LETTER: More Respect for the Church, Please!

I object to your use of the phrase "the Church's penance still lies ahead” in the Crimson Staff editorial “Papal Penance” that was published on Apr. 8, 2010. Although doubtless you intended it to refer to the small proportion of clergy and laity complicit in acts both sinful and criminal, the Church is comprised of all baptized Catholics worldwide, and by implying that all these people have yet to receive penance for sexual abuse, you (however accidentally) slander the names of more than a billion people. Furthermore, your "specific reforms" which should be "immediately adopted," have been either already adopted or have been used and discovered to be counterproductive to the task of weeding out criminals for positions of power. Take your second reform, for instance, that bishops should have more power. Before then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's 2001 letter “Crimen Sollicitationis,” that effectively centralized reports of abuse to the Vatican (over the heads of local bishops), people like former Archbishop Bernard Law of Boston were able to keep reports from spreading, hush up victims and relocate offending priests, without either the Vatican or civil authorities knowing. This system was deeply flawed, and to advocate even a partial return to it shows only a deep ignorance of the history of the issue. Furthermore, although I agree that the tone of the letter you quoted from “USA Today” was perhaps overcooked in calling the Pope a martyr, you fail to address its central claim: that the Pope is doing everything in his power to weed out sexual abuse. Both you and I are not in positions make such a judgment, and thus I would call on you not to judge the man. Leave that to higher powers.

JOSH A. HICKS ’13

Cambridge, Mass.

Apr. 9, 2010

Josh A. Hicks ’13 is a freshman in Lionel Hall.