Brouhaha Over House Chaplain

by Michael Sean Winters

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One of the reasons the Catholic bishops and the Holy See need to stick to the Dallas norms, and remove from office those bishops who do not comply with the norms, is that until the Church really has the sex abuse crisis behind us, it will haunt even the most unrelated activities of Catholic priests.
So, the newly nominated House chaplain, Father Patrick Conroy, S.J., has found himself at the center of a dust-up because he is a member of the Northwest Province of the Society of Jesus which recently entered into a multi-million dollar settlement with victims of clergy sex abuse. There is no indication that Father Conroy had anything to do with the abuse, with the settlement, certainly not with any cover-up, but the mere fact of his association with the Northwest Jesuits has evidently caused people to take a second look at his nomination.
This is crazy, and the craziness will continue as long as there is any sense that the Vatican and the U.S. bishops are not doing all they can to guarantee that children will be safe when they come to Church.

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