The mind boggles???

$600,000,000 ought to buy you a lot of proof. But proof of what?

The situation in the US Church is not an easy situation to fix- but that's no excuse for not trying to fix it. The pedophile scandals will be an enormous burden for many people for a long time. It truly is a most extraordinary example of the phrase- only the innocent suffer. In every sense.

However, if I were in the archdiocese of LA I would be wondering if I got my money's worth. In a place that big and wealthy the law suit comes out to be around $200 per 'credo'- not a lot all things considered. But I don't believe that it's a bargain, especially when you have the incumbent archbishop 'energised' by the whole thing and still in office, instead of being repentant and out of it.

What to do with His Eminence? Most of the basilicas in Rome are taken and I don't think he speaks Italian. So, where to from here? 

To sack him would be something of a start. That would certainly be the right way to go about things in corporate US. However the Church doesn't play by the rules of big business, despite what the lawyers might say. 

The real question is not whether you sack the ordinary but whom do you put in his place? The top office in LA is really a job for a saint or someone who doesn't mind becoming one by martyrdom. JPII had the approach of if you make a mess then you clean it up- responsibility. We are still yet to see how Benedict will react. Of course there may be many who want the job, yet I doubt they're the kind of men you want to have doing it. So what now?

I suppose it comes down to the fact whether the US Church really has turned a corner or is just hiding in a dark one. The only way change can realy be brought about is if there is a change in leadership, both in name and in practise. The new men who come must be truly new men, capable of winning back people's trust and building on the Grace that God gives and and above all capable of doing their duty. We don't need any more managers, we need shpheards, and shepherds after His heart, not with a bleeding one.