Honest, at least

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 15, 2004

The confession is an eye-opener, but at least we can give Bishop Manuel Moreno credit for this much: He doesn't blame things on bad record-keeping.

In the course of the two-hour deposition, held in Pima County Superior Court, Moreno acknowledged, among other things, that he'd allowed priests he knew were child molesters to take kids on trips to Disneyland, where priests would then molest them.

(From the Tucson Weekly)

The Dallas Charter offers various assurances that priests who abuse children will be disciplined by their bishops. But how credible are those assurances, if the bishops themselves have been cooperating in the abuse? For years the Tucson diocese was notorious as a haven for molesters. But Bishop Moreno only resigned last year, well after the implementation of the Dallas Charter.

Now a repentant Bishop Moreno is telling the unvarnished truth; God bless him for that. But if there are other bishops out there who knowingly harbored molesters-- and there are-- nothing in the Dallas Charter will bring them to justice. They will remain in office until they resign of their own volition (like Moreno), or until other bishops demand their removal. Don't hold your breath.