By Maureen Ferguson
Fyodor Dostoyevsky observes in his novel The House of the Dead, “Man is a creature that can get accustomed to anything.” As the bishops of the Catholic Church convene in Baltimore this week to address the abuse crisis, Dostoyevsky’s reflection on human nature seems apropos. Though there are many holy, selfless, and courageous bishops, the response of the hierarchy as a whole, including many of those in Rome, has been one of dereliction, as if they’ve become inured to such failings.
This was not always so, and perhaps it is useful to ponder a bit of church history to recover a sense of revulsion and appropriate consequences for such behavior. After all, the lay faithful are perplexed at the relative silence from the Vatican on the case of Theodore McCarrick, who has thus far suffered only the mild rebuke of having his cardinal’s hat revoked.
