There's been a lot of negative publicity about the Catholic hierarchy recently: financial problems with the Vatican Bank, leaking of confidential information linked to accusations of a power struggle and corruption among leaders of the Church, a well-founded perception of sexism in the appointment of an Archbishop to take charge of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (the umbrella group for most orders of nuns) in America, which seemed to be a grab for control of their activities and finances.
Parishes and schools are being closed in some major cities in the north-east and a three month-long trial of a senior pastor in Philadelphia on charges of covering-up child abuse by priests over several decades is ending. Here the jury must assign the responsibility to the priest or to his boss, the now deceased Cardinal-Archbishop.
All of this is nasty news and it has damaged the image and the credibility of the Catholic Church immensely. Even though most of it is occurring far from Orlando, it still deeply concerns most Catholics. The Church is not just the
