The elephant in the room this week is Philip Lawler’s latest book:
The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture
This book has been banned by the Basilica of the National Shrine according to Julia Duin’s Washington Times piece: Catholic Book Raises Furor and praised by Dr. Jeff Mirus in his commentary: Why the Faithful Departed and How to Get Them Back
Excerpt from Dr. Mirus:
Reasons for Hope
Phil Lawler argues persuasively that hope does not lie in what has already been done. The net result of the initial measures taken following the sex abuse crisis is that “all priests were now treated like members of a suspect class, while bishops preserved all their dignity and privileges” (191). Instead, the author argues that the solution must match the problem. The problem is precisely the problem posed by Augustine. Therefore, the solution must begin with a frank and contrite admission that the bishops themselves have administered their dioceses from a position of spiritual bankruptcy. Only then can the necessary renewal begin, an interior renewal which causes our shepherds to once again view the Church as the body of Christ, utterly dependent on the truth and grace of the Savior—a Church which will in fact always be hurt by complacency, worldliness, secular processes, political management techniques and, yes, lies.
Lawler inescapably concludes that “for the Catholic Church in Boston today, there is no earthly hope” (252). But he goes on to make his larger point unmistakably clear:
“The Catholic Church has never had any earthly hope…. No, the Apostles had something much more powerful than any earthly hope. Since they could not place their confidence in any logical process, or any material resources, they relied entirely on the power of the Holy Spirit. And they succeeded.” (254-5)
On another front, Father Joe courageously posted on the abuse scandal this week and is valiantly slaying combox trolls as I write this. While posting on this elephant-in-the-room topic is generally safe for the laity — not so much for the clergy. Why don’t you go over to his blog and give him some support: RETROSPECTIVE ON CLERGY CHILD ABUSE by Father Joe
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