RED HAT ALERT!!
In his June/July 1996 editorial, Father Crane wrote of how "dissent nurtures hypocrisy and hypocrisy nurtures dissent in a never-ending downward spiral that ends in the spiritual, psychological and physical ruin we now see exploding in countless scandals throughout the Catholic world - like so many time-bombs whose time has come." Yet another of those "bombs" recently exploded when Archbishop Murphy-O'Connor made front page news up and down the land for his negligent response to the paedophile activities of one of his priests, Father Michael Hill, during the late 1970s and '80s. Fr. Crane could easily have had the new incumbent of Westminster in mind as he went on to lambast our "smiling Shepherds" who "clearly refuse to see that dissenting ideas have deadly consequences; that their tolerance of heterodox seminary professors, liturgical 'cowboys', homosexual sympathisers, radical literature in diocesan bookshops etc., etc., reaches fruition not only in a plague of spiritual death and apostasy but, ultimately, in ecclesiastical perversion and the suicides of sexually abused adolescents." Essentially this is what the Hill scandal is all about. But while we could not expect the press to make this causal connection, their reports were at least spot on in calling for the Archbishop's resignation and refusing to accept his "pathetic excuse" - the familiar mantra of culpable prelates - that 20 years ago he did not understand the danger posed to children by paedophiles as he does now. Parents understood well enough! One mother went to see the then Bishop Murphy-O'Connor as early as 1980: "I told him what was going on," she said. "He said he'd deal with it. Little did I know he'd take Father Hill from this parish and put him in another." The Archbishop claims that reports he received in mid-1983 about Hill's condition "were inconclusive", when, in fact, the expert advice he received was that despite therapeutic treatment Fr. Hill remained "a high risk" and "could well commit further pederastic acts"! Two years later, in 1985, Bishop Murphy-O'Connor proceeded to make Hill chaplain at Gatwick airport, described in one report as: "a magnet for homeless youngsters which was once described as the 'Leicester Square of Sussex'. While there, he came into contact with his last known victim when the boy, who had learning difficulties, went to the chapel. Hill later took him on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, molesting him in a shower."
There is much more to be said about this case, including the cover-ups involving token payouts with 'gagging clauses' to prevent the victims speaking out. But for our current purposes it is enough to restate the case made in the April 2000 CO that Cormac Murphy-O'Connor is unworthy of the office he holds, and that in light of this latest public scandal it would be a national disgrace if he were to be offered the customary red hat that goes with the Westminster appointment. On BBC's Newsnight, a lawyer informed a rationalising episcopal spokesman that His Grace was culpable and implied that he was lucky not to be charged with criminal negligence. "A man this naïve can't give moral guidance", rang out a typical headline in the Daily Mail: "At the very least, Dr Murphy-O'Connor should resign," read the article, "for he manifestly lacks the judgment required of one in his position. His moral outlook is either naïve or warped. In either case, he is totally unfit for the duties the Pope has placed upon him… [his] dereliction of duty could have helped scar the lives of countless children." Indeed, the ruined life of one parish victim who waved anonymity has already been reported.
It is expected that the Archbishop will soon receive the red hat. We must raise our voices to prevent such a travesty of justice by pointing out to Rome not only the present episcopate's unworthiness for such an honour but the shame it would now bring upon the local Church. The curia may not bother about the Archbishop's corrosive Modernism but his moral ambivalence in the face of clerical paedophilia might strike a chord. Readers are therefore requested to put pen to paper and write to the following Congregations, urging that Archbishop Murphy-O'Connor be removed from Westminster or, at the very least, that he be denied elevation to the College of Cardinals:
His Grace Archbishop Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Palazzo delle Congregazione, Piazza Pio XII 10, 00120 Vatican City State, Europe.
His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Piazza del S. Uffizio 11, 00120 Vatican City State, Europe.
His Eminence Dario Castrillon Cardinal Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Piazza Pio XII 3, 00120 Vatican City State, Europe.
His Eminence Jorge Arturo Cardinal Medina Estevez, Prefect of the Congregation for the Worship and Sacraments, Palazzo delle Congregazione, Piazza Pio XII 10, 00120 Vatican City State, Europe.