Are there any solutions at our disposal built into the Church which we can use as laity or as clergy to shut down this gay activism in the church leadership?
Archbishop McCarrick’s predatory career would not have been possible without the culpable silence or active complicity of men at the highest levels of the Church.
Before going on into the main points of my answer, I would like Rome, that is the Pope to start removing the red hat of those Princes of the Church who are found guilty of these most serious offenses against God and his Church. In past centuries this actually happened in a ceremony that truly embarrassed the prelate of the Church in very clear terms. It should be reinstated to say the least. This should have been done with Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien (17 March 1938 – 19 March 2018). The resignation of the rights and privileges of a cardinal is not the same as the ancient ceremony that shows the stripping off of the red hat by the pope himself: The cardinal himself actually walks bare foot as an act of penance into the presence of the pope wearing his red hat (Zucchetto) and the pope himself physically removes it showing that the disgraced prelate is no longer a cardinal. The disgraced prelate also received a public admonishment. It is time to bring it back!
Pope Francis in July took McCarrick’s red hat away, removing him from the College of Cardinals. However, Ramsey said taking the red biretta “is nothing,” and more needs to be done. - McCarrick whistleblower calls for laicization, investigation
Sorry, but accepting the resignation of a cardinal from the College of Cardinals is not the same thing as removing his red hat. Cardinals have resigned in the past for more laudable reasons such as health, just like bishops.
Pope Francis accepted the resignation Archbishop McCarrick from the College of Cardinals on July 28, 2018, after a series of sexual misconduct allegations. But this is clearly not enough.
On July 27, 2018, Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to observe "a life of prayer and penance in seclusion" and accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals. McCarrick became the first person to resign from the College of Cardinals since French Cardinal Louis Billot resigned in 1927 when ordered to withdraw his support of Action Française, a monarchist movement that Pope Pius XI had condemned. He is also the first cardinal to resign following allegations of sexual abuse. The Pope took this action before the accusations were investigated by church officials, the first time an order of penance and prayer has been issued before a church trial. McCarrick was not laicized (removed from the priesthood) pending the completion of a canonical trial. - Archbishop Theodore Edgar McCarrick
If the pope himself were found guilty (God forbid) of such sins, he should resign immediately and undergo a canonical trial, like anyone else.
Even this is not enough.
What more can the faithful ask to be done to resolve this issue?
This is how a group of young Catholics spoke out with one voice about the need for a cleansing fire. Their statement is non-partisan, assuming nothing but the eternal validity of the Church’s teaching:
Dear Fathers in Christ,
In preparation for the upcoming Synod on Young People, the Vatican asked for reports from young Catholics around the world concerning their faith and the role the Church plays in their lives. Some of us are younger than others, but we were all children in the decades leading up to the sexual abuse crisis of 2002. In light of that experience and the recent revelations about Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, we answer the Church’s invitation to speak. Our experiences have given us cause for gratitude, but also for anger.
We are grateful for the way good priests and bishops lay down their lives for us day after day. They say the Mass, absolve us from sin, celebrate our weddings, and baptize our children. Through their preaching, teaching, and writing, they remind us that Jesus Christ has conquered evil once and for all. Their daily sacrifices give us blessings of infinite worth. For all of this, we are profoundly thankful.
We are also angry. We are angry over the “credible and substantiated” report of Archbishop McCarrick’s abuse of a minor. We are angry over the numerous allegations of his abuse of seminarians and young priests. We are angry that “everybody knew” about these crimes, that so few people did anything about them, and that those who spoke out were ignored.
In addition, we have heard reports of networks of sexually active priests who promote each other and threaten those who do not join in their activities; of young priests and seminarians having their vocations endangered because they refused to have sex with their superiors or spoke out about sexual impropriety.
As Catholics, we believe that the Church’s teaching on human nature and sexuality is life-giving and leads to holiness. We believe that just as there is no room for adultery in marriages, so there is no room for adultery against the Bride of Christ. We need bishops to make clear that any act of sexual abuse or clerical unchastity degrades the priesthood and gravely harms the Church.
We are scandalized by the fact that men like Archbishop McCarrick have held positions of authority in the Church. Indeed, we are alarmed by reports that Pope Francis acted on McCarrick’s guidance in creating cardinals and appointing men to senior positions in the Church. Men McCarrick mentored and lived with are now important archbishops and heads of Vatican dicasteries. We want to know what those men knew about McCarrick and when they knew it, especially since “everybody knew.” If the pope himself knew, we want to know that as well.
You are the shepherds of the Church. If you do not act, evil will go unchecked. As members of your flock, we therefore ask the following of you.
We ask you to agree to a thorough, independent investigation into claims of abuse by Archbishop McCarrick, both of minors and of adults. We want to know who in the hierarchy knew about his crimes, when they knew it, and what they did in response. This is the least that would be expected of any secular organization; it should not be more than we can expect from the Church.
We ask that the silence surrounding sexual impropriety in the Church be broken. We ask that bishops take clear action when priests flout the Church’s sexual teaching and that networks of sexually active priests be rooted out. We ask that good priests be given the freedom to tell their bishops what they know, without fear of reprisal. Along with these actions, we ask that bishops engage in formal acts of public penance and reparation.
We also commit to the following. We will refuse to be silent when we see or hear of sexual assaults taking place anywhere in the Church and by any person, clerical or lay. When those we know are assaulted, we will encourage the victims to come forward. We will stand with them until justice is done. We will not accept silence and inaction. Rather, we will publicly name and expose those who harm others and superiors who fail to take action when others are harmed.
We will likewise speak out when we discover clerical sexual impropriety. We will work to protect the good priests and seminarians who are threatened when they refuse to condone the sins of their fellow clerics, or when they speak out about them.
Above all, we pray for holiness in our Church and in ourselves. We pray for good priests and bishops who can lead us on to the vision of God. You constantly remind us that Jesus Christ is the fountain of mercy. Please do not forget that he is also the judge of the world. - An Open Letter from Young Catholics
Things need to Change.
Vatican City has a railway station - with only one train a week bringing in bonded duty-free goods, a Post Office, a radio station, a pharmacy, a supermarket, a fire brigade, a five-star hotel, and one of the world's most visited museums, but it has no prison - and no dungeons. - Who, what, why: What's it like to be a prisoner of the Vatican?
But the Vatican did have a former prison. Let them bring it back!
Vatican City does boast a single jail, just to the south of St. Peter’s Basilica, for pretrial detention, but it’s small and more often used for storage of equipment than criminals. It’s probably best that Vatican officials outsource their jailing duties, since they haven’t proven particularly adept at guarding prisoners. In the 1950s, a jailed monsignor escaped from the Tower of Winds, locked the warden in the cell that once held him, and strolled across the border into Italy. - How Does Vatican City Deal With Criminals?
Pope Francis clean up this mess! The Vatican has a prison, use it!
Do not forget that Conon Law states:
"The cleric who commits any other offense against the sixth precept of the Decalogue, if the offense was committed with violence or threats, or publicly or with a minor who is under 16 years [now extended to 18 years], must be punished with just punishments, not excluding expulsion from the clerical state" (CIC 1395). - The Catholic hierarchy has done nothing to address pedophilia.
If they do the crime, let them do the time (in prison)!
No more moving pedophiles around, that is final!
