More poetry soon, but first, a word from the Catholic Church

Sigh. This just makes me sad, and not a little bit frustrated. Not just because the 'crazy old coot' (as one of my friends put it) said these words (and by saying them as a bishop to a Catholic website, he was representing the church in his actions), but the way the Vatican handled it, which was to deny anything had even transpired.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has a good article here on this issue (can't believe I just wrote those words!). To sum up, it's a shame that the church, which has so often been a source of good in this world, from the alleviation of poverty, to fighting communism, to the spread of education, has a blind spot to its own failings, and can't move past its own notion of infallibility. If only the leadership would apologize, would take real, concrete steps not just to protect itself, but to make restitution (both physical and moral) to victims and take a good hard look at its own inner workings to make sure there were real protections in place to prevent this kind of abuse in the future. That's what responsible leaders do: act in a transparent way, apologize for mistakes (without fearing the lawyers and the media going barracuda-crazy on them) and move forward. If/when the church does that, rather than blame Jews, the media or others, they will be able to rebuild their moral capital again.