"There is something radically wrong ..."

"...with the institutional Catholic Church."

That sentiment, expressed by Fr. Thomas Doyle in a National Catholic Reporter commentary on the recent report about decades-long abuse of children by clergy, brothers and sisters in Catholic-run institutions in Ireland, is nothing new to many of us who have lived both inside and outside the walls of clerical life.

While U.S. Bishops spend their pastoral energies condemning Notre Dame University for inviting the President of the United States to speak at its commencement, or organizing letter-writing campaigns to lobby against the recognition of the right to marry civilly for same-sex couples, the Church -- the People of God -- continue to be ignored and ill-treated.

Where I attend Mass regularly, there's a man who offers a frequent prayer when the community is invited to voice its own "Prayers of the Faithful." Today especially, I make his prayer for "new and enlightened leadership in the Church" my own.