Author: Steve

Read this on Emily Stimpson’s site. She is so, so, so right.

The most important things that happen in Dallas, the things that God cares about the most, will not happen on TV. EWTN cannot show us the hearts of the bishops or of the victims who will attend the meeting. The television cameras won’t be present during the hours of quiet private prayer. We won’t hear the confessions these men make before God. We won’t see the rekindling of the Holy Spirit in their souls. We won’t know if one simple act of courtesy by a bishop will start the renewal of faith in the life of a victim.

Tell everyone about the Baptism this weekend, Alix!

I might add that the good people at Foxnews.com are calling it a scandal rather than a situation:

The scandal began enveloping the church after revelations that the Archdiocese of Boston had shuttled now-defrocked priest John Geoghan from parish to parish despite repeated allegations that he was a pedophile.

We do need a catch-all term but “The Situation” isn’t cutting it. “The Crisis” is an apt description. Would you prefer another word perhaps?

straits, exigency, emergency, turning point, urgency, necessity, dilemma, puzzle, perplexity, pressure, embarrassment, pinch, juncture, pass, change, contingency, plight, imbroglio, impasse, deadlock, entanglement, predicament, corner, decisive turn, decisive moment, critical juncture, critical situation, trauma, quandary, extremity, disaster, trial, crux, climacteric, moment of truth, hour of decision, crossroads, climax, clutch, pickle, stew, fix, mess, big trouble, kettle of fish, hot water, crunch

See also my earlier post on this and John’s response.

with my fellow bloggers calling the present crisis “The Situation.” It’s such an American thing to ascribe an enigmatic yet vacuous name to such an crucial state of affairs. It sounds like something defense lawyers would call it! Decades of abuse in the church heirarchy, vile crimes perpetrated against innocents then covered up, seminaries turned into pink palaces, and the decay of the Church’s moral authority boiled down into two words – “The Situation.” Calling this “The Situation” is miserably inadequate and I dare say insulting to the victims. The causes are many, the crises are ongoing, and the effects will be felt for decades if not centuries to come. God’s Church, the Body of Christ on this Earth, is bleeding and suffering. I humbly say we can do better than calling this “The Situation.”