Church and Crime, or where Jeremiah Makes an Appearance

Our trust in the Episcopacy or formal structure of the Catholic Church in tatters, we are free to despair. Or not. My personal disgust with the leadership of the Catholic Church would not be possible, I think, except that I have been well-trained as a Catholic. The criminal acts against children are appalling to anyone, of course, and qualify in themselves to bring a verdict against the institution that committed and assented - by silence and complicity - to those acts. But the crimes against the Sacred Body, the Blessed Sacrament, in allowing criminals to administer and partake of the sacraments are, to a Catholic, of a whole other magnitude. So, I am grateful in a tangible sense for my disgust as it would not be so clear, so clean, so correct, except that the object of my disgust taught me to value so well what it has chosen to insult.

Every column and opinion piece or apology I have read to date has fallen short of the mark in one or another capacity, and this is understandable as the mark - the logical conclusion - is makes it difficult if not impossible to practice the Catholic faith. Put another way, assuming we are serious about being Christians, how can we associate with an institution that has committed the crimes ascribed to the Catholic Church? This is not a matter of a few rogue priests, but thousands. The number of documented victims is in the tens of thousands, but this is only over the past few decades, and these are only the direct targets of abuse, not to mention families, communities, etc. It would be a paramount delusion to imagine that this abuse is only recent in history. In an ironic twist, commentators blame homosexuals for 'infiltrating' the priesthood, when of course this has been going on forever. It is only because society has grown comfortable with discussing homosexuality that these sorts of facts have seen the light of day. In other words, the Catholic Church can thank Gay Pride for airing its dirty laundry. If only gay priests had the moral courage to "come out" we might get somewhere.

But, of course, the Catholic Church is the only game in town if you happen to take the words of Jesus Christ literally. So sadly, no, I do not think the church is facing its "#metoo" moment. I don't think the church will ever have a #metoo moment until such time as its priests and seminarians can manifest the level of moral courage exhibited by the women of the #metoo movement - another irony lost on Catholic commentators.

Turning to solutions, the bishops might - just might - put into place structures to promote investigations with greater transparency...but so what? This is not a corporation. This is not a political party. This is (or was supposed to be) the Apostolic Church. I can pretend my trust has been rebuilt (and already I see Catholics rushing to feel good about feeling bad....) - I might even look like I believe it. Going to church every Sunday, praying the Rosary, going to confession, etc. But in the back of my mind, in my heart, the central question remains, and doubt has taken hold: not of my faith but of its ministers and the very structure that promoted them.

In brief, I can relate to Jeremiah and his ilk. To be crystal clear, I am not a prophet (just a trademark paralegal and dresser of an apple tree), but I know a stink when I smell it. Jeremiah, as I recall, did not seem to spend a whole lot of time talking up the great services at the Temple. He was disgusted at the priests and the people. We can be glad, I suppose, that in our time only the priests and bishops are to blame for the present circumstance  though, as I have mentioned, commentators blame the "culture" and routinely do so to explain problems in the Church. (As an aside, I've always wondered what the big, brave Catholic Church had to fear from popular culture anyway. Are we not the Truth?)

But Jeremiah - as I said - while he took the church and kings and whatnot to task had a very good relationship with God. They were on a first name basis, you might say. And while God does not speak to me (and I'll bet you're glad to hear that!) He is present to me and to all who believe and those who don't in the things of this world, the major and minor miracles, of life, love, and forgiveness and all their complexity and transformative power. And, Jeremiah did not abandon his faith. On the contrary, his every word and action was an expression of absolute faithfulness.

Therefore, I am oddly not angry or sad - righteously disgusted, yes, but we have any number of avenues to explore in our righteous disgust. We do not have to obsess on this crisis and we should not allow our lives to be ruined by others' errors. Life, love, and forgiveness should not be made to suffer at our hands. God has suffered enough at the hands of the Episcopacy that the faithful should make every effort to continue to lead decent, honest lives, loving God for who He is and treating each other with the love due ourselves. Our essential mission has not changed and cannot change.

So, we can be both disgusted and true, disgusted with the Church and joyful at being disgusted rather than conceding truths which were never ours to concede in the first place. What will you do today in recognition of the truth? Even posing the question clears the mind and prompts the heart....