Proof That My Church Doesn't Get It

I've confessed to here, due in part to my itinerant Catholicism, to a passing interest in what brother Attaturk has referred to as Cirque de Il Popo, complete with fancy hats, ornate vestments, and acrobats on high wires. Persusing the news sites today I find proof that the church just doesn't get it.

VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston who became a focal point of the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal in the United States, won a coveted role Thursday to preside at one of a handful of funeral Masses for Pope John Paul II.

The appointment, announced by Archbishop Piero Marini, the Vatican's master of liturgical celebrations, appeared to catch other U.S. cardinals by surprise. It stunned sexual abuse victims' advocates.

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Law, 73, was appointed last year to the largely administrative post at the architecturally stunning St. Mary Major, which attracts many tourists. He remains a cardinal and is eligible to vote for a new pope.

Custom notwithstanding, Law's role in the ceremonies was seen by some Americans, particularly in Boston, as being blind to the toll of the abuse scandal.

Given the chance to say the right thing, Law's fellow Cardinals had some enlightening things to say.

"I've great regard for Cardinal Law. He's a friend. He's a good man. He's gone through a difficult time. I think there are many who feel he is responsible for the difficult time, but who knows?" McCarrick said.

Several cardinals refused to comment Thursday. "The selection is not for me to comment on," Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia said. Cardinal Edward Egan of New York also demurred. "I won't get into that one, eh?" Tod Tamberg, an aide to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, said, "Cardinal Mahony's not got anything to say."

Princes of the church indeed. I guess we're not going to get that enlightened Pope after all.