Father Jenkins Doesn’t Seem to See the Problem

Notre Dame’s president has a soft spot for ex-Cardinal McCarrick.

John Singleton December 9, 2018

“The world needs a university that graduates men and women who are not only capable and knowledgeable, but who accept their responsibility to serve others — especially those in greatest need.”— Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.

As the father of a 2018 grad, I think Father John Jenkins gets it right with this quote posted on the University of Notre Dame website. Helping to serve those in greatest need should be a priority for all Catholic institutions because those in greatest need are often powerless to defend themselves.  Pedophilia is by definition an abuse inflicted by a person in power over a child. The sexual harassment of students in seminaries hinges on a similarly perverse dynamic. Yet when Father Jenkins spoke about ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the infamous abuser of children and students, in an exclusive interview with Crux Magazine on November 5, he seemed to abandon his spiritual mandate to defend the innocent and the vulnerable.

 

“There’s a tendency, and I don’t think it’s a helpful tendency in this kind of situation, to turn the perpetrators into monsters,” Jenkins said. “[The tendency is] just to imagine that they are thoroughly corrupt people, but the problem is that it’s not true. It’s a part of their lives that is deeply problematic, but another part that is not. And that’s why it’s so hard to identify the problem, and sometimes, that person doesn’t seem to see the problem.”............To Read More.....