Stephen J. Pope

About the author: Stephen J. Pope is associate professor of theology and chair of the department of theology at Boston College.

In letters addressing the child sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, Cardinals Bernard Law and Edward Egan provide explanations and excuses, but they do not accept moral responsibility for their failure to protect the victims of abuse and never apologize for their mistakes. Both cardinals try to explain away their actions by claiming ignorance, but such ignorance is morally negligent. While the laity seeks personal accountability from church leaders, Law and Egan use words that distance themselves and the church from the scandal. Rather than assign blame, the church should examine why its structure leads to such muddled thinking about moral...