The Catholic Church is suffering a serious, serious crisis. Not just because several bishops have proven themselves feckless cowards who cover up for sexual predators, but also because the clerics have lost their ability to condemn objective evil.
The latest example of this abomination was provided by none other than Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins, who cautioned believers not to castigate sexual predators like former D.C. Cardinal McCarrick as “monsters.”
“There’s a tendency, and I don’t think it’s a helpful tendency in this kind of situation, to turn the perpetrators into monsters,” Jenkins recently told Crux in an interview.
Cardinal McCarrick is alleged to have sexually abused minors as well as seminarians who were under his care in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. He went on to become one of the most powerful cardinals in the United States, one who persistently abused his authority to push left-wing causes. At one point, he concealed a letter from Cardinal Ratzinger that forbade prelates from giving Holy Communion to pro-abort politicians. While the grace of God is always there for Cardinal McCarrick until he passes from this earth, the man simply lived a monstrous life and leaves a monstrous legacy. To say otherwise is contrary to truth and justice.
Father Jenkins, a priest that worships a man who said “your father is the devil” to corrupt prelates in his day, asserts that characterizing McCarrick as a “monster” is “deeply problematic.”
“[The tendency is] just to imagine that they are thoroughly corrupt people, but the problem is that it’s not true,” Jenkins said. “It’s a part of their lives that is deeply problematic, but another part that is not. And that’s why it’s so hard to identify the problem, and sometimes, that person doesn’t seem to see the problem.”
Jenkins is essentially likening McCarrick’s corrupt sexual abuse to that of a drunk that just cannot help himself. He also claims to have only heard “rumors” of McCarrick while noting he benefited Notre Dame greatly. In fact, the university gave the monstrous prelate an honorary degree in 2008, which happened prior to Father Jenkins inviting pro-abortion President Obama to give a commencement address at the University.
“It’s tragic, and by this I don’t mean to imply not culpable, but there’s a deep tragedy here,” Jenkins said. “As with many people who are responsible for such acts — I haven’t spoken with him, so I’m speaking generally — there’s a certain rationalization that goes on that allows them to compartmentalize their lives and that’s part of the challenge, a failure to confront reality.”
Jenkins also paints the supposed “good side” of Cardinal McCarrick in a false light, failing to see the fact that the man consistently used his authoritative position to pal with pro-abortion while working to transform the Church into a social services agency, not a faithful institution.
In the same interview, Jenkins expressed being “proud” of the fact he hosted pro-abortion President Obama in 2009 and even castigated those who protested him.
“There were people of very good will who protested that [invitation] and put the campus in turmoil and it became a national issue,” he said. “But a high was that there were people who went into the auditorium to try to hackle the president, keep him from speaking, but the students chanted ‘We’re Notre Dame’ as a way of indicating ‘be quiet, we’re going to listen to the president speak’.”
When asked if President Trump would speak anytime soon at the University, Father Jenkins advised Crux to “bet against it.”