Turning the moral high ground into a morass

I was distressed, but not surprised, to see that the Catholic Church is seeking to encourage the liberalization of laws governing illegal aliens - on moral grounds.

"As a moral matter ... our nation cannot continue to receive the benefits of the work and contributions of undocumented immigrants without extending to them the protection of the law," Dolan wrote. "Keeping these human beings as a permanent underclass of workers who are unable to assert their rights or enjoy the fruits of their labor is a stain on the soul of the nation."

Dolan reiterated the bishops' stand that immigration legislation includes a path to citizenship, reaffirms family reunification, deals with future flows of migrant workers and restores basic due process protections to immigrants.

He wrote Boehner, a Catholic, that immigration is "a challenge that has confounded our nation for years, with little action from our federally elected officials. It is a matter of great moral urgency that cannot wait any longer for action."

There's more at the link.  Bold, underlined text is my emphasis.

I'd be rather more persuaded by the Cardinal Archbishop's words if it weren't for the fact that the Catholic Church has still done nothing effective whatsoever to truly, radically change its attitude to the priest child sex abuse scandal.  As I've written before in these pages, most of the measures introduced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops since that scandal broke have been little more effective than pious window-dressing.  They are public relations exercises that have done and will continue to do little or nothing to prevent sinful priests reoffending.  Furthermore, whilst offending priests have (rightly) been laicized, most of the prelates and bureaucrats who failed to stop such priests in the past, deliberately covering up their crimes and transferring them to new locations where they could again prey on the innocent, have in very large measure not been punished at all.  Almost all still enjoy their clergy status, rank, and privileges of service - including their pensions.

"A matter of great moral urgency", Cardinal Dolan?  Take a look in the mirror, then tell me which is the more urgent moral problem, and where the culpability truly lies for not resolving problems of 'great moral urgency'.  If you're in any doubt, consult the many, many children (most now adults) who still bear the psychological and spiritual wounds inflicted on them by their abusers . . . wounds that are still being inflicted on some of them today.  To my mind, unless and until the Church addresses this issue effectively and meaningfully, it has no right whatsoever to lecture others on what it deems to be their moral obligations.

Pot, meet kettle.  Kettle, pot.  (In case you still don't get it, Cardinal Dolan, I refer you to Luke 6:42.)

Peter