The recent columns by Kenneth L. Woodward (CR, May 27 and June 10) complaining about the coverage of the sex abuse scandals by the New York Times is illustrative of the continuing attitude to blame others for this scandal. Who cares about the New York Times? I don’t read it. Who cares what Kenneth Woodward thinks? When will we get beyond blaming others for this self-inflicted wound?
Pope Benedict gets it. At Fatima recently, he said “The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church. The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness – but also justice.” In my opinion, the church will not get beyond this scandal until it heeds Pope Benedict’s words.