February 26 - Update on situation in Chicago

Local Catholics continue to support Cardinal George despite SNAP's recent call for his resignation:

CBS 2 Chicago has the story (with video):

(CBS) CHICAGO Despite an advocacy group's call for Francis Cardinal George's resignation regarding his handling of a Chicago priest sex abuse scandal, some local Catholics say they still support their leader.

"He should not step down because I think that the church is more than just the cardinal," said Holy Name Cathedral parishioner Gay Thomas. "And his leadership has been in line with the way the church works."

Added Holy Name parishioner Dave Archibald: "I do support Cardinal George, and I think that we all just need to pray about it and that he's doing the best he can and hopefully will do ever better."

...

A spokesman for the Archdiocese has said that SNAP has no authority to call for George's resignation and that the cardinal will not be resigning.

"The cardinal has acknowledged that they should have acted faster and he has taken steps to strengthen their procedures," the Archdiocese spokesman added.

...

"...SNAP members went door to door handing out flyers calling for people in the neighborhood surrounding St. Agatha's to push for the Cardinal's resignation."

Read the rest.

An interesting quote from Barbara Blaine, president and founder of SNAP:

Blaine did not indicate whom she believes would be a good replacement [for Cardinal George], or whether it should be one of the Cardinal's auxiliary bishops. But she said she believed any archbishop appointed by Pope Benedict would want to "clean up this mess."

Is Blain seriously claiming that John Paul II, who made Cardinal George the archbishop of Chicago - wanted this type of mess? Or would not want it cleaned up?

I believe this quote (and others) demonstrate that SNAP's call for Cardinal George's resignation is not balanced with any sort of serious attempt to constructively make things better - as Cardinal George, on the other hand, has been doing, through words and action.

As for the possibility of resignation - first, it is not Cardinal George's choice to make (the most he could do is submit a letter of resignation to Pope Benedict) and second, there has been absolutely no sign that Pope Benedict would accept a resignation or ask for it in the first place.

For a group that claims to have the answer to the problems of the Catholic Church - SNAP is demonstrating a recurrent and deep ignorance of the institution they alone can supposedly heal.