Cardinal examines ways church can recover its moral voice

Published: 2004-01-29

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Although the Catholic Church has always provided a moral voice for the modern world on such issues as abortion and war, the voice has lost its force and perhaps become more of a whisper than the shout it once was, said Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George. While the message remains the same, "the moral force of the church's voice is quite weakened now," the cardinal said Jan. 25 to an audience of about 30 people, about half of whom were priests, at the Cardinal Bernardin Early Childhood Center in Chicago. The cardinal said the church's voice has lost some footing as society has come to value human personal freedom over objective moral authority. Also, since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, society is skeptical of those who are religious, afraid they could lean toward the fanaticism demonstrated by the terrorists, who claimed to be acting in the name of God, he said. The clergy sex abuse crisis exploded into this milieu of skepticism about religion, Cardinal George said, causing people to further question the church's right to claim any moral authority.

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