The Hand That Rings the Bells

However much admiration the work of John Paul II in other areas may inspire in us, the inaction that the Catholic Church showed under his leadership in the face of the sexual abuse committed by clergy against minors must be deplored. When he learned of the scandals, the Pope should have rooted out of the clergy all the pedophiles and their protectors. It is understood that the Pontiff is not directly responsible for the actions of every priest and nun on the globe; what is not understood is that he let slip the splendid opportunity to vindicate the victims by removing from the high ecclesiastical hierarchy those responsible for the problem. By not doing so, he made the Church an accomplice to the deeds.

The bitterest example is provided by the case of Cardinal Bernard Law. While he was Archbishop of Boston, Law knew of the accusations against pederast clergymen but, instead of removing them from their posts, he simply moved them from one parish to another without warning the new parishioners of the danger to which their children were being exposed. Many of the priests accused of pedophilia were repeat offenders: they had been reported before many of their abuses. The Cardinal’s complicity prolonged these clerics’ access to innocent children in the Massachusetts area.

When the scandal became public, Law was not even removed by the Holy See; he had to resign under popular pressure. Surprisingly, he was reassigned by the Vatican as Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, in Rome. To add to the insult to the victims, the Cardinal was one of the nine high-ranking members of the clergy given the honor of presiding, in Rome, over one of the novendiales Masses for the dead Pope. On Monday, April 11, he officiated at this sacrament in honor of the Holy Father, while several of the victims of the abuses he covered up protested peacefully at the door of the church.

According to the Gospel, Jesus warned that it would be better for those who abuse children to throw themselves into the sea, tied by the neck to a millstone. He also said—in an unforgettable phrase—that if your hand causes you to sin, it would be better for you to cut it off and cast it from you than to let your whole being be lost. With John Paul II at its head, the Church undertook many praiseworthy works, but it also made disastrous decisions. In the case of Law, the Church not only hid the hand instead of cutting it off, but used it to ring the bells and consecrate the host in the Vatican.