Loving the Church in a Time of Scandal

Dear Fellow Catholic: A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, can it? Jesus says it cannot (cf. Mt. 7:15-20). Perhaps, then, the Catholic Church is not the “rock” it claims to be. After all, her priests are molesting children, and her bishops are covering-up for child predators. How can one remain faithful to the Church in times like these? How can a faithful Catholic love the Church in a time of scandal?

Introduction

It’s Sunday morning. Laughter erupts downstairs, and you suddenly realize you’ve been standing in front of the mirror staring into space for ten minutes. “Why should I bother going?” you ask yourself. “After all, I only attend Mass because it’s something I’ve always done.” “And my kids?” you think to yourself. “Am I putting my kids at risk? How can I possibly teach my children to love a Church who’s tolerated the abuse of innocent children at the hands of her own priests? How could those priests have molested those kids? How could the Church have allowed such abuse to happen—worse yet, even tried to cover it up?” A nauseous feeling wells up inside as you think of your friend’s ex-boyfriend who fell victim to a wayward priest as a teenager. They broke up several months ago when he finally made it clear why he would never return to the Church his family belonged to when he was a child. “How could she defend the Church in such a situation? What apology is enough to set things right?” you ponder. “I’m embarrassed to tell people I’m Catholic,” you realize. “I can’t excuse my Church, or explain what she’s done.” You can’t help but doubt, “Maybe the Catholic Church isn’t the ‘rock’ it claims to be. Perhaps my family and I should just leave the Church. . . .”

Scandal in the Church Challenges Our Faith

Questioning your faith in a time of scandal is reasonable, even sensible. The Church does not call us to blind obedience, but to a faith informed by truth, to a faith seeking to understand what God’s plan is for us. “But faith is supposed to give us hope, not doubt,” you might be thinking. Well, consider the life of Simon Peter for a moment. Most of us probably remember Jesus’ proclamation to Simon, “I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18). Jesus’ announcement was prompted by Simon’s bold profession of faith that Christ is “the Son of the living God.” But do you recall the rest of the story? After naming Peter head of the Church, Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He would be persecuted and ultimately killed by the elders, scribes and chief priests of Israel. The book of Matthew records Peter’s reaction:

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do” (16:22-23).

God gave Peter faith—faith enough to be appointed the first pope, to be given the keys to heaven itself. Peter responded to this great gift by falling flat on his face. He did something so scandalous Christ was forced to reprimand Peter as though he were possessed by the devil. Christ calls Peter “Satan” because at that moment Peter was acting the part of the devil, instead of imaging his Lord Jesus. Indeed, Christ’s rebuke sounds almost like an exorcism.

Peter possessed faith, but was also filled with pride and doubt. Had Peter continued along this path, his strong-willed resistance to Christ’s paschal mission could have destroyed the Church. Yet, it didn’t because Peter and the other apostles finally came to understand they had to embrace the cross. After rebuking Peter, the gospel relates how Jesus explained to the disciples the importance of suffering: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mt. 16: 24). Essentially, Jesus was commanding Peter to “get back into place” as leader of the Church and instructing him and the other disciples to make whatever sacrifices necessary to live-out their call as witnesses to the gospel. The apostles obeyed, but not before abandoning Christ once more at the foot of the cross.

Christ knew Peter wasn’t perfect. He knew Peter would rebuke Him and deny Him; nevertheless, He chose Peter to be the head of His Church. Why? Peter personifies the human condition: “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (Mk. 14:38). Jesus was not founding an institution, but building up a people—the People of God, the Church. Human beings are not perfect. Thus, the Church is not perfect and will not be perfect until made so by God at the end of time. Christ sets Peter before us as an example of human weakness made perfect by God’s strength (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9). In times of crisis, doubt and scandal, we can take comfort in Christ’s ability to use and redeem Peter’s sinfulness. Like Peter, we are also called to “get behind” Christ and His Church, pick up our cross and follow Him. By embracing the cross, we learn to hope in God’s mercy, forgiveness and love.

“Embrace the cross?” you say. “I know Christ commands us to, ‘Love one another, as He has loved us,’ and to ‘carry our cross,’ but what does this have to do with those priests who have sexually abused our children and the bishops who’ve protected these child predators? We are distressed, upset, embarrassed and angry! We’ve had to apologize for the Church to our non-Catholic friends and family as well as fellow Catholics who haven’t been to Mass in years. How are we supposed to defend the Church after a scandal like this? I thought Jesus assured us He would send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church and its leaders. So, how could this kind of thing happen?”

The Church Is the Body of Christ

In order to understand how “the Church” could’ve permitted this scandal to happen, and how priests could have used their clerical positions for evil rather than good, it might be helpful to understand just who “the Church” is.

Since the scandal broke, you’ve probably wondered: “What’s wrong with the ‘Church’? Why isn’t ‘the Church’ a safe haven for little kids? How could Church leaders excuse and conceal such horrendous crimes? It just doesn’t make sense!”

When we speak of “the Church,” we tend to think of a building with high ceilings and beautiful windows—the place we gather to worship God. Or we identify the Church in terms of its leaders, our bishops, priests, deacons and religious.

In the book of Corinthians, however, we are told the Church is something other than a building or an ecclesiastical hierarchy. St. Paul preaches, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it” (1 Cor. 12:27). “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons” (12:13). St. Paul likewise proclaims to the Church in Ephesus, “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).

We are the body of Christ—the Church. We are living temples, the physical presence of God on earth. We are the means by which Christ’s gospel is carried into the darkness. And, as Christ promises before ascending into heaven, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20). Now, you might be thinking, “If the Church is made up of all those who believe in Christ, and if Jesus is physically present through this body, the Church, how could such terrible things happen within Christ’s body?”

Sinners Abound, Catholic or Not

An illuminating article by syndicated columnist Cal Thomas (a non-Catholic) “The Catholic (universal) Problem” demonstrates “the problem with sexual sin by clergy is not exclusively Catholic.” Thomas’ article refers to a study conducted by Joe E. Trull on sexual abuse among Christian clergy members. Trull, the co-author of “Ministerial Ethics” (1993), helped draft the clergy sexual abuse policy for the Baptist General convention of Texas. Trull’s investigation into the problem of clergy sexual abuse revealed that “from 30 to 35 percent of ministers of all denominations admit of having sexual relationships—from inappropriate touching and kissing to sexual intercourse—outside of marriage.” “At least half of that contact,” Trull estimates, “occurs in pastoral counseling.”

Philip Jenkins, a non-Catholic Pennsylvania State University professor of history and religious studies, corroborates Trull’s findings. An article written by Jenkins “The Myth of the Pedophile Priest” concludes the following:

My research of cases over the past 20 years indicates no evidence whatever that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more likely to be involved in misconduct or abuse than clergy of any other denomination, or indeed, than nonclergy. However determined news media may be to see this affair as a crisis of celibacy, the charge is just unsupported. Literally every denomination and faith tradition has its share of abuse cases, and some of the worst involve non-Catholics. Every mainline Protestant denomination has had scandals aplenty, as have Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Buddhists, Hare Krishnas—and the list goes on.

Jenkins’ observation is unchanged by the number of new instances of “pedophile priests” recently reported on in the press:

Any numbers we use have to take account of everyone who was a priest or religious in the United States in the last 40 years or so . . . perhaps 200,000 individuals. If we assume that 2 or 2.5% of clergy are involved with minors—which seems likely—that suggests an offending population around 4- or 5000. That number is well in keeping with all the cases that have come to light in the last 20 years or so.

One particularly notorious case mentioned by Jenkins is that of Tony Leyva, a Pentecostal minister who molested several hundred boys in the 1980s. “But few Americans have heard of Leyva,” notes Jenkins, “while some molesters who are former Catholic priests have become household names.” As Cal Thomas suggests, we must come to realize “the problem is more than denominational. It is cultural and personal. Clergy are people, subject to the same temptations as the laity.”

If you think child molestation is a problem confined to the clergy, think again. In fact, married men are far more likely to molest children than are celibate priests. According to Gene G. Abel and Nora Harlow of The Stop Child Molestation Group, “The overwhelming majority of molesters (68 percent) sexually abuse children in their own families—either children whom they parent, nieces and nephews, or grandchildren.” Janet Kornblum of USA Today also reports, “Family members account for 33% to 50% of abuse against girls and 10% to 20% against boys.”

We must remember that hypocrisy and exploitation are a tragic part of being human. Thus, just like Peter, Paul, Matthew and everyone else, we are in need of God’s mercy and grace. As the Church, we are in need of redemption.

The Body of Christ is Made of Sinners Called to Be Saints

If we truly consider the teaching of St. Paul, we realize we are the Church. The Church is not something other than us, an institution whose authority we are under. Yes, Christ established His Church on the foundation of Peter and the apostles. He delegated to them His authority, an authority we should submit to as Christ’s own. Yet, we mustn’t overlook the reality St. Paul is describing. The Church is not Peter alone. The Church is not just Peter and the apostles. The Church is not solely the pope, the bishops and the priests. The Church is the Body of Christ—every believer, follower and servant of Jesus. As His body, we become Jesus’ living heart, mind, ears, eyes, hands and feet in the world.

Once we begin to think of the Church in such personal terms, we can understand why the Church isn’t perfect. After all, none of us are perfect. St. Paul declares we are the Church, but he cautions, “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Nevertheless, he still insists you are “called to be holy” (Rom. 1:7).

We, as human beings, are sinful, yet God calls us to be His Church and to become holy. “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48). While Christ is the head of the Church, He builds His Church on Peter. Christ founds the Church on Peter to indicate to us all that the Church is built upon human beings who have the propensity to sin, but are called by God to be saints. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it best:

“The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as ‘alone holy,’ loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.”(1) The Church, then, is “the holy People of God,”(2) and her members are called “saints”(3).

Nevertheless, the Catechism adds:

“The Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real though imperfect”(4). In her members perfect holiness is something yet to be acquired: “Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state—though each in his own way—are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father himself is perfect”(5).

The Church is perfect and divine insofar as God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit are perfect and divine. The Church is imperfect and human insofar as its members are imperfect and human. A magnificent testimony of this truth is found in St. Augustine’s response to the heresy of Donatism. The Donatists believed the validity of the Church’s sacraments depended upon the saintliness of the priest or bishop administering them.

The Donatist heresy appeared around 300 A.D. when a number of bishops turned down the crown of martyrdom by denying the faith and handing over the Church’s sacred texts to be burned by the Roman authorities. It seems those bishops of ancient North Africa weren’t much better than those of contemporary North America. Like today, many Christians were disturbed by the cowardice of their shepherds. The bishops’ capitulation to the government caused such a scandal people within the Church began to argue that those bishops who had denied the faith in the face of persecution lost their power to validly confer the sacraments and could never be forgiven. Further, some Christians maintained the ordination of any priest by a bishop who’d denounced his faith was invalid, and thus, these priests had no authority to bestow the sacraments on the laity. Donatus, a bishop of the Church in North Africa, agreed, declared invalid these priests’ ordinations and required they be re-baptized and re-ordained.

St. Augustine rebuked Donatus by reminding Christians the validity of a sacrament does not depend upon how good or sinless the priest is, but upon God who works through weak and imperfect beings. If the sacraments depended upon the saintliness of our bishops and priests, we’d have no sacraments at all. As St. Paul says in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” Christ Himself validates the sacraments, and He condescends to use sinful human begins as the means by which He does so.

Taking the Donatist heresy one step further, let us suppose spiritual perfection—freedom from venial sins, perfect contrition for past sins, total obedience to God’s will—were a necessary prerequisite for receiving communion. (Such views, in fact, are akin to another heresy—that of Jansenism.) Who, other than a handful of souls, such as Padre Pio, Thérèse of Lisieux and Francis of Assisi, would qualify? We are all sinners, yet God invites us to become one flesh with Him through reception of the Eucharist. Recognition of our own fallibility and God’s desire to redeem us is itself a necessary prerequisite of salvation. The Church is imperfect—both the clergy and the laity. But as Christ says in defense of another sinner—St. Matthew—made an apostle and bishop through God’s mercy, “I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners” (Lk. 5:32).

Casting aside the ingrained belief the Church is something other than ourselves helps us understand how priests and bishops can sin so terribly. Although they are in positions of authority within the Church, priests and bishops are human beings with free will and the capacity to choose either good or evil. The media would have us believe the child predator problem is strictly confined to the Catholic Church’s celibate, male clergy. But this is not true. Pastors—both men and women—from every Christian denomination have scandalized their flocks by misusing their free will in pursuit of sexual pleasure. The flock itself isn’t much to brag about either.

But HOW and WHY Did This Scandal Happen?

“Okay, okay,” you might be saying to yourself. “I see more clearly now that we are the Church. I admit corruption and scandal have always been a part of the Church’s history no less than it is a part of human history. I also recognize I am both a sinner and a saint, and the Church is made up of imperfect souls like myself. But, come on! Not every sin is equal. I might be a sinner, but I’m not the kind of sinner that goes around preying upon innocent children or harboring those who do. So, I still don’t understand how this scandal happened. I admit our priests and bishops are fallible, but molesting kids and covering-up for child predators goes way beyond ordinary fallibility. It’s simply not enough to say, ‘It’s because they are merely human and are bound to sin!’ Only sick, perverted, severely messed-up people sexually assault children! Only cowards refuse to protect children they know are being abused!”

Never before has so much cynicism surrounded the white-collared men in black. As Pope John Paul II laments, this scandal has cast a “dark shadow of suspicion over all the other fine priests who perform their ministry with honesty.” Traditionally—say before the 1960s—priests and bishops could hold their heads high as respected members of the community. Even people who weren’t Catholic honored a priest in clerics much as they would a soldier in uniform. Whatever problems the clergy may have experienced over the past forty years, they are nothing compared to the challenge they face today. This scandal is the American Church’s Vietnam. Just as those soldiers returning from the Vietnam War were ridiculed for their patriotism, good, holy priests and bishops are now despised for their service to the Church. Many parents who happen to encounter a priest in public withdraw in fear. Likewise, daily revelations of ecclesiastical wrongdoing have led to a complete loss of credibility for the American bishops in the eyes of most Catholics. Even most faithful Catholics can’t help but wonder whether their own parish priest is a sexual predator and their bishop a self-serving megalomaniac. Numerous priests report they cannot wear their clerics in public without being asked something like, “Are you one of those?”

For the next several years, if not generations, the Church will be plagued by the dreadful image of the “pedophile priest” and the “cowardly bishop.” We cannot excuse such behavior, but neither should we exaggerate the problem. In his article for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Philip Jenkins clarifies most priests being talked about in the papers are not actually pedophiles:

Now, many people are confused about the distinction between a pedophile and a person guilty of sex with a minor. The difference is very significant. The phrase “pedophile priests” conjures up images of the worst violation of innocence, callous molesters like Father Porter who assault children 7 years old. “Pedophilia” is a psychiatric term meaning sexual interest in children below the age of puberty. But the vast majority of clergy misconduct cases are nothing like this. The vast majority of instances involve priests who have been sexually active with a person below the age of sexual consent, often 16 or 17 years old, or even older. An act of this sort is wrong on multiple accounts: It is probably criminal, and by common consent it is immoral and sinful; yet it does not have the utterly ruthless, exploitative character of child molestation.

Jenkins closes by stating, “My concern over the ‘pedophile priest’ issue is not to defend evil clergy, or a sinful church (I cannot be called a Catholic apologist, since I am not even a Catholic). But I am worried that justified anger over a few awful cases might be turned into ill-focused attacks against innocent clergy.”

Jenkins estimates that between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s only 0.2 percent of 150,000 U.S. priests were guilty of sexually abusing a minor. Most of these cases, Jenkins adds, “involved fifteen- to seventeen-year-old boys.” A June 2002 survey by the Washington Post found that 1.5 percent of priests in service to the Church over the last forty years had been accused of child sexual abuse. Even attorney Sylvia Demarest, who represented those victims who sued the Diocese of Dallas in 1997, believes the number of alleged cases of abuse is about three percent. Rates of pedophilia in the general population vary between two and seven percent.

Clearly, Catholic priests are held to a higher standard than that applied to religious leaders of other denominations. When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter how many priests are involved. It also doesn’t matter that other denominations have their own problems with sexual abuse. What matters is some Catholic priests sexually molested innocent children and some Catholic bishops did nothing to stop the abuse.

But is it really fair to expect our priests and bishops will somehow be more holy than clergymen of other denominations? In fact, good reason exists for expecting the opposite! After all, nothing was especially impressive about the twelve apostles, the Church’s first bishops. Peter, James and John were mere fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector, who frequently dined with “sinners.” Simon the Zealot was a political radical. On top of that, all of the apostles except John abandoned Christ in His hour of need. God chooses weak and foolish men to be His priests and bishops in order to show the world the Church’s power comes not from human effort, but divine grace. If God has allowed the Church in America to destroy itself from within through these scandals, He allowed the Israelites to do the same. The Church is the new Israel. God allows His chosen people to suffer for their sins, but He will not abandon them altogether. This is a time of grace and renewal for the Church. If we respond to God’s call to conversion, He will reinvigorate the Church by the power of His right hand. As St. Paul says, where there is sin, grace abounds all the more (cf. Rom. 5:20). Through such grace, the Church in the United States has an opportunity to become a model of humble repentance, a beacon of hope to a world lost in sin and darkness.

A Call to Honesty

True contrition, of course, requires the Church confront her sins with total honesty. One of the reasons so many Catholics are finding it hard to forgive their priests and bishops is because the Church hierarchy has minimized or ignored what seems to be one of the primary causes of sexual abuse within the Church.

When these scandals first broke, dissenters were quick to blame the Church’s teaching on chastity, especially as formalized in the rule of priestly celibacy. As the founder of modern psychology, Sigmund Freud is responsible for the notion that abstinence is mentally and physically unhealthy. Those who argue this scandal is attributable to the Church’s repressive sexual teachings are merely mimicking Freud. On the face of it, though, such allegations are compelling. If priests were allowed to marry—to gratify their “needs” just like any other full-blooded man—wouldn’t they be able to better control their sexual desires? The way out of this crisis, however, won’t be found by allowing priests to marry. To begin with, any man who sees his wife as merely an object to satisfy his lust is not a model of sexual health. Moreover, even many of our Protestant brethren warn that allowing priests to marry won’t solve a thing. The Rt. Rev. William Persell, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, cautioned his parishioners that it would be dishonest “to say this is a Roman Catholic problem and has nothing to do with us because we have married and female priests in our church.” Tom Barrett, a Protestant minister of 28 years, likewise explains that celibacy is not the issue:

“Ah,” you say, “I know what you’re talking about. Celibacy. It’s unnatural. Celibacy is what is causing these priests to prey on innocent children.” Not at all! The Bible is clear that celibacy is a good thing, a gift that God gives to certain people. It is certainly not the reason that some priests prey rather than pray. We must dig deeper to discover the secret that has caused so much pain.

“The secret,” reveals Barrett, “is that the Catholic Church has knowingly accepted homosexuals into its priesthood for decades.” Of course, this revelation isn’t so secret anymore. Anyone who has been paying attention to what’s going on has realized by now that young men and boys were the primary victims of the predator priests. Many of these priests are technically not pedophiles, but ephebophiles—men sexually attracted to male adolescents. Or, let’s be honest, men attracted to young men—homosexuals.

The media alleges no connection whatsoever exists between homosexuality and pedophilia, noting that the majority of pedophiles are heterosexual males. Homosexuals, however, only account for two percent of the population in the United States. This two percent is responsible for an estimated 36 percent of all cases of child molestation. Homosexuals, in other words, are almost 28 times more likely to be pedophiles than are heterosexuals. A 1988 study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found 86 percent of pedophiles identify themselves as homosexual. As described by author and California State Assemblyman Steve Baldwin in an essay for the Spring 2002 Regent University Law Review, “mainstream” homosexual organizations are also strident advocates for “intergenerational sex”:

Aside from support for NAMBLA by the mainstream gay community, there is a wealth of evidence that homosexuals are the prime force behind the escalating child molestation epidemic. Indeed, over the last fifteen years the homosexual community and its academic allies have published a large quantity of articles that claim sex with children is not harmful to children but, as stated in one homosexual journal, “constitute an aspect of gay and lesbian life.”

Indeed, the Journal of Homosexuality is the premier academic journal of the mainstream homosexual world and yet it published a special double issue entitled, Male Intergenerational Intimacy, containing dozens of articles portraying sex between men and minor boys as loving relationships. One article states that parents should view the pedophile who loves their son “not as a rival or competitor, not as a theft of their property, but as a partner in the boy’s upbringing, someone to be welcomed into their home.” San Francisco’s leading homosexual newspaper, The Sentinel, bluntly editorialized, “The love between man and boys is at the foundation of homosexuality.” In 1995, the homosexual magazine Guide stated:

We can be proud that the gay movement has been home to the few voices who have had the courage to say out loud that children are naturally sexual, that they deserve the right to sexual expression with whoever they choose . . . [w]e must listen to our prophets. Instead of fearing being labeled pedophiles, we must proudly proclaim that sex is good, including children’s sexuality. . . . We must do it for the children’s sake.

Without equivocating, the Guide is saying that gays must molest children for their own sake!

It is difficult to guess how many priests might be gay. Estimates range from 20 to 50 percent. Instead of questioning the Church’s teaching on chastity, it seems we need to start asking why the Church is ordaining so many practicing homosexuals.

Out of the Church Closet

Given the Church’s clear opposition to homosexual sex, it may seem strange that homosexuals are attracted to the priesthood. After all, the book of Romans refers to homosexual relations as “degrading,” “unnatural,” “shameful,” and a “perversion” (cf. Rom. 1:26-27). “Do not be deceived,” Paul warns elsewhere, “neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Leviticus 20:13 also states, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.” The Catechism affirms the Bible’s teaching regarding homosexual sex:

“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,(6) tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”(7). They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved” (2357).

The Catholic Church does not condemn homosexuals or homosexual orientation; she condemns homosexual sex. “Isn’t it all the same?” you might ask. No, it is not. Think of the woman caught in adultery. When the Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman caught in adultery, they asked Him if they should stone her as the Law commanded. Jesus said, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn. 8:7). No one cast a stone. One by one, beginning with the elders, they all went away leaving the woman alone with Jesus, who asked her, “‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She replied, ‘No one, sir.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more’” (Jn. 8:10-11).

Jesus did not condemn the woman, but He did condemn her adultery, calling it a life of sin. The Holy Scriptures treat homosexual sex in the same vein. Does this mean all adulterers and homosexuals are going to hell? No. Not if they heed Christ’s call to reform their lives and live a chaste life.

The Church’s call to chastity is universal. Men and women with homosexual tendencies are obligated to heed this call no more or less than men and women who are heterosexual. Similarly, the vow of celibacy taken by all priests, bishops and religious applies to both heterosexual and homosexual men and women. A sacramental, lifelong marriage between one man and one woman is the only context in which human beings should act upon their sexual desires. The unitive and procreative aspects of the sexual act demand such exclusivity. That’s simply the way God created us.

Having said all this, we must now ask whether even chaste homosexuals should be priests. Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, for one, has said he will not ordain gay men to the priesthood. Some readers might feel the Cardinal’s stance is too harsh, but we should consider all the facts before we make a final decision.

Granted not all homosexuals are child molesters, but it still may not be prudent for them to enter the priesthood. Why? Let’s start with the basics. Homosexuals are attracted to men. The Catholic priesthood is composed solely of men. Any questions? Let’s suppose the scenario were different. Would it be wise, for example, for a recovering alcoholic to be a bartender? Sure, Sam Malone did it on Cheers, but we’re talking about real life. We admit a select few priests with homosexual tendencies are capable of remaining chaste in an all-male priesthood, but the odds are not very good.

The issue, though, is not just about being homosexual in a male priesthood; it’s about being gay in a priesthood, in which some U.S. bishops have tolerated, if not encouraged, homosexual behavior for many years. Indeed, old rumors of Catholic seminaries being overrun by homosexuals seem accurate. In a survey of homosexual priests conducted by former President of Assumption University Father Leonard A. Kennedy, C.S.B., “73% said that they were sexually active either frequently or occasionally.” Under such circumstances, it is almost impossible for a man with a homosexual orientation to remain chaste in the priesthood.

So, let’s recap the Church’s current predicament. First, some Catholic priests are molesting children. Second, some U.S. bishops are covering-up for pedophile priests. As it turns out, however, most of those accused of pedophilia are actually homosexuals attracted to adolescent and teenage boys. And on top of that, some bishops are tolerating homosexual activity in their seminaries. Things were much easier to comprehend when it seemed a few bishops had grossly mismanaged several cases of child molestation. Now, the Church’s entire institutional culture seems corrupt.

Again, however, we are the Church. Most Catholics, at the very least, tolerate homosexuality. A September 2002 Gallup poll reports 51 percent of Americans believe homosexuality “is an acceptable orientation or lifestyle.” As usual, Catholics go with the crowd on this one. A 2002 Newsweek survey found just half of the faithful agree with the Church’s teaching that homosexual acts are unnatural. The gay lifestyle is flaunted throughout the entire Western world. First, Hollywood decided it was okay to be an active homosexual; today, it’s even cool. Rare is the romantic comedy that doesn’t have an obligatory “gay” character, one always portrayed in a positive light. Once the media started pushing homosexuality, political and economic power soon followed. In California, kindergarteners are obliged to undergo “diversity training” that teaches them to respect homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle. Over the past three years, the number of Fortune 500 companies offering domestic partner benefits has doubled. Most Christian denominations also openly welcome active homosexuals. It’s not as if the U.S. Catholic Church is the only place in America where homosexuality is tolerated. As Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia noted in his dissent to Romer v. Evans (1996), homosexuals enjoy “enormous influence in American media and politics.” Even in spite of the infiltration of what’s come to be known as the “lavender mafia,” the Church remains one of the only voices in America with the courage to speak out against the gay lifestyle. Church doctrine clearly prohibits such behavior. Priests who are active homosexuals and/or pedophiles have betrayed the gospel message as articulated by the Church’s Magisterium.

An all-male dating pool and widespread tolerance of homosexuality, however, are not the only reasons gays are attracted to the priesthood. A number of men who are gay were sexually abused as children. Many others have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their fathers. Ultimately, men who are gay use sex as a way of trying to affirm an insecure masculine identity. This identity should have been passed on to them by their fathers, but was not. Some homosexuals, no doubt, enter the priesthood to escape the cross of their sexuality altogether. It is, at least, plausible that many homosexuals are attracted to the priesthood because they truly desire to be healed of these hurts through an encounter with God the Father’s love. Priests, after all, image God the Father and Christ the Son to the world. What better way to become initiated into the love between the Father and the Son than by becoming a member of the clergy? The priesthood, however, is too demanding to be used as a spiritual band-aid.

Many homosexuals likely enter the priesthood with good intentions only to find they can’t live up to what’s being asked of them. Every son suffers from “the sins” of his father. In order to transcend these wounds, a man must forgive his earthly father and discover what authentic masculinity is from God, the only perfect Father. As Jacob discovered, however, this initiation never occurs without a fight (cf. Gn. 32:25). Too many priests and bishops—both homosexual and heterosexual—find it next to impossible to image God the Father to their parishioners because they have never really learned who God the Father is. Instead of wrestling with God, they have hidden from Him in fear. The effeminized images of Christ so prevalent in contemporary culture only exacerbate such problems. As a culture, we are afraid of Christ the lion. We want only the gentle and meek lamb. Human frailty has transformed Christ’s gentleness into neglect and passivity among our bishops, who are afraid to preach the gospel “whether it is convenient or inconvenient” (2 Tm. 4:2). More than anything, such misplaced compassion on behalf of the bishops is responsible for these scandals.

A Crisis of Catholic Fatherhood

The images of the “pedophile priest” and the “cowardly bishop” will mar the Church for many years to come. Good, wholesome men are unlikely to be attracted to the priesthood until the true image of Christ, the manly warrior and lover, triumphs over the false images of Christ that have been substituted in His place. God’s mercy and justice are no more divisible than are His strength and love. Just as power without love is too cruel, love without power is too soft. We need bishops and priests who won’t settle for one or the other. We need bishops and priests unafraid to image both Christ as lion and lamb, men obedient and faithful to the Magisterium at all costs. The Church needs to revisit the manner in which priests and bishops are selected in order to ensure only men with a calling from God, only men totally in love with Christ and only men who want to be shepherds of souls—not Church administrators or CEOs—become priests and bishops.

Again, however, Catholic laymen aren’t doing much better at imaging God the Father than are members of the clergy. How many Catholic fathers have really shared the faith with their sons? Too often, young men are given the impression that going to Mass and praying the rosary is for sissies. The current scandals in the Church are, at bottom, the result of a crisis of Catholic fatherhood: just as priests and bishops don’t know how to embody God the Father to their parishioners, dads don’t know how to be fathers to their sons. This crisis began many years ago, but reached fruition during the 1960s. The sexual revolution taught men how to be selfish, how to use women for sexual pleasure without making a long-term commitment as husbands and fathers. Many members of the clergy facilitated this sinfulness by abandoning the Church’s long-standing teachings regarding contraception. Feminism is merely a desperate reaction to this situation. Once men made it clear they could not be counted on to care for their wives and children, women were forced to fend for themselves.

Contraception is the means by which the sexual revolution was launched. Men who contracept—and bishops and priests who refuse to speak from the pulpit about the Church’s teaching on the sanctity and fruitfulness of the marital act—are cowards, scared to death of fatherhood and their own masculinity. Contraception feminizes a man by almost literally transforming him into a eunuch. Both homosexuality and pedophilia are linked to this failure of fatherhood. Homosexuals, as we have indicated, use physical intimacy with other men in an attempt to fill the void left empty by their fathers’ neglect or abuse. Pedophiles use their strength as adult men not to protect and teach children, but to manipulate and handicap them.

As we noted earlier, the sexual revolution was about the time that the reputation of the priesthood began to decline. If priests and bishops are anything, they are fathers. The clergy should have countered the sexual revolution by showing society what true fatherhood is and by teaching laymen about the dignity and nobility of sacrificial love. Instead, the Church in the United States did just the opposite. Many factors have contributed to the crisis the Church is facing today, but none is more important than the bishops’ failure to implement Humanae Vitae. The widespread dissent surrounding Humane Vitae was and is far more scandalous and destructive than even the Church’s current problems with homosexuality and pedophilia. Indeed, we wager that had the Church in the United States remained loyal to Rome in this matter, it would never have had to deal with the troubles it is facing today.

Humanae Vitae: The Downward Spiral

On July 25, 1968, Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae. In so doing, the Holy Father decisively affirmed the Church’s teaching on the meaning of human sexuality. Declared Pope Paul VI, “In the task of transmitting life [husband and wife] are not free to proceed completely at will, as if they could determine in a wholly autonomous way the honest path to follow; but they must conform their activity to the creative intention of God, expressed in the very nature of marriage and of its acts, manifested by the constant teaching of the Church.” What a shock this was, especially to the many priests and bishops who believed and taught the Church was finally going to permit the use of artificial contraception!

Pope Paul VI prophesied the acceptance of artificial birth control would lead to a collapse of sexual morality. Many people scoffed at such pessimism, and legions of theologians, clergy and laymen revolted against Humanae Vitae. This “dissent-as-rebellion,” as Director of Social and Political Studies for the American Enterprise Institute Michael Novak calls it, was the slippery slope that led to all types of clerical abuses. “Dissent-as-rebellion spread from one aspect of the Church’s sexual teaching to others,” writes Novak. “It grew and grew. Soon enough, homosexual rings were operating freely in several important seminaries. Over the years, scores of young, idealistic seminarians were seduced and corrupted. Those who resisted were forced to leave the seminary for being ‘too rigid’ to be acceptable in the ‘new’ priesthood.’”

Colin Donovan, vice president of theology for the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), concurs:

Dissent now abounds in many other aspects of Catholicism. There seems to be a great tolerance for liturgical abuse; there’s great tolerance . . . about the [marriage] annulment process; tolerance towards politicians who use their Catholic label to get votes and then stand with positions which are not consistent with Catholic teaching. So there is this tolerance or false compassion or whatever you call it which seems to back away from any authentic fraternal correction.

To such warnings, Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor in chief of First Things magazine, adds, “The crisis upon us is about doctrine and morality, and it’s a spiritual crisis. What has happened is a breakdown in fidelity. All of this is about three things: Fidelity, fidelity, and fidelity.”

Why aren’t the bishops loyal to the Magisterium? Contributing editor for Crisis Magazine Mary Jo Anderson suggests it’s because many of the American bishops are ashamed of the gospel message. The Catholic Church, observes Anderson, is “the lone international voice for morality. Hate the Catholic Church or love it, it must be admitted that it publicly teaches and preaches against the totalitarian, utilitarian worldview. The moral voice of the Catholic Church stands between modernists and their New World Order vision.”

In fact, a May 29, 2002, letter to the bishops written on behalf of the Catholic Medical Association argues that dissent and sexual immorality often go hand in hand. Authored by a Catholic psychologist and a Catholic psychiatrist who have treated numerous priests for same-sex attraction, the letter concludes:

Our experience over 25 years has convinced us of the direct link between rebellion and anger against the Church’s teaching and sexually promiscuous behaviors. This appears to be a two-way street: those who are sexually active dissent from the Church’s teaching on sexuality to justify their own actions, while those who adopt rebellious ideas on sexual morality are more vulnerable to become sexually active, because they have little to no defense against sexual temptations.

Now What?

It may seem as if the Church is in a complete shambles. If even the bishops are not upholding the Magisterium, how can we as laypeople be expected to be faithful? For some people, it seems leaving the Church might be the only way to shock the hierarchy into making necessary reforms. Others might believe they have an obligation to walk out in order to show the world that they disagree with how the bishops have mishandled the recent scandals. So, what is to be done? Should you leave the Church?

The Church is God’s creation. Yes, sadly, some priests and bishops have blasphemed Christ by using their office to inflict terrible evil on innocent children; and yes, we are now in the midst of a great struggle within the Church as a result. However, lest we be led astray, we must stand guard against the devil, whose strategy is always to try to separate people from Jesus Christ and His body, the Church, during times of crisis.

If you truly believe we are the Church in the sense that we are the body of Christ, you cannot leave the Church without leaving Christ. We would bet most of you aren’t considering denouncing Christianity altogether, but are just thinking about leaving the Catholic Church. What will this solve? You might respond, “It won’t solve anything, but I never said I was trying to solve anything. I just want others to know I am disgusted with what these priests and bishops have done, and I do not support it.” Consider this. What would you do if someone in your immediate family abused a child of yours—say your father abused your son? Would you leave your son, your husband, your mother, uncles, brothers and sisters because of what your father did? No, that would be absurd! You would never leave your son and the rest of the family because your father did something so unspeakable. You would hold your father accountable, keep him away from your son, get him counseling and possibly report him to the police, but you wouldn’t abandon your entire family. Why, then, would you abandon the entire Catholic Church because of the actions of a small group of priests and bishops? In times of crisis within our own families, we usually draw closer together. Likewise, we should try to stay close to the family of Christ, the Church, and help her through this time of crisis.

How to Cope, and Even Grow in Faith

1. Move Beyond Politics and Commit to Jesus

Most people have their own ideas about how to resolve the current crisis. “If only the Church would stop holding to such radical absolutes, such as its ban on priestly celibacy or contraception, everything would be fine.” Or, “Repeal Vatican II! Get a Pope who’ll take names and excommunicate everybody involved! Reinstate the Inquisition!” Or, “Just leave the Church and make your own way as good parents and citizens.” Although some of these options are tempting, we must realize they all involve a radical rejection of Christ in one form or another and have at their root the same motive that has caused so many priests and bishops to dissent from the Church’s teaching.

All of us have a tendency to want to change the revelation of Christ to fit our own agenda. G.K. Chesterton once said, “The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.” Today, even the Church is politicized, divided into camps on the right and the left. We should realize dissent in all its forms—whether from ultra-conservatives or ultra-liberals—is the source of the Church’s difficulties. We have to move beyond politics and adhere to Christ alone, instead of a particular faction or party. It’s not a question of “US” vs. “THEM”—we are all in this together. We have to begin to work together as a family.

2. Focus on Jesus as the Heart of Your Faith

Indeed, the very inability of some bishops to act as fathers of this family is the primary reason they failed to protect the faithful, their children, from abuse. Instead of being shepherds, many bishops these days act more like corporate CEO’s. (And what else is there for them to do once they have abandoned the Magisterium?) Instead of taking responsibility for the failings of the family they are supposed to lead and nurture, they have let the most vulnerable members of this family suffer. The best way to respond to these bishops’ neglect is by showing them that their loyalty must be to Christ, not the institutional Church. Such advice might, at first, sound strange. But as we have seen, the Church is not a building or a non-profit organization or a public relations’ campaign, it is the body of Christ—it is Christ. Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., author of From Scandal to Hope and director of the Office for Spiritual Development of the Archdiocese of New York, challenges us not to lose sight of this fact:

Does [the current scandal] shake your faith in the Church? I hope so, because ultimately your faith should not be in the Church. Ultimately our faith is in Jesus Christ, and we accept the Church. We support the Church. We belong to the Church because Christ established the Church. Somebody who belongs to the Church as a big organization, as a great philanthropic thing, or the great social catalyst, or whatever else you want to think, they’re going to be shaken. They may get out. But we belong to the Church as the crucified body of Jesus Christ. If the Church is the body of Christ, don’t be surprised that it’s crucified. Don’t be surprised that it’s dragged through the streets and spat upon and wounded and crowned with thorns. . . . The Church is the body of Christ, and when you love the Church, you should love it as the body of Christ.

Christ once imparted a similar message to St. Catherine of Sienna. “It is my will that the sins of the clergy should not lessen your reverence for them,” revealed our Lord, “because the reverence you pay to them is not actually paid to them but to me.” No matter what, Jesus always wants us to focus on Him. Like St. Peter, so long as we keep our eyes on Christ we’ll rise above the waves and tumults brought about by these scandals (cf. Mt. 14:30).

3. Taking the Bad with the Good

Things are bad, but you know what? The Church has always been filled with dissension, error and sin. Again, this is because the Church has always been comprised of sinners struggling—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—to be saints. Christ Himself was handed over to death by one of His own apostles. Is it any wonder some of the bishops have betrayed the Church? We should expect no less. As St. Augustine warned in the fourth century, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be discouraged by the sins of our fellow Christians:

If you do not wish to be deceived and if you want to continue loving one another be aware that each way of life in the Church has hypocrites in her ranks. . . . There are bad Christians, but there are also good ones. At first glance you see a great number of bad Christians, who as a thick layer of chaff prevent you from reaching the good grains of corn. Believe me, under the chaff there are also good grains of corn (Discourse on Psalm 99).

Everyone knows from his or her own experience that the Church is not all bad. Think of all the wonderful people you know, or have known, in your Church: those who tirelessly serve the poor and the sick, the youth who rally in song and prayer, priests who faithfully serve their parish, Catholic school teachers, sidewalk counselors, choir directors, ushers at Sunday Mass—the list goes on and on. Look at the good the Church has done in the world. Many Catholics are working so hard to be salt and light in this culture of death and darkness. The Church is involved in and supports a host of inspiring ministries, such as Catholic Charities, the March for Life and World Youth Day. Remember also the endless litany of saints who offered their lives out of love for Christ and their neighbor. We cannot forget such acts of heroic charity during times of struggle.

4. Atonement

It is easy for us to sit back and point fingers at who is to blame and say things like, “The problem with the Church is . . . ” or, “If the Church just would’ve. . . .” Truth be told, we all share in the blame for these scandals. We are one body. When something happens to one of our brothers or sisters in Christ, it happens to us. Isn’t this precisely why we are all so upset? It’s almost as if our own children were abused by these priests and abandoned by the bishops, isn’t it? As St. Paul teaches, “If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share in its joy” (1 Cor. 12:26). If one part sins, we all sin, and we all have the responsibility of atoning for these sins.

Sure, God knows specifically which priests molested these children and which bishops covered-up for the abusers, but He still views us as one body. An example of such solidarity is found in Deuteronomy 21:1-9. In ancient Israel, whenever the corpse of a man was found in an open field (an indication the man’s murderers would probably never be apprehended), the entire nation was called upon to repent for the crime. Led by their priests, the elders of the tribe would sacrifice a heifer and vow, “Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see the deed. Absolve, O LORD, your people Israel, whom you have ransomed, and let not the guilt of shedding innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.” As part of the body of Christ, God also asks us to make atonement for the sins of the Church.

This is not to say we should not hold our bishops and priests accountable for their actions and omissions and hope and expect them to atone for their own personal sins, but we have only direct control over our own response to these scandals. To begin with, we can actively pray for our priests and bishops. While we can’t make them repent, we can ask God to soften their hearts. This conversion may well only come about through the prayers and sacrifices of laypeople willing to do penance for the wrongs done by their bishops and priests.

As one body in Christ, God, in fact, expects us to atone for the sins of the entire Church—including wayward priests and bishops. If we have not sinned by abusing children, we have done our part to crucify Christ. We put Christ to death. Now, we have to repent. In so doing, the Church’s priestly ministry is renewed—for both the clergy and the laity. We have to allow God to build us up into this royal priesthood. As St. Peter reminds us, “You are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises’ of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. / Once you were ‘no people’ / but now you are God’s people; / you ‘had not received mercy’ / but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2: 9-10).

5. A New Image: Bring Christ to the World

As we mentioned before, the true presence of Christ in the Church has been obscured by the icons of the “pedophile priest” and the “cowardly bishop,” as well as the many other false idols set up by those who want to mold God according to their own image. In the midst of such scandal, it’s easy to be distracted from the true Christ. During such difficult times, we must strive to be an image of holiness to counteract the images of the pedophile priest and the cowardly bishop that currently plague the Church.

We mustn’t be afraid to allow God to use us to bring His love into the darkness. He wants to be present in the world through us, and that’s why He made us His Church. We tend to think God only works through noble and talented people, not sons and daughters of blue-collar workers. Actually, however, it’s quite the contrary. After all, Jesus Himself entered the world as the son of a carpenter and a peasant girl. He chose illiterate fishermen to be His apostles.

“Consider your own calling,” preaches St. Paul. “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord’” (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

You might say, “We know Christ calls us to humble ourselves and be ‘perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect,’ but this sometimes seems so impossible. How can I possibly be a saint? How can I change the image of the Church and turn people to Christ in a time like this?” The road to sanctification is narrow and rough, but it is a path each of us can travel. As St. Paul reminds us, becoming perfect doesn’t mean we have to be famous, or learned, or brave, rather all we have to do is love—love as God loves. Christ knows we are not perfect, but He calls us to become perfect. This process of “becoming” who we are called to be in Christ requires a humble heart—a heart willing to admit charity is difficult, a heart willing to confess when mistakes are made, a heart committed to love, even when the object of our love is undeserving.

Talking about love in such abstract terms makes it seem like a fairytale, something impossible for the ordinary person. Yet, if we look at most parents, or any truly committed spouse, we’ll find this kind of love being lived-out every day. What sacrifices parents make for their children! To even bring a child into the world requires constant care and pain on behalf of a mother. By comparison, few of us have actually suffered for the body of Christ. As every parent knows, love makes the burdens we carry for our children easy to bear. Our love for Christ should similarly encourage us to offer ourselves for His work in the world.

Sometimes we forget just how powerful an image of holiness can be. Think of Mother Teresa—famous throughout the world for her small acts of kindness to dying souls in a forgotten ghetto in Calcutta. If you don’t know where to begin, turn to the saints. Their examples show us how ordinary people can work extraordinary changes. One of the great things about being Catholic is fellowship with the saints. You’ll be amazed to discover what their lives reveal. Perhaps the most shocking thing you’ll learn is that it often takes only the faith of one person to turn the tide for the whole Church. Despite how inspiring the saints are in themselves, devotion to them only brings us closer to the heart of Christ.

St. Catherine of Sienna, for example, is a great model of faith and humility. As an obscure, uneducated, single laywoman nourished by deep prayer and absolute commitment to God, she inspired the pope himself to make important reforms in the Church. During Catherine’s life, the Church faced one of the darkest periods in its history. Pope Gregory XI had come under the control of the French government and moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon, a city in France. This caused great scandal in the Church and nobody knew what to do. St. Catherine fearlessly, but humbly, wrote the pope and told him to stop living like a king, act more like Jesus and move the papacy back to Rome. The pope conceded and the Church was freed from the corrupting influence of the French government. This daughter of a humble tradesman turned out to be not only a voice of reform in her time, but was later declared a Doctor of the Church.

Another saint for our time is Francis de Sales. De Sales went to Switzerland to win back Catholics who had also left the Church during a time of great sin and scandal. President of the Institute for Psychological Sciences, Father Richard Gill, L.C. describes the marvels Francis worked:

Francis didn’t mince words. He told these fallen-away Catholics that the men responsible for scandals had committed the spiritual murder of souls by their evil actions. But he added that those who leave the Catholic Church over the scandals were committing spiritual suicide. By his pamphlets and his preaching, he showed them that we need to stay close to the sources of grace: the Church and the Sacraments.

As a result of Francis’ efforts, Fr. Gill notes, “In Geneva, he is credited with winning 40,000 souls back to the Faith; in Eastern France, he converted another 72,000.”

We shouldn’t downplay tales about bad popes, deceitful bishops and sinful priests. But more than a story of a people in bondage to sin, the journey of God’s people is the account of a community who’ve bowed their heads in humility to the ever sovereign Lord of mercy and love. As the prophets gave their lives to call Israel back to God, as Jesus died on the cross to bring sinners eternal life, we are also called to be a light in the darkness. God has spared His people more than once because of the faith of His holy servants. As the body of Christ, we are called to be His witnesses, to make Jesus known to the world—even to those priests and bishops who may have abandoned Him.

6. V-Day

Remarkable as it sounds, this is a time of great grace for the Church in the United States. As the Book of Proverbs reveals, God chastises those He loves. This chastisement is always a prelude to redeeming grace. This is our opportunity to shine. The world wants to condemn Catholics as hypocrites. It wants to dismiss the Church as a destructive, archaic and inefficient institution. The world believes our priests are pedophiles and our bishops are incompetent and selfish.

If we confess our sins as a Church and turn to God with humility, He will work miracles out of our weaknesses. We must pray and trust God’s plan for the Church. He has allowed this crisis to occur, and He knows how to turn all these things to our good (cf. Rom. 8:28). In order for God to transform the Church, however, we have to be open to His mercy. Turn to the sacraments in hope and joy, especially the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. The atonement you make for your individual sins will draw God’s mercy down upon the whole Church. It’s time to turn the tide on the “culture of dissent” in our Church. If you’re angry with rebellious priests and bishops, confess your anger and entrust your cares to the Father’s mighty justice. If you’ve been using contraception, open your hearts and minds to a more natural means of family planning (NFP) and experience for the first time true love and communion in your marriage. If you’ve stopped attending Mass, recall your baptismal vows and return to your family in faith. Read the Bible; study the Catechism; take an adult education class; teach your children to respect and love the Church. These things might not seem like much, but the body of Christ is built up one soul at a time through such deeds. There is no time to waste. God is calling us. He wants us to be His voice in the world. He wants us to bring truth, forgiveness and love where there is nothing but deceit, anger and malice in the hearts of His people. So long as we submit ourselves to the Lord and do our part, He’ll carry us through the rest. As Jesus reassures us, “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Mt. 10:19-20).

We, the body of Christ, image Christ to the world. Good Catholic families, in particular, should not underestimate their importance in the mission of bearing the gospel. Father Gill explains the pivotal role families have to play during this time of renewal:

The joyful example of families who live their faith, raise their children well, and practice charity and good humor to their neighbors is more powerful than we can know. But even more will be asked of good families. Others will seek you out for comments, for advice—friends, strangers—people who wouldn’t have the nerve to speak to a priest. They may be hostile to the Church and her teachings. You must be ready—and in their way, your children must be ready—to explain Christ’s teachings to others, calmly and charitably, in your own words, from the heart. When that moment comes, what you say, and the patience and joy with which you say it, may change someone’s life and bring him, often to his own surprise, to the arms of God.

If we give up now, we’ll be no better than those priests and bishops who’ve convinced the world they are criminals and impostors. We’ll have done nothing for the glory of God, and we’ll have failed to live up to God’s purpose for our lives. Despite the heaviness of the cross and the challenges before us, we can already rejoice in the victory. In spite of our sins and the sins of our priests and bishops, we know the Church will not be conquered but will triumph in splendor. God wants to glorify YOU. He delights in the obedience of His children. In the years to come, Christians will marvel at the graces poured out upon the Church during these evil times. As C. S. Lewis reminds us in the Screwtape Letters, the devil knows that his “cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” The “New Springtime of the Church” promised by Pope John Paul II is on the horizon. The end of the story has already been written. It’s up to you to decide if you want to be on the winning side.

Copyright © 2003 Catholic Exchange

Contributing Editors: Tom Allen, Editor-in-Chief; Mark Shea, Senior Content Editor; Tom Kyd, Assistant Editor; Jameson Taylor, Contributing Editor; Jennifer Taylor, Associate Editor; Amy Welborn, Contributing Editor; Lisa Wheeler, Assistant Editor.

(7) CDF, Persona humana 8.

Why This Booklet Was Written

Hundreds of viewers have e-mailed CatholicExchange.com in recent months with questions or comments regarding the child-molestation scandals rocking the Church. Although much has been written about this crisis, we at Catholic Exchange perceived the need for a document written for regular Catholics whose faith has been challenged by wayward priests. Catholic Exchange’s staff of professional writer-editors responded by composing this booklet, Loving the Church in a Time of Scandal.

This apologetic piece is meant to inspire Sunday-going Catholics to love and respect the Church in these difficult times by providing a comprehensive, easy-to-read guide that articulates a vision of the Church as the Body of Christ that has been wounded time and again by sin, but ultimately triumphs as a result of God’s forgiveness, mercy and grace. The essay addresses the seriousness of the scandals and their root causes within the broader context of Church history and contemporary society’s infatuation with sex.

The booklet’s primary theme, however, is that this is an occasion of great grace for the Church in the United States. God has allowed this crisis to occur and will turn all these things to our good (Rom. 8:28). The piece concludes with six practical steps Catholics can follow to help answer questions you or others might have about these scandals and provides advice on how to image Christ to a world that wants to dismiss the Church as a destructive and archaic institution.

If you care about your Church and your Faith but are troubled by recent events within the Body of Christ—or if you want to learn more about the Catholic Faith—then this booklet is for you.

If, after reading it, you feel you may be interested in distributing copies of the printed version to your friends and members of your parish, then let us know by clicking here. The booklets are being printed now and should be available within the next few weeks. We are also putting together a pricing package for the booklet. It will be very inexpensive and we will offer a sliding rate for bulk orders. All this information will be finalized and posted on our homepage early next week.

Yours in Christ,

Tom Allen

Editor & President

Catholic Exchange

www.CatholicExchange.com

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