The following guest essay is from Peter Mitchell, a conservative Catholic and former priest. Mitchell was ordained in 1999 and laicized in 2017. He says he “is grateful to be a baptized and practicing Catholic.” The essay originally appeared at The American Conservative on the blog of Rod Dreher and has been reprinted with both Dreher’s and the author’s permission.
We Catholics ought to thank God that the abuse committed by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick against young men under his authority is finally coming to light. As a former priest, however, I fear that the bishops may be tempted to allow McCarrick to