Read National Review’s Rod Dreher, who is in Dallas today and tomorrow to “cover” the bishops. Here’s Dreher on two active abuse victims who want the church leaders to do more than shuffle papers:
The two men characterized the meeting as one in which the bishops wanted to talk about abusive priests, but the victims wanted to discuss the bishops who enabled and covered up for them. Isely said the victims’ groups told the bishops at the meeting that they wanted “accountability,” which he explained meant that any bishop or cardinal who has kept an abusive priest on the job should resign.
If the Dallas Morning News is to be believed, that would account for two-thirds of the American bishops. Nevertheless, that radical policy has been endorsed on the Dallas paper’s op-ed page by Catholic conservatives William Bennett, and former National Review publisher Wick Allison. Allison went even further, calling on even the innocent bishops to resign — this, as the only way credibility in the Church’s leadership can be restored.
“The best way you could live up to your ancient legacy at this moment is to surrender it,” Allison wrote. “For the innocent among you, it would be a sacrifice — only the innocent can make a sacrifice — that would resound as much in this generation as the Apostles’ sacrifices did in theirs.”