The Spirit drove Him into the desert...

It's Lent, and that can only mean that the Devil is hard at work. Our efforts at asceticism and the impending celebration of the Resurrection tend to stir up his fury. This was my thought as I saw the headline this morning about the Archdiocese botching the monitoring of priests and the picture of the Cardinal apologizing yet again. I do not mean this as an exoneration of mistakes made, and I pray that this scrutiny really does translate into a safer environment for children.

On the other hand, I know the men involved in trying to implement safeguards for children in the Archdiocese, and they are good men who really desire to root out the pestilence of child abuse from the holy priesthood. Unfortunately, the Cardinal is not omniscient nor omnipotent, and the policy they came up with did not work. But it is the nature of criminals that they find loopholes and try to avoid getting caught and punished for their behavior. This is a cross for our good bishop, and I ask you to pray for him. I ask you to pray that this scourge of criminality in the priesthood is stamped out, whatever suffering it may cost us today, that we may stand before our Judge fully repentent and cleansed of this awful sin.