In this summer of shame, how should bishops speak about scandals of sexual predation in the clergy? There have been some remarkable failures. Cardinal Donald Wuerl launched a special website praising his own record while Bishop of Pittsburgh in the light of criticism from the Pennsylvania grand jury report. That went over so badly that the website was scrapped within days. For good measure, Cardinal Wuerl then cancelled his keynote address at the World Meeting of Families in Ireland.
Silence was also the second option for Cardinal Kevin Farrell who, after the revelations about now ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, gave an interview professing to be shocked, veritably shocked, at the news. When his protestations were poorly received, he cancelled his trip to Baltimore to give the keynote address at the Knights of Columbus convention.
