If I had any doubts about the depth of the troubles facing the Catholic Church, they were erased this morning by Ross Douthat's NYT column.
Not that it was particularly excoriating. Like most of his work, whether you agree with it or not (and I often don't) it was thoughtful and balanced.
But it was unflinching in its placing the responsibility for this issue at the feet of the Pope. His conclusion?
I am beginning to wonder if the Church can survive in its present form as anything but an empty shell. I believe that what must come out of this is the type of revolutionary rebirth for which Vatican II was but a precursor. God turns evil to good, but the result may be something we can scarcely envision.
. . the crisis of authority endures. There has been some accountability for the abusers, but not nearly enough for the bishops who enabled them. And now the shadow of past sins threatens to engulf this papacy.
Popes do not resign. But a pope can clean house. And a pope can show contrition, on his own behalf and on behalf of an entire generation of bishops, for what was done and left undone in one of Catholicism’s darkest eras.
This is Holy Week, when the first pope, Peter, broke faith with Christ and wept for shame. There is no better time for repentance.
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