Learning from the crisis

Over at Laurence England's blog there has been a bit of a discussion about whether the roots of the priest child abuse scandal lie in liberal seminaries.

One contributor has said words to the effect "don't let's use this to start blaming liberal or conservative wings of the Church."

I agree - up to a point. It is silly to use something as grave as this crisis as a mindless stick to attack the other side with...

However, I disagree most profoundly if he or she means we should not seek to learn whether there is something in the way we have been selecting and forming young men for the priesthood that has led to this crisis. If we do not learn the lessons of history, we may be condemned to repeat it...

I was particularly struck by how prophetic Michael Rose's book, Goodbye Good Men, now seems. This devastating criticism of (some) American seminaries does seem to suggest some possible root causes for the crisis. But I think a more thorough review is now needed, looking at all those priests implicated and their formation.

And in the meantime, we should continue to pray for all victims, all perpetrators, all who colluded wittingly or unwittingly by their silence, and all the good priests whose name and reputation have been tarnished by the scandal, and not least for our Holy Father.