Looking for mercy

This essay makes some valid points. First, that some of the responses to the abuse scandal in the Church have been driven precisely by the same (non-Catholic) mentality that made the scandal possible in the first place. Second, that the first responsibility of the Church is to be the Church.

The Church failed to protect children from sexual abuse. Bad as that was, there is worse, since protecting children is not an end in itself for the Church. From a Catholic point of view, when people are abused in the Church, they may be torn from the life of the Church, whose teaching and sacraments they need. Disillusioned and alienated, they may take scandal according to Guardini’s definition, and reject for secondary reasons what should be affirmed for primary reasons.

For internet junkies, Ms. Snow is the mother of The Atlantic Magazine's blogger Ross Douthat.