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The following contains short excerpts from an essay on the sex abuse scandal.
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In the 1960s an egregious event occurred on a scale unprecedented in history. It could be said that in the twenty years from 1960 to 1980, the previously normative standards regarding sexuality collapsed entirely, and a new normalcy arose that has by now been the subject of laborious attempts at disruption.
This had effects on the formation of priests and the lives of priests.
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Why did pedophilia reach such proportions? Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God. . . .
A paramount task, which must result from the moral upheavals of our time, is that we ourselves once again begin to live by God and unto him. Above all, we ourselves must learn again to recognize God as the foundation of our life instead of leaving him aside as a somehow ineffective phrase. . . .
God became man for us. Man as his creature is so close to his heart that he has united himself with him and has thus entered human history in a very practical way. He speaks with us, he lives with us, he suffers with us, and he took death upon himself for us.
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What must be done? Perhaps we should create another Church for things to work out? Well, that experiment has already been undertaken and has already failed.
Only obedience and love for our Lord Jesus Christ can point the way. So let us first try to understand anew and from within [ourselves] what the Lord wants and has wanted with us.
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It is very important to oppose the lies and half-truths of the devil with the whole truth: Yes, there is sin in the Church and evil. But even today there is the Holy Church, which is indestructible.
Today there are many people who humbly believe, suffer, and love, in whom the real God, the loving God, shows himself to us. Today God also has his witnesses (martyrs) in the world. We just have to be vigilant in order to see and hear them.
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At the end of my reflections I would like to thank Pope Francis for everything he does to show us, again and again, the light of God, which has not disappeared, even today. Thank you, Holy Father!
Excerpted from The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse, April 2018
This essay is the best thing I have come across about the sex abuse scandal, and I would recommend reading it in its entirety. It can be found, among other places, by googling: Pope Benedict sex abuse scandal full text.
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