If only the leaders were as good as the members

"As we sought the essential reasons for how this, the greatest of all scandals in the history of American Catholicism came about, today I would have to say that what was most important was the discovery that truthfulness, itself, had been the first victim to fall. Without truthfulness, leadership did what it willed; dragging the church into the murky world of half-truths and cover-up.

"Make no mistake - as truthfulness disappeared, each of the other great virtues became victims and faded away as well. Charity suffered; kindness was ignored; courage was discarded; and holiness disappeared. Character was traded for secrecy; honor was bartered for disguise; and moral excellence was silenced before it could utter a word."

From:

A Privatc Catholic in the Public Square
August 4, 2009
Speech by
The Honorable Anne M. Burke

(If only the leaders were as good as the members.)