In today’s second ” On the Square ” essay, Fr. Thomas Guarino (a past contributor to First Things and a member of Evangelicals and Catholics Together ) writes on concerns about draconian juridical policies within Catholic dioceses, and the effect they hold on the theology of priesthood, especially for faithful priests:
Various actions taken against accused priests suggest that current policies are straining the theology of the priesthood. This may have the short-term advantage of preventing litigants from storming the Church door. It may keep the media at bay for the moment—a media that, in any case, will always find the Church a stumbling block because of her insistence on the incomparable truth she bears. But such actions are also having the disastrous effect of eroding Catholic doctrine, the only treasure that the Church really has to offer.
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