The American Catholic Church Scandal

I’m probably only slightly more informed than the average person about the sex abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church. Though it has never directly affected me, I have read quite a bit about it, from various angles and viewpoints. I am a staunch defender of the Church, its basic goodness stemming from its creation by Jesus Christ, and I am pained by the evil some of its members have perpetuated upon the innocent. It truly pains me. As a Catholic, I am embarrassed and ashamed. A couple we are close friends with, shaky in their faith, asked my wife and I to be the godparents of their first child. The husband’s protestant family flew in for the baptism. And wouldn’t you know it, in an announcement before mass, the head priest of the parish had to explain why Father so-and-so would no longer be performing his duties until the investigation into his “inappropriate touching incident” has been completed. Ugh.

Since the Pope’s wonderful visit last week I’ve been thinking a bit about this. And then yesterday I read from a fairly reputable source that one of our archbishops, a man who was the bishop of my diocese as I was growing up, has been publicly accused of weekend seductions of young seminarians at his beach house. Revolting. I can’t fathom the reasons behind this, the horrible evil that this man has done representing Christ. To paraphrase St. John Chrysostom, “the road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.”

Let me clear a few things, first. I am not an expert on this scandal. Do not treat my statements or statistics as stone cold facts, for I may be wrong, and if so, I apologize in advance. But here are some of my thoughts on the unthinkable.

There are two aspects to the scandal. First, this is not a scandal about pedophilia. It is about inappropriate homosexual behavior towards prepubescent boys. 85 percent of all the cases fall into this category. Yet this fact is by and large glossed over in the media, a media which is quite happy to push the normalization of homosexuality agenda. To clarify Church teaching, homosexuals themselves are not sinful, are not evil, and are not automatically “going to hell.” Homosexual behavior is sinful, evil, and when practiced can endanger an individual’s salvation. Homosexuals are called to live a life of chastity, much like every single Catholic who is not married is called to do.

Second, the scandal is about the awareness of the American Church hierarchy of the ‘situation’ and its inability to deal with it properly. Predator priests were shuffled to different parishes with maybe a slap on the wrist or some psychiatric treatment. Few of these monsters were defrocked. When civil law enforcement got involved, there was obfuscation, legal maneuverings, stalling, and possible outright lying on the part of certain bishops. Completely disgusting behavior. The exact wrong things were done for the exact wrong reasons, with disastrous results to the reputation and mission of the Catholic Church.

What should now be done?

We tend to think of ourselves as a trifle more important than we really are. Perhaps this has to do with our culture, our complete devotion to wealth and power, and our extreme hypersexualization of youth. But in the grand scheme of things, this is but weeds for the fire. The American Church is made up of something around 60 million members, and out of a global Catholic population of nearly 1.1 billion, this is not even 5 percent. So not only is American culture in many ways antithetical to the message of the Church, the AmChurch isn’t even a large segment of its membership. But we do have the focus of the world upon us, for better or worse. We are under the eyes of the world. The world is fascinated with us, just as much as we are fascinated with ourselves. Despite our relative insignificance, I do believe something truly miraculous needs to happen.

As far as the scandal goes, there’s a fine distinction between justice and vengeance. A very fine line that many are willing to cross, aware of it or not. There are many who will never be satisfied with anything the Pope or the Church does. Nothing he or they can do or say will ever, ever make up for the pain that was caused by the lavender mafia, be them the actual molesting monsters or their covering-up compatriots. But realize this: if there was enough evidence present to arrest, convict and imprison these cretins for their wrongdoings, they would have been. Indeed, a few were. However, most were careful to stay within legal boundaries. So what’s the resolution?

Many want the entire upper hierarchy of the American Catholic Church removed. They see this as an appropriate action Benedict could take. But I have read that according to canon law, this may not be within the Pope’s power, which I fail to understand, but not being an expert in the subject, I cannot form an accurate opinion of this option. I do know that Bishops are supposed to submit a formal written resignation to the Pope when they reach their seventy-fifth birthday, to be accepted or denied at the Pope’s discretion. Certainly Benedict can accept all these; we just have to wait until our repugnant shepherds reach that age.

What pleased me most was Pope Benedict’s trip here last week. I believe this man is operating on a level higher than us mere mortals. His humility, his intelligence, his compassion, it all shone through that television screen, and from what I’ve read and heard concerning his unscheduled meeting with some of the victims, it shone through to them too. Perhaps this is the best way. Perhaps the example of Jesus merciful and compassionate to the woman caught in adultery is needed here much more than the Jesus who destroyed the tables of the merchants in the temple. Truly miraculous.