"Hold the Halo" by Maureen Dowd/New York Times/ John Paul Excommunicated Women Priests but Not Pedophiles

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/opinion/24dowd.html?_r=1
"Santo non subito! How can you be a saint if you fail to protect innocent children?
For years after the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legion of Christ, was formally accused of pedophilia in a Vatican proceeding, he remained John Paul’s pet. The ultra-orthodox Legion of Christ and Opus Dei were the shock troops in John Paul’s war on Jesuits and other progressive theologians...
“For John Paul,” Berry told me just after returning from Good Friday services, “the priesthood had a romantic, chivalrous cast, and he could not bring himself to do a fearless investigation of the clerical culture itself. "

Bridget Mary's Reflection
It is ironic that neither John Paul II nor Benedict did anything to transform the clerical culture and change the climate that was at the heart of the devastating global pedophilia crisis. They did not excommunicate or banish these offending priests and bishops from the priesthood. However, both John Paul II and Benedict moved with lightening speed against women priests,with decrees of excommunication and delecto graviora (putting women in the same serious crime category as pedophiles). Like Mary of Magdala and the women who stood by Jesus during his suffering and death, and were the first to encounter the Risen Christ, women priests are faithful women, who are leading the church into an era of justice and equality that includes major reform and renewal in a people-empowered community of faith. Now, Fr. Roy Bourgeois is being threatened with dismissal from his order for his support of our movement. Fr. Roy has already been excommunicated. Scratch your head, if you can't figure it out. How come Pope John Paul and Benedict have not excommunicated or thrown the pedophiles out of their orders yet have no trouble doing so with women priests and our supporters? Is this the behavoir of a saint? I agree with Maureen, hold the halo, please!
Bridget Mary Meehan RCWP
703-505-0004
sofiabmm@aol.com
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org