Is this any more representative of the morality of the Roman Catholic hierarchy?
God help the Faithful.
Posted on 05/03/2002 9:48:34 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod
Cardinal Francis George believes anxiety over false accusations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Joseph Bernardin hastened his death from pancreatic cancer in 1996.
"I think it killed him," George said in an interview Thursday. "Cancer is a psychosomatic disorder very often. Would he have died as quickly as he did if he had not gone through that terrible ordeal? I don't know. Others have suggested that might be the case."
In November 1993, Steven Cook, a 34-year-old from Philadelphia, filed a lawsuit against Bernardin claiming the cardinal and another priest had sexually abused him in the 1970s while Cook was a pre-seminary student in Cincinnati.
Bernardin vehemently maintained his innocence, saying at the time the accusations first surfaced: "I am 65 years old, and I can tell you that all my life I have lived a chaste and celibate life."
In March 1994, Cook recanted his accusations against Bernardin, saying they were based on false recovered memories. Bernardin died almost three years to the day after Cook made his accusations of sexual abuse public.
George said he saw firsthand the toll the scandal over Cook's false allegations had taken on Bernardin when the two met at a bishops meeting.
"He told me once, 'Now, whenever my story is told, the accusation, even though it was a false accusation, will always be associated with my name.' This was a man who had a sense of his own role in history, and he was saddened by this. It was a great tragedy," George said.
"This is why some sense of caution, in my experience and I've said this, accusations against priests in this domain usually have some truth to them . . . but not always. And in this or any other domain, we should all be more careful about making huge statements and false accusations, or any accusations, unless we know they are true."
George made his comments about his predecessor during a wide-ranging interview during and after a WBBM-AM taping about the ongoing national scandal fueled by revelations that some Roman Catholic priests who were known to have sexually abused children were allowed by church officials to move from parish to parish, and diocese to diocese.
The cardinal said the more people talk about the issue of clergy sexual abuse, the better it is for everyone, although the ongoing experience has been trying for him.
"I never imagined I would have the shame of talking about this because it's a terrible thing, what happens to victims, the betrayal of the priesthood, the betrayal of the church," he said. "Sometimes at night I like to think, well, is there some way I wouldn't have to do this? It wasn't part of the job description when I signed on to be a priest 30-some years ago."
In the coming weeks, members of the Catholic Lawyers Guild will hold a series of 10 to 20 public hearings on behalf of the Chicago Archdiocese to glean input from ordinary Catholics about what they want to see in a national church policy governing priests who abuse, George said.
"I would like to hear from Catholic lay people, so when I go into the meeting with the other bishops in June I can say, there are these ideas. I don't know that there can possibly be a consensus around something as inflammatory and shameful as this, but at least I'll have a better sense of what ideas are out there among the lay people," he said.
Details of when and where the hearings would be held are still being worked out, he said.
George also said he'd encourage any victim, regardless of gag orders or confidentiality agreements attached to settlements reached with the archdiocese in abuse cases, to speak out publicly about their experiences if they want to.
"Let them say what they want to say. Some people want to say and some people don't. Let them make the choice," he said. "What are we going to do? Are we going to sue? That would be ridiculous."
I think he's nuts when he says it's going to be hard to reach a consensus. Just about everyone agrees about "one strike and you're out."
...but at least I'll have a better sense of what ideas are out there among the lay people," he said.
Excuse me, but doesn't he know already?
Also, this caught my eye: "Cancer is a psychosomatic disorder very often."
I've never heard this before. I'd hate to think another Cardinal said something dumb, but, what???
My mother died of pancreatic cancer, as did a classmate of mine.
Psychosomatic?
There is NOTHING more stressful than knowing you have pancreatic cancer: A false accusation would be the very least of anyone's concerns when presented with that diagnosis.
It is a terrible death, quite certain and not pretty.
A dog deserves better.
Also, the disclosure and then shooting down of an unfounded accusation is an easy way to innoculate a wrongdoer against other potential accusations. Thus, a complete nut was trotted out making accusations against Cardinal Mahony. Now he is a "victim" too and any additional accusations against him are likely to be viewed with great suspicion if they are reported at all. Perhaps similarly, Cardinal McCarrick admitted (buried in a Wash.Post story a couple weeks ago) that he too had been the victim of unfounded pedophilia accusations years ago.
This answer by the late Cardinal Bernardin convinced me, without any doubt that he was being truthful. He stated that he had been celibate his entire life. Not one single individual came forward to refute that claim, man, woman, or child. If he had had a sexual relationship as a teen he would have been vulnerable for making that statement. As for his kooky replacement, the guy is a little potso. His statement that a priest having one sexual relationship with an under age girl, while intoxicated is not as bad as a priest having several tryst with several young men. This statement is wrong, reckless, and makes one wonder if Georgie-boy is trying to leak a story of an intoxicating priest having one sexual relationship with an underage girl.
Is this any more representative of the morality of the Roman Catholic hierarchy?
God help the Faithful.
My Father just died of cancer as well and I for one am appalled that he would say that cancer is a "psychosomatic" disorder.
It is, however, well known, that Cardinal Bernardin was the instigator of many of the Church's most serious problems after Vatican II. He was much more subtle and intelligent than other liberals, who tended to get out on limbs and damage their causes. He was very skilled at hiding what he was doing. But without question his "seamless garment" ploy was responsible, more than almost anything else, for the failure of the Catholic bishops to confront Roe v. Wade in a timely fashion before it took hold on our culture. Therefore Bernardin bore a considerable responsibility for the abortion holocaust that followed.
Bernardin was also probably responsible, working with Senator Hatch, for the defeat of the Right-to-Life bill in the senate, which might have brought the abortion issue to a head before it became so firmly established.
Cardinal George has a fine reputation as a sound, solid, traditional bishop and a very intelligent theologian. But I must say that he has been saying some strange things these past few weeks. I hope he is not losing it.
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