Connors also felt this way. The article also has him commenting: "Just as a family does not abandon a member convicted of serious crimes, we cannot turn our backs on our brother," the statement read.
When things get bad it is quite easy to forget the community we are a part of. Need I remind anyone of what happened when Jesus was arrested? The community he nurtured for over three years scattered and in some instances went so far as to publically deny their connection to Him. Why must we constantly repeat these errors?
Taken from the article I linked to yesterday...
The Rev. Canice Connors, the conference president, said in his opening address earlier in the week that he thought the bishops were "paralyzed in remorse" when they developed their policy and he accused them of scapegoating errant clergy.
I agree with his comments. Zero tolerance does do one good thing, it gets errant clergy away from children... in a parish environment. However, zero tolerance does some things which in my opinion are not very good. First it releases the clergy into the outside world, now completely unsupervised. Second, it gets rid of the "dirty secrets", making people think action has been taken and relieving the Bishops of any blame they have accumulated over the years (and they have). Third, it lacks any mercy whatsoever. This last one is the one I find the most disappointing, especially coming from a Christian Church.
I think Rev. Connors also felt this way. The article also has him commenting: "Just as a family does not abandon a member convicted of serious crimes, we cannot turn our backs on our brother," the statement read.
When things get bad it is quite easy to forget the community we are a part of. Need I remind anyone of what happened when Jesus was arrested? The community he nurtured for over three years scattered and in some instances went so far as to publically deny their connection to Him. Why must we constantly repeat these errors?
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