Justice Should Not Be Measured in Dollars

Pick a link. Portland made national news again, in a bad way.

The issue of priest abuse has become a recurring nightmare for all of us. We will not soon forget about it, and neither will the church. Now, our local church has filed for bankruptcy protection.

I am no cheerleader for the Catholic Church. 1800 years of misery, if you ask me.

They key here is 1800 years. The better part of two millennia is a long time for an institution to hang around. Someday it will probably fade, but not soon, I'm sure.

The Church has weathered storms and changed with the times, if a little behind. The inquisition was bad for business, as were so many other periods in Church history. Including the sexual abuse scandal.

Many victims have come forward and demanded redress for their pain and suffering, which they richly deserve. Redress on the order of tens of millions of dollars, however, clearly does no true good for the victims, nor does it address the real problems faced by a church which has not really kept up with the times.

I think we need a new Pope. The whole world needs a new Pope. I do not really think that John Paul can truly wrap his tired mind around the reality of the 21st century. Poor guy needs help with his soup. Get him to a home.

I think the Church resists on account of laziness. They have the protection of the feeble man, who probably doesn't even remember about the sex scandal anymore, nor can he make a decision about what to do. He insists on no change.

I am sure the congress of cardinals, or whatever they call themselves, do not know what to do. The church needs change, and it is much easier to keep the old guy on a ventilator and wheel him out into public every few months than to put a plan of action together and execute it.

Change is going to be painful, however, the Church will survive. Perhaps any sexual abuse victims who want true justice will opt to negotiate change within the church, rather than take 10s of millions of dollars of important social services away from their communities.