The blog header depicts an important and yet mis-understood New Testament scene, Jesus flogging the money-changers out of the temple. I selected it because the faith that gives us consolation can also make us very uncomfortable. Both Divine Mercy and Divine Justice meet in Jesus. Priests are ministers of reconciliation, but never at the cost of truth. In or out of season, we must be courageous in preaching and living out the Gospel of Life. The title of my blog is a play on words, not Flogger Priest but Blogger Priest.
It amazes me that some of the loudest and most outraged voices against the scandalous allegations against priests are, themselves, dissenters from Catholic morality. Indeed, they may ridicule as ridiculous or erroneous what has been long-standing moral teaching from both Scripture and Tradition. They presume that as modern men and women, they have a special enlightenment that those in the past, and certainly churchmen, did not possess on human sexuality. Of course, what they are actually attacking is the protective role of the Holy Spirit in the life and teachings of the Catholic faith.
They cite as proof the fact that most contemporary men and women have walked away from the regular practice of the faith. They look upon Church practices and doctrine as antiquated, especially in areas of sexual morality. Unfortunately, what is left unexamined is the heightened preoccupation of modernity with matters of gender and sexual expression. Ours is an eroticized environment, immediately hostile to orthodox Catholic values, especially about the human person, the body and sexual expression.
The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates, if that is the case. We have to be exacting. In our societies it even seems that homosexuality is fashionable and that mentality, in some way, also influences the life of the Church. This is something I am concerned about, because perhaps at one time it did not receive much attention.
We have to take great care during formation in the human and affective maturity. We have to seriously discern, and listen to the voice of experience that the Church also has. When care is not taken in discerning all of this, problems increase. As I said before, it can happen that at the time perhaps they didn’t exhibit that tendency, but later on it comes out. The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates, if that is the case.
I had a somewhat scandalized bishop here who told me that he had found out that in his diocese, a very large diocese, there were several homosexual priests and that he had to deal with all that, intervening, above all, in the formation process, to form a different group of clergy. It’s a reality we can’t deny. There is no lack of cases in the consecrated life either. A religious told me that, on a canonical visit to one of the provinces in his congregation, he was surprised. He saw that there were good young students and even some already professed religious who were gay. The religious wondered if it were an issue and asked me if there was something wrong with that. Francis said he was told by one religious superior that the issue was not “that serious, it’s just an expression of an affection.” That’s a mistake. It’s not just an expression of an affection. In consecrated and priestly life, there’s no room for that kind of affection. Therefore, the Church recommends that people with that kind of ingrained tendency should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life. The ministry or the consecrated life is not his place.
We have to urge homosexual priests, and men and women religious, to live celibacy with integrity, and above all, that they be impeccably responsible, trying to never scandalize either their communities or the faithful holy people of God by living a double life. It’s better for them to leave the ministry or the consecrated life rather than to live a double life. When there are candidates with neurosis, marked imbalances, difficult to channel not even with therapeutic help, they shouldn’t be accepted to either the priesthood or the religious life. They should be helped to take another direction, but they should not be abandoned. They should be guided, but they should not be admitted. Let us always bear in mind that they are persons who are going to live in the service of the Church, of the Christian community, of the people of God. Let’s not forget that perspective. We have to care for them so they are psychologically and affectively healthy.
Statements are taken from an interview with Pope Francis conducted by Fr. Fernando Prado, director of Claretian Publishing House.
When I was a boy pondering a vocation some forty years ago, I was intrigued by a pamphlet from the Divine Word Missionaries. It chronicled a lonely priest with his mule carrying his Mass and medical supplies as he journeyed to a remote mountain outpost. It detailed a religious version of “Indiana Jones,” years before the movie, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. It grabbed my romantic imagination. However, my poor mother grieved my leaving home and I settled on becoming an archdiocesan priest. I do not regret the change in direction, especially now when “everything hurts” but sometimes I do wonder how different my life might have been.
I am amazed these days that we still have young men answering a call. We have given them few heroes and one scandal after another. It must surely be the movement of supernatural grace.
As I reflect upon my priesthood, I struggle with what has always been a dark shadow in my ministry. I have never felt myself worthy. No matter whether it were true or not, I always considered myself the worst of priests, a poor and weak example among a throng of virtuous saints in the faith. We have preachers who can readily inspire and move hearts. We have celebrants who both look the part and conduct the sacraments with great solemnity and seeming ease. We have men who have apparently brushed aside distractions and are always about prayer and service. When I look to myself, I see a man who forgets far more than he remembers. My sermons are mediocre at best and my liturgical abilities come across as clumsy and amateurish. I do not have much in the way of ambition and my attention easily strays. I often talk to God not with typical or expected piety but much as one might irreverently talk to a friend sharing a beer. Indeed, I recall telling God, “All I want to be is a humble priest” and hearing him in my heart respond, “Well you certainly have much about which to be humble.” I often imagine Mary cloaking me with her veil and telling me that she loves me even though I am the least of her sons.
I certainly recognize that sin in the life of any Christian represents a terrible duplicity where we are convicted as hypocrites. What surprises me is how some of the clergy could have committed sins that literally cry out to heaven. Self-destruction is truly awful; but hurting and tearing down others compounds the sin in a way that shatters the sacramental signification of the man in holy orders. It places men into the mold of antichrists. The current scandal has damaged the ability of bishops to govern the Church and of priests to proclaim the doctrinal and moral teachings which are constitutive of the Gospel. Any hold we have upon God’s people is purely through their free consent. There is no Medieval dictatorial religious state that can demand or force one to remain a Catholic or Christian. Forfeit favor and good will— and churchmen will find themselves abandoned— with empty coffers and pews. The direst effect may be the loss of souls. When did we forget that our most pressing obligation is to realize the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of souls?
The Church is not a company where businessmen might do anything or everything to preserve revenue. The Church is not a priestly boy’s club where members protect their leadership to the detriment of their flocks. Our preoccupation should not gravitate to the powerful and the rich, but as in the ministry of Jesus to echo the universal call to salvation, albeit with a preferential option for the poor. Clergy must also place the teachings of the faith ahead of their own pet ideas. We are summoned to convert the world to Christ, not to compromise the kerygma of faith to the demands of subjective truth and a hostile secular modernity. Indeed, our clergy and people alike must allow the courage of Christ to take precedence over their own passivity and fearfulness. Much of the trouble we are facing is a crisis of holiness and belief. Why would any churchman allow a known child-rapist an opportunity to bring harm to youth and families? Why would we allow men who have disordered and perverse desires to minister and to threaten our people? Fornication is a sin. Adultery is a sin. Homosexual acts constitute sin. Perhaps many of the clergy have become soft upon such mortal sins because they too are perpetrators of such transgressions of the moral law? There is no denying that there are also thieves, drunkards and gluttons among us. But the sexual sins are the ones that most draw the ire of God’s people. Indeed, I suspect the Lord, himself, is most troubled by these sins because they are a direct violation of a priest’s profound promise toward obedience and celibacy. We are pledged to celibate love. Do all our priests fully appreciate the meaning of their celibacy or do they simply experience it as a difficult discipline to endure? It is not merely the avoidance of genital relations. It is not the same as virginity and chastity. Christian celibacy is a manner of self-donation and sacrificial loving. It is the priest’s way of saying he belongs entirely to the Lord. This love is expressed in worship, prayer, fidelity and service. It is factored into everything he is about; it is the manner through which the good priest repeatedly says, to the Lord and to his people, “I love you.” The priest prays his breviary— I love you. The priest celebrates Mass— I love you. The priest helps in outreach to the poor— I love you. The priest preaches and teaches— I love you. The good priest is consumed within his pledge of celibate love. It is within this obedient and giving celibacy that the priest finds holiness in Christ. The current scandals are not the fault of celibacy. The answer would not be a married clergy. The solution would be in loving fidelity to the priestly mission and to the truth. The priest or bishop is not the master of the faith community, but its most profound servant.
Admittedly there are intimate and delicate matters difficult to speak about; so much so that they are often left outside of public deliberations. Priests are men and they live in a world where the custody of the eyes is very difficult. Priests need to earnestly defend their celibacy, taking threats seriously. Too many men and women probably excuse the habit of masturbation as part of a false contemporary enlightenment. It should always be voiced in Confession; indeed, those elements that feed the sin need purification from the lives of God’s people, particularly from those called as priests. Chief among the sinful contributing factors is the danger of pornography which is easily accessed and has taken upon itself epidemic proportions in modern society. It has even infected marriages where couples commit virtual adultery and then substitute sexual shenanigans other than the prescribed marital act. Pleasure is substituted for true fidelity and companionship with each other in Christ. It is among the devil’s deceits that such secret sins do no real harm or necessarily contribute to a person’s movement into adulthood. While many contemporary psychologists would disagree, in truth, the man (or woman) in bondage to pornography and masturbation suffer a stunted emotional and spiritual maturation; they are caught within a juvenile self-absorption that inhibits an integrated sexual identity as a person able to fully realize his (or her) capacity to interact with others in love and service.
Turning toward the Lord, the priest must renounce the seductions of the world. The priest’s hands are made for the chalice and host. His hands render blessing and absolution. The priest’s eyes should look at every person as a child of God. He must never forget his spiritual fatherhood— even toward those who have ruined themselves by lust and exploitation. The priest’s body is not made for pleasure but for sacerdotal sacrifice. His association with Christ draws him inevitably toward the passion and crucifixion.
Many priests feel increasing estranged from those they serve. This does not help matters. He has sacrificed much to be a priest and it often seems that many if not most people really do not care. Increasingly, while there is little praise, there is no shortage of rebuke or even mockery. That is why efforts like those by the Knights of Columbus espousing solidarity with bishops and priests are so very important. The laity should not be uncritical; they have a right to good and holy priests. It is in this vein that God’s people should never hesitate to pray for their priests. We must not allow the scandals and accompanying anger to destroy this important component to the inner life of the Church. The priest does not pray alone. According to our station in life, we pray for each other. We should reject the false demarcations of the People of God as either an institutional Church or the Church in the pews. The Church is one— she is a family, even if sometimes sinful in her members and dysfunctional in her practical relationships.
The definition of a priest is one who renders sacrifice to his deity. The Catholic priest makes his oblation as the principal worship of the Lord. He makes it both for himself and for others. Christ is the great high priest. Those ordained share in his priesthood where Jesus is both priest and victim. The priest at the altar is one with Christ (the head of the Church) who dies so that we might live. He atones for sin and heals the rift between heaven and earth. Jesus offers his own blood and dies once and for all. The mystery of his oblation is made present in our liturgy, albeit in a clean or unbloody manner. The only thing missing from Christ’s historical sacrifice is our participation. The Mass allows us to return to that one-time offering where we (grafted to Christ) can offer ourselves to the heavenly Father as an acceptable oblation.
Just as the gifts of bread and wine are transformed into the risen body and blood of Christ; so too, are we beseeching the Lord to change us ever more and more into the likeness of God’s Son.
The efficacy of the sacraments is assured even if the priest is in mortal sin and a terrible reprobate. However, this does not mean that the sacraments are still all that they should be. The movement of grace is damaged by poor witness. People disillusioned by their ministers can close their hearts and minds to God. They may even walk away from the sacraments entirely. The priest stands convicted at the altar of sacrifice. As with the communicants, we must be properly disposed to what the sacraments entail. That is why many of us are concerned about inviting everyone to the altar so as to receive the Eucharist. The sacrament that heals and saves can also bring condemnation to those in mortal sin.
What does it mean to receive the bread of life if one is an active enabler of the culture of death? Too many feign Catholicity within the church doors and then once outside become the chief advocates in the public forum for the death of unwanted unborn children.
What does it mean to partake from the nuptial banquet table of Christ and his bride the Church when one is living in violation of his or her own marriage vows? Christ rejects divorce and demands that marriage between men and women reflect fidelity within the Church. Are we witnesses to his promise or do we substitute our broken promises instead?
Currently there is also a great debate about the status of active homosexuals in the Church. Nevertheless, priests, bishops and even popes do not stand above Sacred Scripture but rather below as servants of the Word. What does the Word say? We read in Paul’s epistle to Timothy:
“We know that the law is good, provided that one uses it as law, with the understanding that law is meant not for a righteous person but for the lawless and unruly, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, the unchaste, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted” (1 Timothy 1:8-11).
Along with the concern that many of us have about welcoming pro-abortionists, adulterers and active homosexuals to take Holy Communion; the priest must also focus upon his own status before almighty God. Is the one offering the sacrament of salvation to others bringing down judgment upon himself by celebrating the Mass unworthily? How is it that we can become comfortable with the prospect of priests standing at our altars while in mortal sin or not truly believing?
Christians in the early days of the faith were warned not to take part in the food offerings from pagan sacrifices. Unlike the sacrifices of the Jewish temple or that of the Eucharist, these oblations to false gods were deemed as poisoned food given to demons. It was customary in such sacrifices that a third was burned and given to the so-called deity, a third went to the priests (even the pagan ones) and a third was given to the poor. Believers were warned against taking this tainted food.
While the Eucharist, by comparison, is all holy since Christ is holy, the liturgy can be polluted or corrupted by priests in mortal sin or who are closet atheists or who fail to give due diligence about what they celebrate. It does not matter so much as to what language or anaphora (eucharistic prayer) is used as long as the priest is one with the Church and faithful in the rubrics of the celebration. He must be attentive to what he is doing and that care begins with himself. The ordained priest should feel humbled by his role. His priesthood compliments and makes possible the operation of the laity’s baptismal priesthood. A basic symbolism of Catholic sacraments, centered upon the paschal mystery, is that we must die with Christ if we hope to live with him. The priest’s celibate love is subsumed into this profound mystery. When the priest processes to the altar, he should be fully aware and prepared for both Christ’s sacrifice and his own— he is Jesus Christ entering Jerusalem— he is coming to the altar to die.
The clergy abuse issue just never seems to let up. Today there was a headline in THE WASHINGTON POST, “Three Teens Allege Abuse by Catholic Priest in D.C.” A Capuchin parochial vicar from Sacred Heart Church was charged with a single count of second degree sexual abuse and brought to the D.C. Superior Court in shackles.
The dark tragedy of clerical abuse of minors conflicts with a core element of the Church’s identity. The mission of every priest is to be a spiritual father— teaching, nurturing and healing his flock. The center of the priestly vocation is his role as a vehicle for the forgiveness of sins. Any priest who would harm or corrupt others stands in stark violation of his sacred calling and the mission of the Church. When the scandals first emerged, many disbelieved the allegations and assumed that none of it could be true. Today, that mentality can no longer be substantiated. While individual cases may or may not be credible, the issue is real and some priests have failed us and violated the trust we had in them. Excuses cannot be made.
Given the type of violation we are discussing, it must be admitted that efforts at healing will fall short. How does one restore trust when it is violated so egregiously? Clergy abuse of minors signifies a profound attack against innocence that leaves a lasting wound. That is why people come forward decades after such assaults. Lives are changed forever. Many of those assaulted abandon the faith. Others are hampered in their later relationships and suffer from trust issues.
The comeback that “we are all sinners” does little to soften the blow about such infidelity. Yes, it is true that the history of the faith is one where corruption and sin has infected both leaders and followers. But, we argue as well that the true legacy of the faith is written with the lives of the saints. We have not always been successful at the discernment of spirits. We struggle to distinguish those who really walk in holiness and those who only put on a show. The Church is holy because Christ is holy and the Church is his mystical body. This is the case, even though the Church is composed of sinners.
The apparent but largely unreported fact that abuse is even more pervasive outside the Church does nothing to ease our disappointment and shame about misbehaving clergy. The Church should be above such violations of decency. We rightly expect a lot of our priests. Celibacy which should be the shining treasure of Catholic ministry is subjected to ill-repute and questioned as either the cause or situation that enabled wrong doing. Apologists argue that the celibacy is not the problem but rather the solution— if priests will follow through with their promises. What we need are shepherds and laity courageous enough to embrace the hard truths that confront us and to fully cooperate with God’s grace in the sacraments toward the cleansing of our ministries. This will necessitate a full acquisition of the truth; in other words, a realization that the problem is not largely one of pedophilia but of sexually disordered and frustrated men who are mostly but not entirely homosexual. The proof of the pudding is the number of pederasts who have also broken their promises with adults and older teens. Of course, if such men kept their promises this discussion and need for purification would be largely mute. However, promises have been broken and in ways that demonstrate a lack of commitment to faith, holiness and prayer. They loved God too little and sought satisfaction where it was forbidden to them.
What most of us once regarded as rare and aberrational has proven to be more serious than we imagined and devastating for thousands of children and their families. Compounding the problem, many wrongly targeted the victims and witnesses that came forward for resulting scandal instead of disciplining rogue clergy and removing them from ministry. We must continue corrective efforts. We must perfect policies to protect our youth while insuring a process that safeguards innocent clergy from charges that are not credible. My worry today is that there is an intense malice that clouds the subject, one that focuses upon any and all clergy, regardless of the truth. Mercy toward the guilty will not bring restoration to ministry or escape from censures and punishment. Justice toward the innocent must protect the rights and sacerdotal dignity of priests who may be falsely charged or condemned by association.
Reflecting upon how we might personally respond to the scandals facing the Church, here is a good list:
Stay put and do not abandon the Barque of Peter— remember the words of Peter, where would we go?
Keep faith in Christ and in the Catholic Church— do not stop believing.
Remain faithful to the Mass and the discipline of prayer— offer our own fidelity in reparation for the unfaithful.
Acknowledge our own faults and seek mercy in absolution— while not all sin cries out to heaven, we are all sinners needing forgiveness.
Open your mind about the issues facing us and grow in the faith— as believers we must always know and proclaim the truth.
Continue to live for others in acts of Christian charity— such is an antidote to the selfishness that has manufactured this situation.
Avoid hate and calumny, exhibiting a heartfelt sacrificial love and mercy— if we are to face the devil then we must put on Christ.
Clean your house of that which conflicts with our Gospel witness— we should have no part in the hypocrisy that makes this matter worse.
Seek the purification of the Church from any satanic enemies within— the poison in the mix must be expelled, even if it means the end of individual ministries.
Fight for justice and healing toward the oppressed, wounded and innocent— the dignity of persons must always be safeguarded.
ARTICLE: “Want to leave the Catholic Church? Officially you can’t” by Dan Waidelich.
SOURCE & DATE: Washington Post – October 22, 2018.
REFLECTION:
The reporter notes that Mary Combs left the Church 15 years ago over the clergy sexual abuse scandals in Boston. We are told that she looked at “the collection basket, imagining the money paying off victims.”
While one can readily appreciate how terribly she was disheartened, there was nothing particularly noble or heroic about her personal defection. While such scandals, then and now, should make the laity angry— the proper response is not to run away but to stick it out and fight. It may be that the clergy are overly identified with the faith; but the laity constitutes the largest segment of the Church. She should have looked at that collection basket and realized that “there” in the purse strings is power to compel reform. This is not blackmail. The laity as a matter of justice can demand that the resources they share go to building up the kingdom and not be squandered in covering up for sin or for appeasing greed and ambition.
Unfortunately, anger spoke louder than her own calling or mission as a disciple. Indeed, it also eclipsed the many needs that emerge from charity toward the poor and the hurting. Despite the presence of evil in her ministerial ranks, the Church still does much good for the disadvantaged and the oppressed. Indeed, Catholic Charities is the largest and most active social outreach organization, just behind the U.S. government. Mary Combs walked away from that element of her discipleship in the Church because she was upset by weak and sinful men.
Judas signified one-twelfth of the world’s bishop-priests in 33 AD. He betrayed Christ and later committed suicide. Did everyone who had followed Christ leave the Church because of his sin? No. They realized that despite human iniquity, Jesus was indeed their Messiah, Savior and Lord. Peter, the first of many popes of the Church, fearfully denied even knowing Christ when Jesus was being tried. Nevertheless, our resurrected Lord would respond to his affirmations of love by restoring his authority as the visible head of the Church. Just as we shake our heads today at the clericalism of our priests and how ambition sometimes overshadows servanthood, we can also recall James and John asking for a special place at Christ’s right and left. Similarly, the apostles argue among themselves as to who is the greatest. And yet, when the going got tough, all but John ran and went into hiding. At the Last Supper they had each been given the authority sacramentally to re-present the mystery of Christ’s paschal mystery and his saving oblation in “memory” of him. But when they had the opportunity to walk physically with Christ to Calvary, there was only one apostle who accompanied him to the Cross so as to witness the mystery firsthand.
“Now there’s this Pennsylvania scandal,” Combs said. “Hundreds of priests abusing thousands of parishioners and a coverup that went all the way to the Vatican — again.” We are told that she now attends Grace Lutheran Church in Virginia. This is no solution either. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic. While even Protestant churches have their own scandals, they are historically also breakaway institutions from Catholic unity. They may possess certain saving elements which they took with them from Catholicism, i.e. the Scriptures, faith in Christ and baptism. Sadly, they have also forfeited a genuine priesthood and Eucharist. This signals that her defection is rooted, not just in a repugnance to clerical scandal, but in a lack of a true and complete Christian faith. We are told that she took comfort when the Pennsylvania stories broke, in knowing that she was done with Catholicism. Unfortunately, while we leave judgment to God, he will judge her not as a Lutheran but as a Catholic.
The current scandals should not confirm Mary Combs and those like her in their defection. Indeed, it should be a clarion call for all to come back and to make right that which has gone wrong. Those who have courageously stayed with the Church must demand a full accounting of past misdeeds, transparency in the future and a purging of those persons from ministry who can no longer be trusted. There needs to be a genuine purification and reform. This must be done by those who have remained faithful and those who have repented of their own failures or defection so as not to be part of the problem but of the solution.
Jesus instituted the Church and gave us ministers and sacraments so as to provide for his people. He did not say that the Church would always be perfect, only that he would sustain her and that she would be made holy by the bridegroom, Christ. The devil has had a hand in the corruption of churchmen. Violations of priestly celibacy as with other sins can be healed by our merciful Lord and even forgiven by God’s faithful people; however, those who have harmed minors and those who have engaged in same-sex acts have no place in the priesthood.
The Washington Post article, while heavily focused on the issue of clergy abuse, actually targeted the question as to whether one could technically leave the Catholic Church. Rev. Thomas Ferguson, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va., affirmed what Catholics should already know that it is impossible to defect from the Catholic Church. Our affiliation with the Catholic faith is stamped upon our souls at baptism. It is the Church directly instituted by Christ. Any movement away from that Church distances us from our Lord.
The original Protestant churches were regarded as groupings of fallen-away or lapsed Catholics. Over time, many were born and raised in these communities, never juridically united or formed within the fullness of the Catholic faith community. What might merit them through ignorance will not satisfy for Catholics who should know better.
There is increased tension about the role of laity on review boards and in taking leadership efforts to stem abuse of the young and corruption in the Church. On one side, many traditionalists do not want clergy conceding authority of any sort to the laity. However, given that the clergy, and particularly bishops, currently have very little moral standing among God’s people, they really have no choice— not if they want the Church to return to good health. The other side opposes an increased role of “certain” laity, and here I would agree, albeit from the opposite pole of fidelity. The laity must be a genuine “sensus fidelium” and not one populated by dissenters who would create an entirely new church. The progressive voices want more than an overhaul; they want a full-blown revolution where the doors would be opened to married priests, women clergy, lay trustee ownership of all Church properties, full acceptance of divorce and subsequent unions, of homosexuals and other emerging sexualities, and a communion table open to all. It is this group that is fearful of orthodox laity. While the clergy can be manipulated in labeling the crisis as one of pedophilia, it would be much more difficult to compromise faithful laity into being silent about the true malady which is a homosexuality infestation of Church leadership.
The faithful laity has the will and the money to get to the root of the Church’s problems, and many (clergy and dissenting laity) want those roots to remain safely hidden in the ground. Which is preferable, to allow investigations to remain exclusively in the hands of secular or civil authorities who often have a negative animus or real hatred toward the Church; or to allow orthodox laity who love the Church an opportunity to expose the truth about the current scandal so that there might be a necessary purification, restoration and healing? We want men and women committed both to the faith and to the truth, regardless of the immediate consequences. Bishops have shown that they cannot police themselves. Lower ranked clergy too easily become passive pawns to authority. We should not underestimate the fear that many priests feel. Their priesthood is not a job but their identity. Their ordinaries or bishops can easily make or break them— giving them opportunities for rewarding ministries or locking them away with meaningless closeted assignments or sending them to real hell holes where they will be ill-equipped to survive. Most laity respect their bishops but they are not under their thumbs. They have sufficient autonomy to act.
The dissenters, among the bishops and the laity, are quick to reject investigative efforts from the orthodox laity. Even prior to any such work, they are already accusing them of gay-bashing. They mock them as hardliners obsessed by sex. But this issue is precisely about sex, more directly, about the homosexual acts between clergy and other men or teenagers. This is well over 90% of the actual problem. The dissenters would have us dismiss this and focus on the 2% or less that deals with children and possibly girls. The orthodox faithful and clergy are not Puritans or Jansenists. They acknowledge the beautiful teachings on the Theology of the Body that come from St. John Paul II. There is no derision of the marriage bed between men and women. But sex outside of marriage is a sin. Homosexual acts are always outside of marriage and the attraction is a grave disorder. It is not neutral. We are called to love and respect our “gay” brothers and sisters. As with the priesthood, we would urge them to embrace an authentic and faithful celibate manner of loving. Because of the danger of scandal brought to ministry, the Church should exclude from priesthood all homosexuals who have had sexual encounters. This is not bigoted hate-speech but the necessary bottom line. These critics who argue otherwise must not be given their way as they offer no solutions and are part of the problem, itself.
The liberal critics are infuriated that a priest who violates his vows must be expelled from the priesthood. They employ an analogy in regard to marriage. They would ask, “Would we insist upon the end of a marriage when a man sins against his matrimonial vows?” They have a point here, but only to a point. Much depends on how the vows are broken, the level of contrition and amendment of life and the willingness of the spouse to forgive. As to the manner of violation, there is voyeurism, pornography, prostitution, adultery (with another woman), homosexually disordered acts and incest. A union might come to a practical end because it is a sham or dehumanizing to the spouse or a threat to her and the children. As for a priest, an infidelity with a woman might indeed be forgiven, particularly after a period of counsel and spiritual reflection. His bride the Church is very merciful, even though it would be best to restart his ministry somewhere else far from the person of temptation.
However, if his vows are broken through an abusive act, particularly of a minor or child, he can never be restored to ministry. We do not want rapists of any sort in our active priesthood. The safety of God’s people must always come first. If the violation was a homosexual one, even with a consenting male, then he must also be stripped of his faculties and laicized. We cannot risk predation upon altar boys, seminarians or young priests. A priest must have a certain moral standing and there are certain acts that are so depraved that it is impossible to restore his full sacerdotal dignity and moral authority. Such a priest must go.
“Christ himself, the model of priests, taught first by the example of his deeds and then by his words: Jesus began to do and then to teach. Likewise, a priest who neglects his own sanctification can never be the salt of the earth; what is corrupt and contaminated is utterly incapable of preserving from corruption; where sanctity is lacking, there corruption will inevitably find its way.”
– St. Pius X
We are taught as Catholics that the Church is holy because Christ is holy. This is what gives truth value to the second mark of the Church mentioned every time we recite the Creed at Sunday Mass. The Church is holy and it is by means of the teachings of faith and the sacraments that we can be made holy by grace. This is what we believe and yet has there ever been a time when it was so very hard to believe? The Church is also composed of sinners; indeed, we are all sinners needing a Savior. But when it comes to our priests and bishops, we like to imagine that they have a direct line to heaven. They make little money, forsake a spouse and family and are at the immediate beck-and-call of their flocks. The lesson that Jesus gives his apostles with the Holy Thursday foot washing is that the greater they would become, the more they would have to humiliate themselves as the servants of all.
Catholicism insists that both bishops and priests should remain celibate— placing the love of the Mystical Body or the Church ahead of all other loves. At a time when most churches compromise on the moral teachings of Christ; the Catholic faith remains resolute about purity prior to marriage, about the permanence of marriage, about marriage as only a relationship between a man and a woman, about the nature of the marital act as open to the generation of children, and about the sanctity of human life. The loftier the moral message, the further the messenger might fall when he is exposed as duplicitous.
Our priests witness the marriages of couples in love, consecrating unions with the favor of God and of his Church. They baptize babies, transforming them from mere creatures of God into adopted sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. They absolve penitents from their sins, literally stealing the damned from the devil. At Mass they celebrate the sacrifice of Calvary so that we might offer ourselves with Jesus, the Lamb of God, as an acceptable oblation to the Father. They give us Holy Communion, rations from that promised shore to which we travel as spiritual pilgrims. Along with bishops, they offer confirmation, completing our baptisms so that we might be enriched by the gifts of the Spirit and made living temples of God. They anoint the sick, perpetuating the ministry of Jesus in bringing healing to the hurting among us. They bury the dead, preaching a message of hope that in Jesus love is stronger than death and victorious over the grave. The priest is at the center of everything Catholic. That is what makes the current scandal especially devastating. The faithful are rightly disappointed and upset. Our shepherds are facing a crisis in holiness.
Contagious Scandal & the Loss of Reputation
Any one priest signifies every priest. This collective appreciation has made the present crisis a damning one. When the laity look at their priests, they immediately wonder, “Could he be one of those priests?” While regarding only a few, these dark revelations of sin and crime are sufficient in damaging overall trust.
Men presumed as truthful revealed as duplicitous liars.
These are the same men appointed as preachers of the Gospel. The priest and pastor is the chief catechist of every parish and is entrusted with the faith formation of his people. What becomes of the message or the Good News when the messenger becomes a witness of bad or scandalous news? What becomes of his credibility when the mouthpiece of God not only stumbles in his witness but is unveiled as an agent of the devil’s anti-gospel? How can such a man speak to us about the truth when he has failed to put on the mind of Christ?
Men presumed as merciful exposed as sources for sin.
These are the men chosen to give flesh to the Divine Mercy in the ministry of the church. Who would want to go to confession to such rogues? Many might think that their sins pale in comparison to such reprobates. While the efficacy of the sacraments is assured; it is understandable that the faithful would feel stained or polluted by association with these men. Is it all just empty words and gestures? Compounding the problem, they sometimes substitute malice for mercy and draw others as accomplices into their lives of sin. How can such men draw us into the love of God when they do not have the heart of Christ?
Men presumed as healers caught as sadistic destroyers.
Jesus condemned the pharisees for placing unnecessary burdens upon good people. As an antidote he delivered the freedom and healing that belongs to the children of God. Priests were called to mend souls and to give hope, not to breach their victims from the family of God or to give them cause for despair. The miscreants in the news destroyed innocence and purposely misdirected the faith trajectory of people’s lives. They placed their own sexual gratification over sacred promises and the good of persons. How could they live with themselves, exchanging the joy of right relationship with God for a cruel transitory delight toward others? Even if there were a failure to love, did they not fear God?
Men presumed as pure are brought to light as defiled.
Priests are commissioned as eschatological signs of Christ’s kingdom. This is a basic premise behind the promise or vow of celibacy. Celibacy is not the same as chastity or virginity. Rather, it is a wondrous way of loving others. We are corporeal-spiritual composites, creatures of spirit and flesh. The purity of the body is supposed to immediately signify the virtuous nature of the soul, the existential resolution as one who loves the Lord so tremendously that it spills over in concern for the neighbor. As opposed to the pattern of the rich man going away sad because of his many possessions, it is the follower of Jesus who seeks to abandon earthly satisfaction so as to be rich in Christ. What happened to this singleness of purpose in these men? How is it that they could be satisfied with the carnal man when they were pledged to something greater, the one who lives in the Spirit?
Men presumed as holy are divulged as devils.
We are all called to be saints. That is our fundamental purpose in life. Christ as the new Adam comes into the world to restore an innocence that was lost by sin. The priest is charged as an instrument of the Lord to dispense the divine mysteries in making this objective possible. His ministrations allow us to enter in the saving paschal mystery. Here is where the sins of these men become a kind of blasphemy against all that is holy and good. Instead of realizing their role as sharers in Christ’s priesthood and extending his saving works, they look to the wimpish failure of the first Adam; indeed, worse than this, they play the role of the serpent. Do they not see how they have been thoroughly soiled as slaves to the devil? Have they stopped believing entirely?
We are told that a priest, even in mortal sin, can validly administer the sacraments. This is one of the great absurdities of faith and yet one necessary to insure the efficacy of the sacraments in the life of God’s people. Of course, while a bad priest might do some good, his bad character often sours the milk and corrupts or tears down what is built up. This dissimulation probably constitutes a special wound in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our Lord is pained by the priest who is a cheat or hypocrite, even as he is supposed to be “another Christ” at the altar.
It remains a conundrum that a priest might take his people to the very gates of heaven but himself be unable to enter. While we might think that the graces of priesthood would make it easier for him to go to heaven; certain authorities have argued that it makes the prospect of hell more pressing and dangerous. Why? The more one is given, the more for which one will be held accountable. The priest knows better and cannot claim ignorance. Everything needed for salvation is immediately available. That makes any neglect inexcusable. Further, because he has been configured to Christ by his ordination, the devil targets him for every temptation and assault. At his altar, at his desk, in his car and in his bed he is always in the midst of a fierce battle with the prince demon of perdition. Priests who forget this will immediately stumble. The senses are especially targeted. The scandals of late all appeal to the flesh and sexuality. The sins committed are virtually unimaginable. Minds are clouded. Hearts are hardened. The devil will take any crack he can find to pierce the priest’s soul— smoking, drunkenness, gluttony, sloth, anger, jealousy, whatever. The devil may have failed in his temptation of Christ; but starting with his apostles and coming down through history to his priests and bishops of today, he has found men who sometimes falter and even become his property. Judas may not be the only bishop-priest in hell.
It is a terrible business when the weak link of faith is the shepherd. The weapons to hurt souls and to attack the Church then come from the very hands of the priest— hands that were consecrated for the chalice and the host. We as Catholics become our own worst enemies. It is at such times that we must remember that our faith is placed ultimately not in men but in God. We should also recall the saints, for theirs is the true legacy of the Church. Instead of running away, it becomes all the more imperative for God’s people to keep the faith and to demand fidelity and holiness of their priests. All sins might be forgiven, but the sins against innocence must not be forgotten. A reform of the Church will mean that some higher churchmen will have to step down, certain priests will have to be removed from ministry and others will have to embrace a heroic apostolate of penance and sanctity. This is not a time for window dressing but of a true moral reform, to deal both with a hostile secular modernity and a rigid clericalism that makes careerism and a fear of scandal into higher imperatives than protecting God’s flock from the robber and the wolf.
If we enter into the light (not afraid of what will be unmasked) and not in the darkness (where the roaches of sin hide), then we will truly walk with Christ. As opposed to the clamoring enemies of the Church who see the current scandal as the death knell for Catholicism, maybe it is an unavoidable summons to “grow up” and to become a more effective and genuine witness for Christ in the modern world? Divine providence is most unfathomable when God draws something of the good from the misdirected evil of men.
It is sometimes difficult to keep up with our changing culture. How some people hear and read things is often at great variance between people of differing generations and those more or less sensitive to varying views about human nature and morality. A Texas school district has removed a quote that was painted above lockers at a middle and elementary school after the quote sparked criticism online this week. It reads: “The more you act like a lady, the more he’ll act like a gentleman.”
It was argued that it perpetuated “horrible gender stereotypes, shaming women, sexism, misogyny, and discrimination.” Is that how everyone sees it?
Just curious as it was reminiscent of a quote from the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who wrote in LIFE IS WORTH LIVING:
“When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.”
He was also once purportedly cited at a dinner of saying, “Men will be as good as women want them to be.” Men seemed to understand and did not think it was sexist or pejorative of males. I suppose it simply respected the assumption that men and women were wired somewhat differently.
Is this no longer regarded as a tenable proposition?
His Enemy Came and Sowed Weeds All through the Wheat
These are dark days for the Church. One of my friends even said, “These scandals make me feel ashamed to work for the Church.” I well understood. At every Mass a priest mentions and prays for his bishop by name. What if a bishop should disappoint you or you discover that one was likely a reprobate? I suspect a number of priests have paused or recently winced during the saying of the Eucharistic prayer. In any case, we are called to pray for the good and the bad, always remembering as priests that we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God.
Jesus’ apostles often disappointed him— one even betrayed and despaired, taking his own life. I suppose the best of priests are wounded healers. Nevertheless, there are certain sins that cry out to heaven. I am reminded of one of the parables:
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” (Matthew 13:24-30)
Is it time for the harvest? It is so very hard to separate the weeds from the wheat. Indeed, the weeds threaten to strangle the wheat. We desperately want to see the weeds bundled and burned.
The Devil Made Me Do It
Alarmists about Vatican II regularly cite a quotation attributed to Pope Paul VI that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.” While I neither have a naïve celebratory nor a pejorative view of the Council, I do feel that a diabolical attack upon the Church extending back to the very beginning of the incarnation is reaching a fever pitch in these latter days. The assault targets both clergy and lay. The complicit backdrop is a culture where sexual perversion is increasingly regarded as normative, where immigrant families are derided as criminals and subhumans and where mothers argue for the choice or right to murder their children.
Just as Christ is the fulfillment of the ancient promise for redemption given our first parents; the devil is all about broken promises. He corrupted Adam but failed when it came to Jesus and that failure fills him with an eternal spite. He numbs consciences to the truth about the sanctity of life and the dignity of persons. He hardens hearts, not merely against charity but even about what should be obvious in regards to compassion, mercy and decency. Truth is an immediate casualty but so is the love that beckons to us from the Cross. We become comfortable with our sins and selfishness. Divine commands become weak suggestions.
Christ was tempted but could not fall; however, we still struggle with the brokenness of the first Adam. Apart from Christ we are destined to fail. The world pampers our pride. The flesh entices our senses. The devil seeks to oppress and even to possess us. Satan has a burning hatred for us and the Church. He lost the war against Christ but continues to corrupt and steal in skirmishes for individual souls. We should not pretend that the devil is a fool. He knows that the best way to hurt the Church is to undermine her ministers— as goes the priesthood, so goes the Church. It was only a matter of time that this crisis would turn to the bishops given that they possess the fullness of priesthood.
Jesus redeemed us and yet some would return to their bondage of suffering, sin and death. We hear the devil speaking through the mouths of his slaves all the time: “I am not a saint so why try? May we always be going to hell but never get there. You can’t tell me what to do. If it feels good then do it. It is my body. Everyone is doing it! Those foreigners are all drug dealers and rapists! I’ll run over anyone who gets in my way! Going to church is a waste of my time. To hell with her brains, I want her for her body. We don’t want his kind around here. It only becomes a baby if you want it.” Yes, I am convinced that the devil has a hand in this abuse scandal; but, of course, none of the guilty can escape personal culpability.
Man Has Made Himself the Measure of All Things
Everything is salted with sensuality and eroticism: television, movies, music, books, art, the internet, etc. Fifty Shades of Grey becomes a bestselling book and it leads to sequels and films, affirming that pornography has truly gone mainstream. We feed our children to demons, not only with abortion but by eroticizing adolescents— dressing them as provocative adults, putting makeup on babies, romanticizing their juvenile relationships and allowing them to set the rules in our homes (giving them everything they want). We fill their heads with profane music and delight in their dancing, much as did lecherous Herod over Salome. Nevertheless, denying our own cooperation in sin, we point the finger at others when lines are crossed. Man imposes his strictures of fad as dictates over natural law, the height of lunacy. Few are willing to admit that gender confusion and same-sex unions have fashioned a twisted parody of marriage. A political correctness mislabels the clergy scandal so that it cannot be adequately addressed. We clamor about a few pedophiles when the problem remains a cabal of unsated homosexual pederasts.
Forbidden are a host of words and concepts like purity, chastity, virginity, temperance, obedience, duty, sacrifice, etc. Truth is no longer “what is” but simply “what we want it to be.” A Christian society has largely vanished. Many elements of the Church have given up the fight and have been seduced. Custody of the eyes is virtually impossible. If there remains any element of shame from damaged consciences and complicity in scandal then it is brushed aside by critics upon others. We find much of this transference in how the Church is faulted, especially her clergy. A problematical infestation of active homosexuals is ignored or tolerated because the culture wants to affirm and normalize homosexuality. Thus, the errant priests who largely target males are labeled as “pedophiles” when in actuality they are essentially repressed homosexuals acting out with other men or committing pederasty with older minors. (I must quickly add that this judgment should not diminish a respect for persons or insinuate that all homosexuals are a danger to minors. We need to be sympathetic to those who seek to be chaste and celibate, even if they should not be welcomed into holy orders.)
Where do we go from here? Silence is not the answer; indeed, it becomes part of the problem. Moving the men around is not the answer; like shipping the trash out to sea it only makes a problem for others somewhere else. Much of the damage evades healing, at least in this world. What is done cannot be undone. (Many of us hoped and prayed that this problem was largely behind us.) Now we know that most of us will be long in the grave before these troubled seas are calm again.
The late cardinal-priest Avery Dulles was a prophet about this problem, urging adequate protections for innocent priests but also alerting the bishops that they should not exclude themselves from inspection, reprimand and public penance. When these issues first began to make headlines the USCCB recommended a day of penance for the laity to pray upon this issue— but the criticism was rightfully made that the laity would prefer to see the bishops and priests on their knees. The situation with the disoriented and misbehaving clergy might have been a symptom of a sick society and a repressive Church but still people were right to argue about the blinders that some of the shepherds were wearing. I suppose the issue of fault is often connected to liability and lawyers. It should be about contrition, amendment of life and penance.
The revelations during the last few weeks have caused many of us who love the Church, clergy and laity alike, to weep as we have prayed. How can we win back the confidence of God’s people as credible witnesses to the Gospel? The flock has every right to be upset at the many allegations of misconduct and the passivity from bishops in protecting our children. Where was accountability in all this? How could anyone move up the ranks of the hierarchy when there were sordid rumors and even past settlements for sexual misbehavior? Many of us are shaking our heads; it is so unbelievable. And yet, like throwing gasoline into an open fire, there are many in authority claiming “I did not know” or “We thought we could morally reform the man” or “A few of the details need correction or clarification.” No one should be falsely charged, either in the commission of heinous acts or as concealing that which cries out to be known; however, missteps were made and we will never move forward while there is a refusal to accept responsibility for how matters were handled.
I’m Mad as Hell and I am Not Going to Take This Anymore!
Most bishops do not regularly live and work in parishes. They may not be fully aware of how angry people are. I am reminded of the 1976 movie Network where the television newscaster shouts, “You’ve got to say: I’m a human being, g-dammit! My life has value! So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell: I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”
As I said, the faithful have every right to be upset. They deserve good and holy priests. They should expect that their bishops and priests would love and protect them, especially the children. Will we see more empty pews? Will needed funds dry up? I cannot yet say, although I have heard more than one person say that he or she will be cutting back. As with the lawsuits and large monetary awards to victims and their lawyers— we could also end up victimizing the faithful in the pews and the needy in our communities. While the Church’s moral authority is compromised, we are still a voice and helping hand for the oppressed and the poor. What will happen to them if our resources are stripped away from the Church?
A Proposal for the Future
I have a hard time believing some of the things I am hearing. I do not want to believe it all. The deteriorating situation signifies bad news in terms of our credibility in proclaiming the Good News. Again, what must we do? Msgr. Charles Pope writes:
“As a lower-ranking priest I cannot issue demands or send binding norms to those in wider and upper ranks of the hierarchy, but I do want to say to God’s faithful how powerfully aware I am of their justified anger and agree with their insistence that something more than symbolic action or promises of future reform is necessary.”
At the end of his article at the National Catholic Register, he states:
“Remember, too, not every bishop or priest is equally to blame. Some are suffering as much as you are. However, no one, clergy or lay, should exempt himself from the task of summoning the Church to reform and greater holiness.”
That is exactly the case and I would like to applaud his courage and forthrightness in saying so.
It is my view that only something drastic will make any difference in the current climate of anger and distrust. I am only a priest and maybe a poor one, but here are my suggestions:
There should be a new review board given over entirely to the laity (men and women) where bishops could participate as observers and advisors (on ecclesial protocols as well as canonical and theological questions.)
While certain facets of professional secrecy and the seal of confession would have to be respected, there should be no secret agreements and a general transparency in the process.
There would need to be collaboration with the Holy See, not only to modify certain canons of the Church (returning to the explicit language of the 1917 code), but to create an independent canonical board and to facilitate canonical trials.
This review board should also become a clearing house for charges against clergy, especially bishops; priests would be able to share what they know without fear of reprisal in their dioceses.
There should be a general purge of those in the upper hierarchy who have tolerated active homosexuality or who have failed in their duty to protect vulnerable persons and the young from predator priests (through either silence or shuffling clergy elsewhere).
There should be a bill of rights for priests to insure justice and due process in determining innocence or guilt along with a provision for legal representation (an innocent priest should not be reduced to bankruptcy in trying to defend his good name while Church lawyers defend bishops).
Continue to insure that those who have abused or harmed minors would be permanently removed from Church ministries.
Insure that all programs of priestly formation also include regular psychological evaluation from a therapist who assents to Church teaching on human sexuality, not minimizing issues like consensual heterosexual relations (fornication), homosexual acts, masturbation, pornography and/or a general discomfort around women.
Forbid seminary formation to anyone who has committed homosexual acts and permanently remove any priests from ministry who violate their celibacy in committing them.
Suspend a priest from active ministry who has violated his celibacy with heterosexual acts, requiring either his laicization or that he spend five years doing penance in a monastic environment along with appropriate counseling prior to returning to ministry in another (arch)diocese.
Reparation for victims that brings some degree of healing and help to those harmed while not destroying the resources that rightly belong to those in the pews and to those assisted by our charity and justice initiatives. (Do we have to review the “corporate sole” model?)
Promote policies that both protect vulnerable persons and yet insure fair and just treatment for those accused.
As witnessed by Pope Francis, bishops should be required in all cases to live a very modest lifestyle with no more perks than those given to the poorest priest.
A penitential reform within the Church that would fully restore the Friday fasting and abstinence practices of the past for everyone and add particular acts of penance (over and above this) for all bishops and priests.
A daily campaign of praying the Rosary and/or the Liturgy of the Hours for the sanctification of priests, the fidelity of the Church and the conversion of sinners.
Restore the Prayer of St. Michael the Archangel to the liturgy, either at the end of the bidding prayers or at the conclusion of the Mass (Satan needs to be uprooted).
Reverse the Pyramid: Faithful Laity Can Save the Church
This is one of those situations where the good suffer along with the bad. The true “sensus fidelium” is not with dissenters, but with the faithful laity and they are the ones through their prayers and intervention who will now make a difference. Everyone should pray for the Church. Dialogue with the bishops and priests must be fair and open. This is not a situation the bishops can fix. As one person said to me, “Their credibility is shot!”
I noticed online that a few of the Hollywood celebrities have added their two cents (mostly negative) to this crisis in the Church. It would seem to me that when it comes to scandal they should be the last ones to talk, but I suppose it makes good fodder for deflection. Pointing to the sins of others takes the attention off one’s own. Years ago when these scandals first broke, I asked an elderly priest (who has since gone to God) about such matters. He explained that he was surprised about the child abuse but that the problem of errant priests was not new. However, he explained, the Church treated transgressions (as when a priest fell with a woman) entirely as moral ones, not focusing on psychological issues or any kind of pathology beyond the man’s control. It was presumed that after a reprimand, going to confession, a retreat and a verbal assurance of repentance— that a priest might be returned to ministry. Evidently, when it came to some of them, and particularly regarding disordered urges and an attraction to youth, no such assurances could be trusted.
There has been a great deal in the news about allegations of misconduct by Cardinal McCarrick. He has resigned from the College of Cardinals and Pope Francis has ordered him to pursue a “life of prayer and penance.” There is not much more that I can say about what has come out about Cardinal McCarrick. He was a great communicator and extremely charismatic. We clashed years ago when I openly opposed the practice of giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians. I am still deeply troubled about such policies, although the scope seems to be expanding to include invitations for those in adulterous unions to take the sacrament and even to receive absolution. How can the mortal sins of enabling murder or committing marital infidelity properly dispose one for the divine mysteries? I shake my head. Maybe I am too stupid to understand? I promised him years ago that I would pray for him daily. Now, more than before, I am dedicated to keeping that promise.
The Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report on sex abuse in the Catholic Church was hard to read. I became overwhelmed by grief and wept. How could this happen? Priests are called “Father” and fathers are supposed to protect, nurture and heal their children. My next emotion was anger. Men broke their promises and they lied about it. Others were so afraid of scandal and litigation that they apparently kept silent. Was this the Church for which I sought to be a priest by entering the seminary 40 years ago? Our faith is ultimately not in weak men but in Jesus who is God come down from heaven to save us. Given all the negativity and the painful stories, how is it affecting the people in the pews? (I am planning a monthly parish program on the saints. That is where we find the real legacy of the Church. We will focus on those who faithfully ran the race and won their crowns.)
Years ago when I heard that Cardinal Wuerl was coming to Washington I was delighted as I had been a fan of his catechism, The Teaching of Christ, going back to my college seminary days. His little book, The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition, co-authored with Mike Aquilina, is a real gem and a useful tool in teaching about the Eucharistic liturgy. As one of his priests, it is hard to hear all the criticism from his time in Pittsburgh. It seems to me that he did so very much to make a positive difference in protecting children. Did he stumble at some point? I am certain that there are many families and victims appreciative for what he tried to do for them. There has been some talk that the Grand Jury Report got a number of particulars wrong. I am not in possession of all the facts and so I will leave it up to others to figure out. I will keep him in my prayers, especially in the Mass, and urge our good people in the pews not to despair.
I am reminded of John Cardinal Newman’s work on the Arian crisis and St. Athanasius when so many of the bishops had fallen into heresy. He concluded that in the fourth century the laity were the heroes who had saved the day for the true faith. While the Lord will be the one to ultimately separate the weeds from the wheat or the goats from the lambs, we need to trust our good lay men and women today. I am not talking about dissenters but the homeschooling family, the teacher in the parish school, the volunteers running the bible study, the Blue Army lady always rattling off her beads in the lonely church, the teenager eager to serve Mass, the Knights of Columbus men who actively live out charity in communities, the virtuous souls who march for life and stand outside abortion clinics praying for the unborn and their parents, the reader faithful to his service, the altar guild ladies who help set up for the liturgy, etc. Allowing the laity to take the lead may be hard for bishops as it seems to be a surrender of their authority; however, in truth this is precisely the kind of humiliation that may restore their moral jurisdiction as servants of the Most High God.
Statement from the Archdiocese of Washington to Pastors
Many of you have addressed the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, as well as the Archbishop McCarrick matter in homilies or comments to your parishioners. Cardinal Wuerl requests that you not shy away from addressing these matters again in a spirit and manner that you feel appropriate. He also requests that you include in your Prayers of the Faithful the following intercession:
“For young people and our most vulnerable that they remain safe and protected, and for those survivors of abuse whether by power or violence, especially by the clergy who have not lived up to their call to holiness. Let us pray to the Lord.”
Finally, as a concluding prayer after the Prayers of the Faithful, he requests the following Prayer for Healing Victims of Abuse from the USCCB:
God of endless love, ever caring, ever strong, always present, always just: You gave your only Son
to save us by the blood of his cross.
Gentle Jesus, shepherd of peace, join to your own suffering the pain of all who have been hurt in body, mind, and spirit by those who betrayed the trust placed in them.
Hear our cries as we agonize over the harm done to our brothers and sisters. Breathe wisdom into our prayers, soothe restless hearts with hope, steady shaken spirits with faith. Show us the way to justice and wholeness, enlightened by truth and enfolded in your mercy.
Holy Spirit, comforter of hearts, heal your people’s wounds and transform our brokenness. Grant us courage and wisdom, humility and grace, so that we may act with justice and find peace in you.
Analogies scratch at the surface of truth and reality. Nevertheless, they do allow a certain degree of illumination. We speak of heaven as an eternal banquet. We view the relationship of Christ to his Church as akin to the marital bond of a husband to his wife. Just as there can be no gluttony in heaven, neither can there be lust. The imperfections in human desires and activities can have no part to play in their eternal dimension. While we are broken, the moral life demands that we strive toward something of the perfection that awaits us. Food means physical life. Marriage means the life of children. Food gives satisfaction. Marriage brings the joy of marital union. God will sustain us and he will feed us with his very self. Ultimately, the measure of our unity is within the peace of Christ.
It may be that marriage finds itself in trouble within the modern world because people do not know what marriage and sex is really about. Failure to appreciate the truth damages relationships and makes the marriage analogy incomprehensible. There is confusion because many refuse to admit that they might be wrong. Just as certain virgins are anxious about telling others about their inexperience; those with active sex-lives may be reticent to admit that they are regularly engaged in something that they really do not understand. Persons are often reduced to a means to a selfish end. Sex is treated as recreation or as something to release tension. While it should be expressive of a bond, it should not be regarded as bondage. The abuse of sexual union leads to a whole assortment of ills. That which should draw people together and make possible personal integrity can inadvertently fragment personalities and cause rifts of infidelity and frustration. If one has a negative experience of sexual behavior, particularly when it is abusive, then how can he or she imagine that it is good, joyous and holy? There may be no sexual intercourse in heaven; however, this does not mean that such loving coupling cannot point to a profound intimacy between the divine and the communion of the saints.
Our culture is erotically saturated. Pornography has gone largely mainstream. Sex pollutes the media entertainments and advertising. Many people claim that they have to have it, giving impetus to a drug market where all sorts of dysfunction cures are prescribed. Nevertheless, while there is a focus on fantasy and the mechanics of human sexuality; there is a paucity of reflection upon ultimate meaning and the theology of the body. If human sexuality is reduced to an accidental then it might no longer matter… serial marriages, multiple partners, same-sex unions, fornication and even adultery are shifted to the periphery of social life with minimal moral importance. However, the traditional Western philosophical and religious critic would lament that this is all a lie. Human sexuality is not accidental and gender is not interchangeable. There must be a genuine complementarity, sufficient gravity in importance and a lasting permanence. Our gender identity is a core substantive element. The union of men and women is not between two half’s but rather two whole’s. It builds upon who they are, making them (together) something new.
This is the home of the AWALT PAPERS, the posting of various pieces of wisdom salvaged from the writings, teachings and sermons of the late Msgr. William J. Awalt.
The Pope’s Own Words:
The definition of a priest is one who renders sacrifice to his deity. The Catholic priest makes his oblation as the principal worship of the Lord. He makes it both for himself and for others. Christ is the great high priest. Those ordained share in his priesthood where Jesus is both priest and victim. The priest at the altar is one with Christ (the head of the Church) who dies so that we might live. He atones for sin and heals the rift between heaven and earth. Jesus offers his own blood and dies once and for all. The mystery of his oblation is made present in our liturgy, albeit in a clean or unbloody manner. The only thing missing from Christ’s historical sacrifice is our participation. The Mass allows us to return to that one-time offering where we (grafted to Christ) can offer ourselves to the heavenly Father as an acceptable oblation.
The clergy abuse issue just never seems to let up. Today there was a headline 
REFLECTION:
Blogger Priest 