Rod Dreher on Cardinal Mahony's magnanimous gesture of forgiveness. Who is he forgiving? Why, people who are irate at his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, of course. Imagine being upset to learn than some of the highest officials of your church have been covering up that kind of thing. Poor, misguided souls.
I don't pretend to know everything about Catholicism. At times, I feel like I don't know anything about it. Those are the times when I encounter folks who insist they are good, solid Catholics and that their religion and whoever's Pope at the moment are infallible and true…but they practice birth control, cheer on the Death Penalty, etc. It looks like a movement where the flock ain't listening to the shepherd — which is fine with me. I'm all for independent thinking. I just think it must be wrenching and frustrating to pledge your life to a faith, then to have your heart tell you it's wrong about this or that…and then to have it embarrass you like it has.
In the meantime, Cardinal Mahony will be heading for Rome shortly to help elect the new Pope. That'll be after Mahony finishes his next round of depositions about enabling pedophilia and child rape…and probably forgiving more people who are outraged about the cover-up.