Shanley guilty

A jury today convicted laicized priest Paul Shanley.

In many ways, his situation was the most notorious of all the recent scandals because he had been the most outspoken in favor of immoral things.

Indeed, it is very difficult for me to write about any of it without getting angry and nauseous.

Even so, as our Lord commanded, we must pray – even through gritted teeth – for him and for all of those who sinned against children.

We must also pray for their victims and for all who have been harmed by these terrible things.

We must pray for the Church, that it may always protect children and may persevere in its mission.

We must also pray for ourselves, that we may neither piously paper-over these crimes nor wallow in the corruption of cynicism, but that all of us may have true healing and renewal in Christ.

Deus, in adiutorium nostrum intende