Sirman on the Mount

In its Oct. 18 official rejection of the U.S. Bishops' proposals pertaining to sexual abuse, Vatican bureaucrats sent a disturbing message to Catholics everywhere: Child sexual abuse is no big deal.


Inflammatory hyperbole, and obvious slander.


By obfuscating and minimizing the rape and sodomy of Catholic school children and other faithful, the Vatican now seeks to delay, and ultimately kill, any meaningful reforms that would protect American children.


Inflammatory hyperbole, and obvious slander.


The Dallas Charter...provides no enforcement mechanism to remove bishops who choose not to abide by the policy.

A very good point.

What bugs the Vatican most about the Dallas Charter is that hierarchical, clerical authority is in question.

Again, with the clairvoyance.

The Vatican wants to find ways to make exceptions to removing some priests from the ministry, citing the need for "forgiveness" and "redemption." While it might be somehow noble to forgive a child rapist, it is extremely poor judgment at best to return such a priest to ministry, particularly if he has any possible access to children.


Here is someone, who has learned far worse from his church, than better.

Thank you for your recent email. I appreciate that you took the time to
write to me and, I presume, to the others. I apologize to you for creating
an impression that I was anything other than completely pro-life. The
article was severely edited by the Free Press / News and was distorted. I
would never endorse Granholm nor ever compromise the position of my church,
nor my Archbishop. This has caused scandal or fractured unity I must bear
responsibility for that sin.

I hold in faith and teach what the church teaches that from the standpoint
of moral obligation the mere probability that a human person is involved
would suffice to justify an absolutely clear prohibition aimed at killing a
human embryo. Precisely for this reason over and above all scientific
debates and those philosophical affirmations to which the Magisterium has
not expressly committed itself the church has always taught and continues to
teach that the result of human procreation, for the first moment of its
existence must be guaranteed that unconditional respect which is morally due
to the human being in his or her totality and unity as body and spirit. The
human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of
conception and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must
be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of
every innocent human being to life. I believe and teach that direct
abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always
constitutes a grand moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an
innocent human being. It is contrary to God's law which is written in every
human heart, knowable by reason itself and proclaimed by the church. (cf.
Pope John Paul II - The Gospel of Life).

With respect to the issue of conscience let me state that conscience must
be informed and moral judgment enlightened. Conscience is not an
independent and exclusive capacity to decide what is good and what is evil.
The conscience is the "Voice of God" even when man recognizes in it nothing
more than the principle of the moral order which is not humanly possible to
doubt, even without any direct reference to the Creator. A result of the
upright conscience is, first of all to call good and evil by their proper
name whatever is opposed to life itself such as any type of murder genocide,
abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the
integrity of the human person. All these things and others of their kind
are infamies indeed. They poison human society.

There were many points (sentences and paragraphs) removed from the article.
Catholics must give more than token careful and prayerful consideration to
official Catholic Teaching, rather when the Church teaches a matter of faith
or moral s that teaching must be adhered to with the obedience of faith. A
Catholic person who comes to the judgment that procuring an abortion would
be seriously in error. His conscience would be in need of guidance and
reformation.

For any sense of pain I have caused you I will do penance. Please pray for
me that I may continue to place my conscience in conformity always with the
mind of the church and that I may always make every effort to form myself in
the likeness of Christ.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Fr. Ken

P.S. I want you to know that the Cardinal is going to discipline me because
I have caused embarrassment and doubt on the part of some.