The Bureaucracy Blind-Sides The Bishops

From The Wanderer:

by Christopher Mannion

Our recent coverage of the scandal at Richmond Catholic Charities ( CCR) tells a sordid tale of tragedy, secrecy, and sub­terfuge. But this incident, sorrowful as it is, also reveals a deeper and more per­vasive problem that has plagued the Church in America for decades. That problem is the power of rogue bureaucra­cies that have hijacked the work of the Church and secularized it. In many cas­es, like that in Richmond, they have to­tally corrupted it.

Sometimes we have to wonder if the chanceries have learned anything from the clerical abuse scandals and cover- ups that have so damaged the Church in re­cent years. The Richmond chancery, flouting the Dallas charter’s requirement for transparency, covered up this latest scandal for months. Their method is marked with familiar signs — secrecy, ex­pensive lawyers, denials, and finger pointing. The only tactic missing is “ blam­ing the victim” — which is impossible, in this case, because one of the victims is dead, killed last January 18 by an abor­tion arranged and authorized by employ­ees of Richmond Catholic Charities (CCR)....

[snip]

...For the past thirty years, many USCCB bureau­cracies have faithfully reflected the poli­cies of the pro-abortion, Democratic left in Washington. The small (and good) pro­life office at the USCCB is a lonely island in a sea of left-wing attitudes.

No wonder the parking lot of the US­CCB was full of bumper stickers support­ing Al Gore in 2000, and John Kerry in 2004. And the spirit of secrecy prevails even there — when a photographer en­tered the parking lot during the 2004 campaign and started snapping pictures, she was quickly ushered off the premises by a private security guard....

Unbelievable or what? And some wonder why the USCCB has lost credibility among orthodox Catholics.