Building on Cathleen Kaveny's post below about the Legionaries, I'd like to ask for feedback about penance, in particular the communal aspect of penance, which is frequently cited by the pope and bishops as regards the sexual abuse scandal. To wit:

English, Welsh bishops ask Catholics to do penance to atone for abuseBy Simon CaldwellCatholic News ServiceLONDON (CNS) -- The bishops of England and Wales are asking Catholics to carry out acts of penance each Friday in May to help atone for clerical abuse crimes.In a statement to be read at all parishes April 24-25, the bishops assured Catholics that effective child protection procedures are in place. However, they said, it is "time for deep prayer and reparation for atonement" of the sins of priests and other Catholics who have abused children."We invite Catholics in England and Wales to make the four Fridays in May 2010 special days of prayer," the bishops said in their statement, released April 22.They recommended visiting the Blessed Sacrament to pray for victims, their abusers and for church leaders who mishandled cases.

Benedict XVI asked much of the same of the Irish in his letter in March, and he has seemed to include himself when referring to "the Church" as needing to do penance for the abuse scandal.Questions: How does this work? That is, what are we doing penance for, and who are we doing penance for? And can we do penance for those who have not recognized their sins? Or is it penance for ways in which we ourselves failed? And does this lack of specificity tend to gloss over the actual sins and the individuals responsible? Yes, I think of the pope and the hierarchy, who can issue such calls -- but they smack of submerging larger questions of personal responsibility in calls for communal penance. And does communal penance also connote a form of general absolution (uh-oh) down the line?I am baffled, not for the first, or last, time.PS: Fr. Jim Martin discusses some of these issues at the HuffPo.