Post #17

Toronto archbishop impresses

There has been a lot of criticism of the church hierarchy in Rome for its handling of the sexual abuse crisis. As the stories posted here show, the Vatican seems to be at a loss as to how to respond. On the one hand, there is a Vatican spokesman, Jesuit priest Federico Lombardi, the general director of Vatican radio, who says only what he is told to say by the church Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone; on the other hand, there are a number of Cardinals who have been going on at some length, Bertone among them, without really trying to achieve any consistency in the presentation and in the process, making some pretty outlandish statements.

The end result is confusion and severely mixed messages being received by the catholic faithful. It doesn’t help when the Vatican appears to be adopting a siege mentality and is defensive about everything related to the sexual abuse scandal. The facts are simple: a huge number of children have been sexually abused by Catholic priests and perhaps bishops. Those children have been scarred for life. More is required than pietistic calls for penance and prayer.

A notable exception is Toronto Archbishop Tom Collins. Collins has dealt with the issue head-on in various ways and is using the power of the so-called “social media” very effectively to present his message. The latest effort is a recorded video now available on YouTube. The video captures a scripted message Collins sent to the Toronto churches this weekend.

I must admit a bias. Collins is one of the few church leaders for whom I have respect and I have told him that. He is a gifted preacher and often is compared to the late, great Fulton J. Sheen for very good reason.  I had a chance to watch Collins in Edmonton before he was transferred to Toronto and his spirituality, clarity and directness recommend him to a large number of people. He is a holy, prayerful man, rooted in (and very knowledgeable about) Scripture who cares deeply about the catholic church. It is expected he soon will become a Cardinal. My hope is he may become the next leader of the catholic church.

Here’s the video.  Listen carefully to what the man says (and ignore that annoying music!).  If you would like to read the text of his message, click here.