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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Maureen Dowd, Peggy Noonan tell truth to Catholic Church

Posted on Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 12:26 AM

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When the history of this awful period for the Catholic Church is written it will be revealed that it was two Irish Catholic women who wrote the unvarnished truth on what had happened and spoke truth to power.

Step forward Peggy Noonan, conservative siren for the Wall Street Journal, and Maureen Dowd, (photo), firebrand columnist for The New York Times.

Both have stated the truth that has been hiding in plain sight throughout this awful period for the church, one that so many commentators have danced around.

That is what the pervert priests did and the bishops and higher ups covered up will be ruination of the church for a generation.

Both Noonan and Dowd, both raised Catholics, brush aside all the protestations of anti-Catholic bias made by the Vatican among others and see it for what it is--an attempt to divert people away from the awful truth of the cancer that has eaten away at the moral fiber of the church.

In her column in the Wall Street journal last Friday Noonan writes..." hundreds of priests and bishops thought they could do anything, any amount of damage to the church, and it would be fine. "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." That is Mathew 16:18, of course, Christ's great promise to his church. Catholics in the pews have been repeating it a lot lately as they—we—absorb the latest round of scandal stories. "The old church will survive." But we see more clearly than church It is damage that will last at least a generation. It is an actual catastrophe, a rolling catastrophe.."

Noonan makes the point if a similar sized corporation that oversaw over 1 billion people on earth as followers was revealed to have the kind of pedophile scandal the Catholic church has had they would hardly still be in business.

Remember, this is a woman who is a devout Catholic herself, yet she has the grace to step back and cast a cold eye on the institution and faith she loves.

Likewise Maureen Dowd has cut to the heart of the matter. Speaking of the current pope's reluctance when a Cardinal to banish a known pedophile in Oakland, California from the church she wrote;

"As in so many other cases, the primary concern seemed to be shielding the church from scandal. Chillingly, outrageously, the future pope told the Oakland bishop to consider the “good of the universal church” before granting the priest’s own request to give up the collar — even though the bishop had advised Rome that the scandal would likely be greater if the priest were not punished."

Both women make clear in recent columns their deep historical and personal connections to the church. Neither minces words when it comes to dissecting the current crisis however.

The Vatican has attacked Dowd for her recent columns. They should thank her and Noonan for speaking the truth

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McNamara31 | Apr 17, 2010, 08:36 PM EDT

JoanHugh Again,if it were your underage child, would it matter if he had be molested by pedophile clergy, or homosexual clergy. Most importantly you would have wanted the church to act, and protect the child,not enable future abuse by concealing scandel.

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mollymguire | Apr 16, 2010, 04:37 PM EDT

I believe since the French letter has been revealed, Pope "Liar" can't blame the media for attacking the church. They're all liars and cheats for covering up and I'll convert to Episcopalian if the dead pope ever becomes a saint.

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vincentruane | Apr 16, 2010, 02:50 PM EDT

Maureen O Dowd and Peggy Noonan are typical opportunist journalists. They speak out now against this scandal but where were they for the past 20 years? In fact where were journalists for the past 40 years and don't try and say journalists didn't know!

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Nicomax | Apr 16, 2010, 12:56 PM EDT

Somewhat reluctantly the Vatican issued a statement this week that in effect said, "OK, we now agree civil law trumps church law, so we are telling all our employees to report such incidents to civil authorities". It was muted a bit, as you might have expected, but out there nonetheless.

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Joanhugh | Apr 16, 2010, 12:45 PM EDT

In the United States it is not a pedophile scandal..only 5% of the abusers were peophiles 81% were homosexuals with adolesent boys the rest was with adolesent girls..still illegal and a sin but not pedophilia read the facts

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patrickesq | Apr 16, 2010, 12:41 PM EDT

The Catholic Church is badly in need of major reform. Their male dominated hierarchic insularity mentality fails to provide a Christian pastoral presence that meets the needs of all members of the Church. Giving women an equal role inthe Church and allowing priests to marry would go a long way to restoring belief and engagement in the Church. The laity should be given a real voice in the Church.How about a Civilian Review Board to review cases of priestly misconduct!

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Nanaof5 | Apr 16, 2010, 12:14 PM EDT

Bravo to both of these womwn for having the courage to speak and write the truth.God bless them! We should all be so brave-if we had been, that scandal would have been stopped in it's tracks a long time ago.

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southcountykelly | Apr 16, 2010, 10:50 AM EDT

Let's get down to basics. The people are the church. You have the ability to take over the governing body and speak the truth. I think the Catholic Church owes other churches an apology for calling themselves "the one true religion."

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mrkennedy | Apr 16, 2010, 09:57 AM EDT

I agree with the statements by the two women however I don't think the Niall Dowd should call Noonan a DEVOUT Catholic, since only God knows if she is. I pray that she truly is!!!!

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phoenixnurse | Apr 16, 2010, 09:29 AM EDT

Kudos to Maureen & Peggy for calling it what it is! Both of these women had the courage to speak out on behalf of millions of Catholics who agree with them!The truth hurts and the Vatican can't wiggle out of this disgusting and criminal mess.

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southcountykelly | Apr 16, 2010, 09:12 AM EDT

In Matthew, it is never stated to Peter that the church would be the Catholic Church. Hasn't the Catholic Church, more or less, been operating for centuries in an imperialistic confine of canon law?

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phyduchak | Apr 16, 2010, 09:00 AM EDT

Amen.

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Mollymegan | Apr 16, 2010, 08:41 AM EDT

I admire them both! It is the women who will "fix" this scandal, daring columnists and persistant nuns and former nuns who all see the sexissm running rampant.

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