“ We are bishops of the Church, shepherds appointed by God to feed His flock. ”
Pope Francis’s Speech to the Bishops of the United States of America, St Matthew’s Cathedral , Washington DC, September 23rd 2015 .
________________
Here we go again, with yet another dirty old man in the headlines, a Father Paul Moore, already dismissed for paedophily . He’s accused of paying hush money of £10,000 , but denies it, and there’s suggestions of a third case involving him and an altar boy appearing. Another priest has accused him of abuse as a young seminarian. And of course he quotes the Bible . It’s as if they were compelled to remind us of their religious background.
A local newspaper adds ‘The Scottish Catholic Church did not comment ‘. Now, there’s a surprise !
All of our Tridentine clergy are highly educated in theology. Now we can’t comment, if only because we don’t know, on how professionally this is done, in terms of standards, independent external marking,, pass marks etc. And in terms of educational transfer we can’t comment either. But bizarrely, when you think about it, there appears to be nil transfer in terms of public relations. Living in the bubble of ecclesiastical life from age 13 , as we spoke of recently, certainly can’t help. But come on!
Little did we ever think we would thank God for the Scottish press, but what would we know without them?
Looming over any discussion of the Tridentine priesthood is celibacy. The abandonment of marriage and family life and the personal sacrifices involved are things we have to make allowances for , and we are certainly told about this , although we all know it was all about safeguarding legal rights in the twelfth century to what are possibly now just heaps of mouldering ruins all over Europe, or empty churches.
If this means giving up sex, some of the Scottish clergy , and not just them, don’t let this be a problem. In Scotland we don’t just have paedophily, but occasionally homosexual fun and games in seminaries as well. The expression ‘optional celibacy’ has now been given new layers of meaning in Scotland and elsewhere.
We would like the Scottish bishops to realise that we, humble laymen as we are, whose regimental motto is ‘ Pay, Pray and Obey’, know a great deal about it , thanks to the Scottish press, whatever its motives , and who cares. Why can’t the Scottish bishops accept this? Everybody knows, or has a pretty good idea. Why not eliminate unhealthy speculation if everybody’s not got it quite right, and clear up the matter?
How refreshing it would be if the Scottish bishops laid out clearly and honestly the entire mess the Scottish Church is in . Think of the relief to us all, not least to the ordinary clergy not at all involved, to see the whole disaster clearly . Who would suffer ? Prelates dead and gone ? The image of the Church in Scotland is in tatters. Why not try to improve it a little for the ordinary parishioners who have to live with it with their associates at work, and more importantly with their families ?
Why not, you may say? What prevents them? Surely not concern about what an already moribund Vatican bureaucracy might say about this ?

Surely not ?