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The
Greater Evil
from Gaile Pohlhaus
[Gaile
sent the following comment on a cartoon published in the Philadelphia
Inquirer.]
Tony Auth’s editorial
cartoon of Sunday, September 25, certainly hits the nail right on the head.
Cardinal Krol would hear no evil of his priests. Cardinal Bevilacqua would
speak no evil of his priests. And now Cardinal Rigali will see no evil in
his predecessors. The Grand Jury report of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese
of Philadelphia may not mention any of the positive steps that have been
taken since 2002 to prevent something like this happening again, but it was
investigating the time period before 2002. The bishops were warned of the
problem in 1987 by Rev. Thomas Doyle, O.P. who was repaid for his warning
by being removed from the Papal Nuncio’s staff. Why was no action taken then?
Archbishop Rigali rightly claims that abuses reported were followed up. And
the Grand Jury reports how inadequate those follow-ups were. Archbishop Rigali
also claims that his predecessors followed then known medical advice. Anyone
with common sense knows that if some one who has supposedly been cured still
exhibits the same behavior the cure has been ineffective. Or were Cardinals
Krol and Bevilacqua trying to cure the evil of scandal, rather than the evil
of abusing children? Which is the greater evil? I suggest that the Archdiocese
turn to Mark 9:42 for an answer.
[Mark 9:42. “It would
be better if anyone who leads astray one of these simple believers were to
be plunged in the sea with a great millstone fastened around his neck.”]
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