I think there's a bit of a generational effect. US seminaries (and probably others worldwide) were absolutely awful for many decades. Some of them seemed to be places I wouldn't send my enemies. The men vetted and formed by that are the current crop of bishops, since the last generation has died. Society's general distaste for priests ha…
I think there's a bit of a generational effect. US seminaries (and probably others worldwide) were absolutely awful for many decades. Some of them seemed to be places I wouldn't send my enemies. The men vetted and formed by that are the current crop of bishops, since the last generation has died. Society's general distaste for priests has done a lot to clear out some of the guys who don't really believe. There's also been a big effort at getting the seminaries better, but they're still not phenomenal, and the current crop of bishops can probably still pick rotten ones for promotion. Based on that, I think we're getting into the turning of the tide, but it'll be a while yet before it's out, and the scandals have, by virtue of the generational shift, taken over many more of the higher positions. That serves to make them both more powerful, and more public when/if they are caught.
I do not think this means we can just chill and wait it out. I think the efforts to bring things into the light, and to see abusers and the complicit removed, is essential, and that it's still going to take a lot of time before things look like any of those efforts have been successful.
I think there's a bit of a generational effect. US seminaries (and probably others worldwide) were absolutely awful for many decades. Some of them seemed to be places I wouldn't send my enemies. The men vetted and formed by that are the current crop of bishops, since the last generation has died. Society's general distaste for priests has done a lot to clear out some of the guys who don't really believe. There's also been a big effort at getting the seminaries better, but they're still not phenomenal, and the current crop of bishops can probably still pick rotten ones for promotion. Based on that, I think we're getting into the turning of the tide, but it'll be a while yet before it's out, and the scandals have, by virtue of the generational shift, taken over many more of the higher positions. That serves to make them both more powerful, and more public when/if they are caught.
I do not think this means we can just chill and wait it out. I think the efforts to bring things into the light, and to see abusers and the complicit removed, is essential, and that it's still going to take a lot of time before things look like any of those efforts have been successful.