The case of the philandering bishop

Before I discuss the latest sex scandal to shock the faithful Catholics of Britain, I want to assure you that I am keeping my own sins before my eyes. I do this not to excuse England’s Bishop Kieran Conry, but to take some profit from his bad example, to find the silver lining of contrition in the dark cloud of hypocrisy. 

It is not sexual sins per se that gnaw at my conscience as I read about Conry’s affairs, but the times I have been a scandal to people over whom I have been given authority. As far as I know, I have been a conscientious teacher, but I am haunted by any bad example I have given to my four younger brothers and sisters. May God, and they, forgive me. 

Kieran Conry was given the authority of the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton by John Paul II in 2001. At vigil masses on Sept, 27, Catholics of Conry’s diocese were read a letter in which he announced his resignation. He wrote that he was “sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest.”