April 4, 2010 | 10:44 am

Catholic apologies abound on Easter Sunday

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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He is risen—and so is the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal.

The scandal’s resurrection has been dogging the pope for a few weeks, resulting in another misstep Friday when the pope’s priest compared the attacks to anti-Semitism.

At Easter services today, while the Catholic hierarchy rallied around Pope Benedict XVI, mea culpas abounded:

Easter became a festival of apology across the Christian world today as church leaders issued mea culpas for grievous sins committed against children and God.

The Pope was one of the few who failed to refer at all to the crisis that is tarnishing the image of the Church worldwide ...

Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, admitted that “serious sins” had been committed within the Catholic community. Preaching at Westminster Cathedral, he said: “Talk of sin is not always popular - unless we are talking about other people’s sins. In recent weeks the serious sins committed within the Catholic community have been much talked about.

“For our part, we have been reflecting on them deeply, acknowledging our guilt and our need for forgiveness.

“This is the journey of Holy Week. Indeed, to appreciate the message of this great Christian feast we have to begin with our own sin and shame.”

The sermons reflected one of the most dramatic Easters in living memory for Church leaders and the congregations, more used to listening to age-old and often anodyne messages from the pulpit about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

Read the rest from Ruth Gledhill here.