Ball is in whose court?

Misbehaving Cardinals (and heads of state) can only be judged by the Pope, but lesser mortals are handled by the Roman Rota. This court, which we have all heard of, remains rather obscure in its functions, at least to most of us, but there is absolutely no reason why it should not act in a way analogous to the Star Chamber of old.

Some years ago now there was talk that the Pope was going to set up a special court to deal with Bishops who failed in their duty with regard to child protection. (This new court would presumably have taken over some of the jurisdiction exercised by the Rota.) But though this was announced, nothing happened.

Yes. Ball dropped again by the incumbent Holiness, busy perhaps with climate control and other things he can do nothing about.

via   CatholicHerald.co.uk

As the Wuerl turns:

Catholic writer Elizabeth Scalia, a prominent critic of the website, said: “This is the sort of action we usually see being taken by a Chairman of the Board, or a CEO, or a politician, and that’s very telling; it exposes a mindset that is geared toward management and administration, with a less-than-optimal pastoral sensibility on display. It’s all too much of the world.”

Later on Wednesday, the archdiocese deleted the website, saying it had become a “distraction”

From what, your eminence?

via  CatholicHerald.co.uk

Comes the deluge.

Church Militant spoke with New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood, who told us:

The Attorney General has directed her Criminal Division leadership to reach out to local District Attorneys — who are the only entities that currently have the power to convene a grand jury to investigate these matters — in order to establish a potential partnership on this issue.

Not only NY.

In the wake of the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, speculation around the country has begun that grand juries should be convened in every state — an idea that fed-up faithful Catholics are now supporting publicly.

Brad Miner: “I’m in favor, frankly, of 50 grand juries, including, you know, we’ve already had one in Pennsylvania, but we need one in the District of Columbia too — so that makes 50. Every single state, we got to do this, and it’s got to be the civil authorities, I’m sorry to say.”

Miner, senior editor of The Catholic Thing, is not alone.

Joining Miner are the likes of Illinois State Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, who was a member of the 2002 U.S. bishops’ national review board [and threw up her hands and resigned, appalled at their politics]. Burke says, “I think every state should convene a grand jury into this culture of secrecy that protected offenders at all costs.”

Burke, as Illinoisans know, is wife of a Chicago alderman of high seniority and much power.

Miner’s and Burke’s public sentiments may soon become a reality. In addition to the Pennsylvania grand jury, Nebraska is now sending signals that it too is prepping for the possible convening of its own grand jury. This as a result of revelations of homosexual predation on seminarians in the diocese of Lincoln.

So we look to the state to police the church.

via Episcopal Sodomy: NY AG Outlining Grand Jury Plans