The stage is set

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Seven Ages of Man by William Mulready (1838) - Wikipedia

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.—Jaques to Duke Senior, As You Like It by William Shakespeare: Act II, Scene VII.

The stage is set for a reckoning.

Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son: give me your blessing: truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son may, but at the length truth will out.—Launcelot, Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare: Act 2 Scene 2.

Professor Janet E. Smith, consecrated virgin and a moral theologian at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, has identified in no uncertain terms a serious concern long resonating among Catholics convinced that a deadly systemic illness exists among many current members of the episcopate.

Janet E. Smith, August 6, 2018

Many people think the sexual scandal in the Church is that bishops knew about McCarrick and did nothing about it. And too many clerics and laity think if a few heads roll, and some mechanism for reporting vicious bishops is put in place, we can move beyond this. WRONG! The deeper problem is... .


A lay-led commission to investigate clergy misbehaviour is appropriate, given the failure of bishops to adequately deal with problems within their ranks. Perhaps Professor Smith should be considered for inclusion on a panel of lay Catholics who could investigate and, where malfeasance is found, remove clergy and others who have enabled decadent and violent behaviour in seminaries, parishes and at the diocesan level. The beginnings of such a commission may be the panel being called for to deal with the claims against ex-Cardinal McCarrick.


A LifeSiteNews report states that "Dr. Paul McHugh, a former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a member of the National Review Board, stated clearly what the problem was in an August 25, 2006 National Catholic Register editorial."—LifeSiteNews


Additional Perspectives

Philip F. Lawler


Inés San Martin


New York Times: Elisabetta Povoledo and Sharon Otterman

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