I
don’t know about you, but I’m angry. I’m
also feeling sad, dismayed, confused, disillusioned and embarrassed. But most of all angry.
Our
Church, which is supposed to be a witness to the truth, and the holiness, of
Jesus Christ in a wayward, secular, even evil world, is being dragged through the mud in the
newspapers and TV news, subject to attorney general investigations, first in Pennsylvania and now in a number of other states. We are being mocked and
laughed at, and generally we the Catholic Church look like a bunch of complete
hypocrites.
I’m
speaking, of course, of the most recent chapter in the priest (and bishop)
sexual abuse scandal, on the heels of the Pennsylvania Attorney General report,
the Cardinal McCarrick scandal, and just this week, 70 miles to the west,
scandal in the Diocese of Buffalo.
It
is an evil age, as we heard in last Sunday’s readings, and the Church is
supposed to be a light in the darkness.
That light seems mighty dim right now.
I’m
angry that I am forced to feel so embarrassed.
Embarrassed for the Church I love.
The
other evening I read a letter from my former pastor, one that was on one hand
apologetic but on the other hand saying, well, these things happened 30-50
years ago. That’s true, Father, many
did, yes, but not all.
Just
over the past couple days Eyewitness News in Buffalo ran an in-depth
investigative report – allegations about two Buffalo diocesan priests – not so
much abuse of children but abuse of young, male adults. And the lack of firm and appropriate response
on the part of the bishop of Buffalo.
Yesterday
a number of political and civic leaders were calling for the Buffalo bishop to
resign.
And
we know of former-Cardinal McCarrick of Washington DC, and how he was able to
perpetrate similar abuses all during his long career, as he rose in the ranks
of the hierarchy.
And
it is not at all clear what the leaders of the Church, right up to the Holy
Father, plan to do about this.
That
makes me angry.
And
I don’t think I’m alone to say that all this makes me want to walk away, look
for another religion, another place to practice my faith in Jesus Christ.
So,
what’s stopping me? Nothing more than
the words I just proclaimed from the ending of the sixth chapter of the
Evangelist John’s Gospel. Asked “do you
also want to leave?” Peter responds “Master, to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life.”
If
we were to leave, to whom shall we go?
For as flawed and sinful and even hypocritical as our Church is, we have
something here that no other church has – and for five weeks we’ve been hearing
it proclaimed, we have here Jesus Himself, Body Blood Soul and Divinity.
All
this year we’ve been reading from the Gospel of Mark, but for these past five
weeks we’ve been hearing from the sixth chapter of St. John – the Bread of Life
discourse. We’ve heard Jesus promise His
disciples and us the bread that He will give – His flesh for the life of the
world. Amen I say to you unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in you.
This
amazing gift our Lord gives us and this is the only place we can get it.
Make
no mistake – there is a devil, and Satan hates you and he hates me and he wants
us to be eternally separated from God. He
wants to destroy Christ’s Church. After
all, the Church is Christ’s means of bringing salvation to the world.
Satan
especially hates the Eucharist, the Sacrament in which we are united in sublime
communion with Christ and with one another.
And he hates the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the sacrament in which we
are reunited with Christ when we’ve strayed from Him.
So
it should be no surprise that we are witnessing Satan’s all-out attack on the
Church, not an attack from outside but an attack from within, an attack especially
on her priests and bishops, for these men are our only means of our only means
of receiving the Body and Blood of Our Blessed Lord in Eucharist, and our only
means of hearing the magnificent words of absolution – words of Christ’s mercy
and forgiveness.
Make
no mistake, this is a battle, this is war, and this is a call to arms. So what do we do? Brothers and sisters, we are not
powerless. In fact, at this point in
history, at a point when we are most tempted to throw in the towel, I think we
are being called to lead.
First,
to lead in holiness. To double down on
our own commitment to the Lord and especially to these two Sacraments –
Eucharist and Reconciliation. To examine
our own lives and purge all that is not holy, all that stands in the way of our
perfectly following our Blessed Lord, all that stands in the way of our being a
perfect witness to His truth, love and mercy in our broken world.
Second
to lead in prayer. Prayer especially for
our Bishops and Holy Father, as they address the issues we face, that they may
recognize the depth of these issues and take firm steps to reform our Church
and especially our clergy to be the more perfect, more holy, more visible Body
of Christ in our world.
Third
– pray some more - pray and fast. Our
Lord said that certain demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting and
make no mistake, there are demons afoot in our Church. Let us pray and fast for Holy Mother Church,
and especially for her priests and bishops.
That those men who’ve answered the call, who’ve given their lives as
disciples of the Lord, may increase in faith and holiness and become more and
more perfect Alter Christuses – “Other Christs” – to lead and sanctify the
people of God.
Finally,
to trust. Trust that our God can and
will bring good out of every evil situation.
And renew our faith and hope. Sisters
and brothers, let us not lose hope. We
have the assurance of Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ that even the gates of hell
will not prevail against His Church. Let
us ask His Blessed and Immaculate Mother, in her titles Mother of the Church
and Mother of Priests, to intercede for us.
And in faith, let us move past our anger and disillusionment and
embarrassment and renew our faith and hope in the promises of the Lord.
