I used to be from Pennsylvania.

I used to be an altar boy.

I used to be a Catholic.

The stories of sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania and around the world cannot be defended, nor can the Pope’s handling of the abuse be accepted.

According to the BBC, this is what the Pope said about one of the leading clergymen while visiting Chili. “Pope Francis became involved in the scandal surrounding Juan Barros when he defended the bishop during his visit to Chile in January. At the time he said that allegations against the bishop amounted to ‘slander.’ ‘The day I see proof against Bishop Barros, then I will talk. There is not a single piece of evidence against him. It is all slander. Is that clear?'” the Pope had said at the time.

The New York Times reported this in July of this year: “Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, from the College of Cardinals, ordering him to a “life of prayer and penance” after allegations that the cardinal sexually abused minors and adult seminarians over the course of decades, the Vatican announced on Saturday.”

“Accepted the resignation” is the phrase that makes the Pope and the church tone deaf.

The words should have been, “I have immediately defrocked the offenders and recommend they answer to civil law enforcement if applicable.”

“Accept the resignation” is not a phrase you would hear from a police chief if one of his long time lieutenants was involved in a bank robbery years ago, even though the statute of limitations has run out. “I immediately fired the lieutenant when it was proved that he committed the crime.”

Certainly pray for the offenders but don’t offer a such a weak, inappropriate, feckless remedy for this egregious, criminal behavior as, “I have accepted the resignation.”

I suspect the Pope will be accepting a lot more resignations, not only from offenders but from the faithful if his current method of handling the situation continues.

I used to be from Pennsylvania.

I used to be an altar boy.

I used to be a Catholic.

All the best,

John