fatherangel:

Yesterday, I answered a question about how we move forward, in the Catholic community, in the light of the scandal reported in the news.

Without excusing or trying to diminish the enormity of the crime of child sexual abuse, I did want to provide some perspective. My desire was to show people that since 2002, when the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was enacted for the USA, we Catholics have undertaken extensive reforms. 

As a result of fingerprinting, background checks, Safe Environment training, immediate removal of criminal church ministers, parish courses for children and their parents, we have removed the culture of entitlement and coverup which protected the clergy from punishment.

We have seen a drastic drop in crime against children and young people, in the Catholic institutions. However, there have been some bishops who undertook to cover up crimes of clergy since 2002, and in two cases they were removed by Pope Francis. Thus, our work is not over by any means, and our vigilance and protection for children is an ongoing, urgent project.

There is a very separate issue, however, and it has to do with priests, religious, and bishops in the Catholic Church, who engage in sexual conduct with women and men–sometimes with many partners over the years. The ex-cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, was found to have engaged in sex with men, including seminarians, over a period of various years.

It appears that the Vatican was notified of this, beginning in the 90′s, and yet McCarrick was still promoted to be archbishop of Washington, DC, and even a cardinal, under St. John Paul II. Now, the former ambassador of the Vatican to the United States, Archbishop Viganò, states in a public letter that he also informed Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.

Viganò claims that Benedict placed restrictions on McCarrick, but did not enforce them. He also claims that in spite of telling Pope Francis that McCarrick had engaged in sex with numerous men, the Pope allowed McCarrick to carry on an active ministry. 

Very scandalous also is Viganò’s claim that with both gays and heterosexuals, the Catholic bishops and the Vatican have knowingly promoted men who were lax in their sexual morality. Specifically, the archbishop claims that there is a strong gay culture. This leads Pope Francis and his bishop friends to downplay the importance of chastity and bodily morality, in favor of social justice issues and care for the environment. 

In short, Viganò claims that the Pope is severely compromised as a teacher of Catholic faith and morals, and should immediately resign.

How to move forward, under the light of such accusations? My personal opinion is that we must ask sincere questions of the truth of Viganò’s report. Along with raising those questions, we Catholics must write our bishops and the pope, and respectfully, firmly, and directly request an accounting of these charges.

While we do that, we must redouble our own efforts as Christians to bring Jesus Christ into our lives, into our conversations, into our hurts and healings, and into our service toward our neighbor and the poor. 

More than ever, when it appears that inside, Vatican political fights, have become public and open warfare between different factions, we should not contribute to, or intensify the hatreds and angers. 

Before we call upon the pope and our bishops to be truthful and transparent, we must clean our own spiritual house.

Frequent confession and holy Communion, frequent praying of the rosary and visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Scripture reading and private examination of our conscience, must be the tools for arming ourselves for the battles ahead.

It is prayer, penance, and the tools of the Devout Life in Christ, that makes us reform the Church and the hierarchy, while at the same time, having love for the Church, and having love for the pope and the bishops. 

Some people calling for change and reform are so enraged, so bitter, that one hardly sees how they can help make the Church holy, when they don’t seem to care how holy they are in their personal lives. For instance, how holy can people be who post articles, or memes, which ooze with snark, sarcasm, and ridicule of the pope and the bishops? 

I recently saw something on Facebook by a Catholic who claims to be devout, which referred to Cardinal Donald Wuerl as “Donna Wuerl.” The wrote “Donna” over and over. And yet they felt they were on a higher moral level than the cardinal. 

That kind of posting is classic “virtue signaling.” That is not constructive nor helpful. If we want Jesus and Mary to be on our side in the reform of the Church, we must love the people we are angry with, and challenge them with a heartfelt practice of the virtues of faith, hope, and charity. We are trying to rebuild a hurting Church–not shoot our wounded.

The pope has not responded to Viganò’s charges. I would like Francis to speak and give an accounting. But I do so, respectful of his office, and not making threats to him or others, if I don’t get my demands. I honestly do not know where there is more truth–in the Pope’s side of looking at things, or in Viganò’s side. So I will ask for answers, and patiently wait.

Maybe I will be evaded. Maybe there will be stonewalling on the part of the hierarchy. Maybe I will be ignored, along with others. I have to patiently endure that possibility. In the meantime, I still have to do what a Christian should do every day–love, sacrifice, and serve. How can we be bitter and angry Christians if we are loving, sacrificing, and serving.

As I stated, this is now another grave crisis. It is different than clergy committing child sex abuse against children. It is the clergy, and bishops, having sex with adults, sometimes their own parishioners. 

And sad to say, we are dealing also of the problem of many parishioners knowing about this and turning the other way, because “boys will be boys”, wink, wink. 

Or some think it is cute to ship priests and bishops who they think should have sex with the women they love, or have sex with the men they love. But this is not about having “awwwws” and “feels” with this kind of lifestyle because it is hypocritical, dishonest, and also an abuse by priests (or bishops).

For a long time, Catholics who have abandoned or put down the sexual morality of Catholic doctrine have felt supportive of priests and bishops who want to have sex. In their own personal lives, many Catholics strongly support gay marriage, or having sex outside of marriage, or pornography, or having sex with another partner, while being married.

Some Catholics brag that they are free from guilt and feel so happy and at peace engaging in intercourse with their love interests. Why would they be bothered by the clergy doing this? They aren’t. But now, the public is seeing this behavior and it is a shock. 

Even if most people don’t follow the “old fashioned” rules about sex, they see priests and bishops whoring around and they wonder, “Is this what you call the Christian Church? Is this what you call an example for the rest of us?” If bishops and if the pope know of cases of priests having sex with women or men, and turn the other way, we are due for another wave of Church members being fed up.

Even if what they do behind a closed door is not a crime, that does not mean that the Catholic people want leaders in the Church who are so clericalist, so entitled, so spoiled, so pampered, that they think the Scripture and Tradition do not apply to them, and they can do whatever they want and the faithful will just go along with that.

Our conviction, I think, has to be that even though we love the sick, the sinner, the addicted, we also believe in the tough love that calls them out. We also are going to be firm, and clear, that we expect them to be converted Catholics, living the Catholic Faith, before they tell us how we are supposed to be Christian.

And Christian does not mean just being a social justice warrior and a good steward of the environment. Christian also means personal virtue, self control, a life that seeks spiritual goals and not pleasure for the flesh, and an accountability before the Catholics of all the worldwide Church.

My two cents for right now.

God bless and take care, Fr. Angel