My view from the pew on aspects of the sex-scandal crisis
April 27, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
I was interviewed recently by Greg & Jennifer Willits of “The Catholics Next Door” radio show fame (heard on Sirius Radio’s Catholic Channel). We discussed a variety of issues surrounding the ongoing sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, including the wisdom of priestly celibacy, how Catholics should respond to those who raise the scandals as a challenge, how the scandals are more like a tsunami than a tidal wave, what we can practically do to facilitate genuine healing, whether bishops who are implicated in these scandals should be prosecuted by the law, and more. To listen, click the mitre above or click here.
"Perhaps the laity hasn't demanded a higher level of catechization because it might require us to change our own lives and the sexual culture in which we are immersed. How might we have to change our own lives?
JP2 spoke of a "New Evangelization" and it's blooming has begun among the baptized faithful. We are in the midst of a new age of Christian History and like many ages before us, Catholic voices will arise from the most unusual source — US. Holiness and Mission are our call and it is as exciting as it is vital to the world.
One topic that seems not to have been addressed in the discussion of this scandal, has been the question of how adequately our youth are being catechized, or if they are even being catechized at all.
We need and should demand a level of catechization such that when a youth is presented with an evil, he or she will flee it. Instead, we have young adults who are well past the age of reason who are being ensnared into the evil designs of people older than themselves. While the frequency of these events seems to have decreased over the last decade or two, sin will always be a factor in life, and we need a level of catechization such that when our youth are presented with evil, their response will be to immediately recognize what it is and what its consequences are and flee it. It is the weak and uncatechized who will be most easily preyed upon.
Perhaps the laity hasn't demanded a higher level of catechization because it might require us to change our own lives and the sexual culture in which we are immersed. How might we have to change our own lives?
Thank you!