A Bishop Apologizes

Covington Catholic's bishop has submitted a page-long written apology for his conduct in last weekend's scandal.

5 comments:

E Hines said...

Color me unimpressed. The statement is very late in coming, and it has a lot of verbiage that relates to the Diocese's misbehavior only peripherally, smacking as it does of rationalization; the included apology only pertains to the outcome of the misbehavior and not the misbehavior itself; there's only a nod in the direction of the misbehavior--we take full responsibility. What does that even mean? What will the Diocese do with that responsibility?

And: who misbehaved, and who is apologizing? The Most Reverend Foys hid behind the anonymity of the collective.

Is this really the best the leadership of the Diocese can do?

Eric Hines

Grim said...

Yes, it is.

james said...

I don't have my notes with me, but I seem to remember instances of cities revolting against their bishops. Perhaps a delegation of the flock could explain to the bishop what an apology is.

Anonymous said...

I'll take it. They didn't know what hit them. The newsies, though, should have bothered to check.

Valerie

E Hines said...

I tried, Valerie, to see Foys' statement as a sincere apology. In the end, that's impossible for me. Foys did, indeed, know "what hit him." He knows full well that Catholicism has been attacked by the Left and by what passes, and has passed, for journalism off and on throughout our history, and he knows full well that Christianity in general has been under overt attack for the last decade. That's background.

Foys also knows full well that initial videos don't tell the full story; indeed, they're likely to be telling only a carefully edited tale. That's been the case at least since the Rodney King alleged police beating. Foys also knows how the Church preaches restraint, and he's at least passing familiar with the requirement to get all the facts before reaching even a tentative conclusion. He's also well aware of the disaster of hastening to judgment, as he was well aware that tarrying a day or two to collect some of those facts would have caused no harm. He did, after all, choose to wait how many days(?) before he had enough data to be able to conclude that he'd screwed up and smeared his boys with his knee jerk accusation of them and his then-apology. And--cynically, I concede--he had the example before him of his Pope's interminable delay, still ongoing, before reaching any sort of conclusion about his priests', bishops', and cardinals' abuse of children and women (nominally) in the Church's care.

No. What Foys released was neither sincere nor an apology. He has yet to issue an apology, either in his own name or in his Diocese's--ideally in both. Even if he does so at this late date, though, his sincerity would be an open question.

Eric Hines