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The O'Reilly Factor
by Bill O'Reilly
In the first grade, at St. Brigid's
school on Long Island, Sister Mary Claudia made 60 urchins, including
me, say a prayer to St. Peter because he was the "rock" upon which the
Catholic Church was founded. I can't remember much more than that
because I was 6, but I do recall liking St. Peter, which, of course,
made the good sister happy.
More than 50 years after my
first-grade prayers, St. Peter's distant successor visited America, and
I have mixed feelings about it.
Like millions of American Catholics, I
was deeply disappointed by the Vatican's response to the
priest-pedophilia scandal. The fact that the late Pope John Paul II
rewarded Cardinal Bernard Law with a cushy job in Rome after he covered
up massive crimes by New England priests was almost inexcusable.
But unlike some other Catholics, I
never confuse the actual theology with the people who run the church.
Jesus had nothing to do with those horrendous clerical crimes. Men
committed them, and other men enabled the criminals. So despite my deep
anger, my faith was not impacted by the scandal. I simply felt Pope John
Paul made a huge mistake.
The current Pope Benedict XVI has been
more condemning of the crimes but still has not explained to Americans
how cover-up guys like Cardinal Roger Mahoney in Los Angeles can keep
their powerful positions. I respect Pope Benedict, but that is a major
unanswered question.
In our increasingly secular world,
spiritual leadership is a touchy proposition. The anti-religionists will
use every admission of wrongdoing as a sledgehammer. So it is
understandable that Pope Benedict must be cautious.
But there comes a time when a Pope has
to demonstrate leadership, no matter how difficult the circumstances.
Believe me, when the pedophilia deal broke, Catholics were looking for
strong public outrage from the church leadership. It never showed up.
Why? I don't know. What I do know is
that every time I call on a Catholic leader to respond to a difficult
moral problem, he ducks it. For whatever reason, the church leadership
in America is afraid to speak out.
Are you telling me that Jesus would
not have used TV, radio and the Net to spread his word? Come on. If
Jesus were here right now, he'd definitely have a cable program or at
least be doing commentary on "60 Minutes." Clerics might think about
that.
So I wish Pope Benedict well. I
sincerely hope he is able to challenge destructive secularism and
reinforce Jesus' message of peace, love and compassion. But with all
that has happened, Benedict has a tough task convincing Americans that
the Catholic Church actually embodies the moral and spiritual values for
which Jesus died.
Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox
News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Who's Looking
Out For You?" |
