If you are a priest who is discouraged by the crisis in the Church regarding the abuse children and the Church’s response to this inexcusable crime, take a look at what Archbishop John R. Quinn, retired bishop of San Francisco said at the National Federation of Priests Councils in Houston, Texas on April 13.
www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12258
I think married deacons are in a prophetic position in regard to all of this. We potentially can act as agents of healing here, and understanding. On one hand, we are clergy and we have direct experience with our brothers in Holy Orders that the laity simply do not have. We have the ability to have compassion for them. But almost all of us are also fathers to children. We deeply understand that our children come first. Within the ranks of clergy, we are better situated than others in most situations to have instinctual, raw compassion for child victims and a natural sense to protect. We can advocate for all children from a vantage point that out celebate brothers cannot.
Compassion for priests and bishops is sorely needed. Compassion for our children is obligatory, primal, and cannot be compromised under any circumstances. Those who are complicit in exposing our children to sexual trauma deserve our forgiveness but our children deserve justice.
