Leon Suprenant Responds to the Post Dispatch

Kevin Horrigan's Nov. 28 column, "Keeping the faith - at great personal cost," leaves the impression that the Rev. Thomas Doyle's strained relationship with church authorities is based primarily on his 1985 report concerning clerical sex abuse and the growing homosexual subculture in the church.

It is true that Doyle's report was a source of alienation. It was tragic that his findings weren't taken seriously until the sex abuse scandal came to light in 2002. Even if his facts, statistics, and inferences weren't accurate in every instance, in retrospect there was too much evidence there to ignore.

Sadly, though, as the scandal has played out, Doyle has assumed the role of casualty, not hero.

"Scandal" has many shades of meaning. In a strict, religious sense, scandal is an attitude or behavior that leads another to sin. I don't presume to judge the state of Doyle's soul, but it's clear from his public statements and associations that he has been scandalized by the sins of some members of the clergy. He has not, in fact, "kept the faith."

Further, the new, "democratic" church he envisions not only calls for a marked departure from the biblical model that the Catholic Church has followed for two millennia, but also represents a populist power grab in keeping with the agendas of radically dissident organizations like Call to Action and Voice of the Faithful.

Doyle's sincere concern for victims of sexual abuse is praiseworthy. However, it's his extreme, aberrant views, not his staunch opposition to sexual abuse, that trouble church authorities and many practicing Catholics alike.

Leon Suprenant
President, Catholics
United for the Faith
Steubenville, Ohio

Emphasis above added...
Source.