Unam, sanctam, catholicam, apostolicam

I think back to a Sunday in 2002, at the height of the revelations of clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston. Making announcements at the end of Mass, I commented on a public relations debacle from the previous week and said, "There should be a full time employee in chancery whose only job is to stand up at appropriate moments and call out at the top of his lungs, "No - don't say that! No - don't do that!"

I've thought of this during the past week when reading the reports of the pope's lifting the excommunications of the four bishops of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and the inane, insulting comments made by one of them, Richard Williamson. These bishops were ordained "validly but illicitly" by the now deceased schismatic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who, with his followers, refused to accept many of the teachings of Vatican Council II.

Previous efforts to restore unity between Rome and the SSPX have failed but the cause was advanced with Benedict's Summorum Pontificum, the decree that restored permission to celebrate the so-called Tridentine Rite of the Mass. The lifting of the excommunication of these bishops still left them without faculties (permission) to celebrate the sacraments - although they continued to do so. The lifting of the excommunications was intended to be a first step towards dialogue between the SSPX and Rome.

Even as the news of the lifting of the excommunications broke, a video of one of the four bishops, Richard Williamson, presented him in an interview in which he denied the reality of the Shoah, the genocide of Jews under Hitler.

Should there be a cardinal in the Vatican whose only job is to stand up at appropriate moments and call out at the top of his lungs, "No - don't say that! No - don't do that!"?

(And yes, I'm sure there are many times when my own ministry would benefit from such a watchdog.)

Those who have studied canon law will have some sense of what it means that these four bishops were ordained "validly but illicitly" but the subtlety will be lost on most, including even earnest reporters trying to get this story out. Those who are both familiar with the history of the SSPX and who have a notion about the critical importance of every pope's ministry as a sign and achiever of unity in the Church will have some insight into why Benedict is intent on reconciling with this recalcitrant, foot-dragging society of clergy and laity who refuse to accept the teachings of a major Council of the Church. But folks at large (believers and non-believers, Catholic and not) are largely without such sophistication and bear no particular responsibility for expertise in these areas.

It is the Church's responsibility to speak and act in such fashion as to preserve the unity of those already within the fold and to avoid in every way giving scandal to its own people and to others even and especially when speaking and acting for the sake of reconciliation.

What many are left with at this point is the notion that the pope lifted a penalty on a bishop whose views on the Shoah would be laughable were they not so insensititive, obtuse and insulting to Jews, Christians and all who suffer the wound of this hellish nightmare inflicted on God's own people, Israel.

That the media and consumers of news are left to read this as Vatican approval or tolerance of Williamson's intolerable views is not their fault. We are responsible on every level not only for what we say and do but also for how what we say and do appears to others.

This has never been more true than in this age of instant communication and the present Church administration, more media and techno-savvy than any before it, must be held accountable.

In the combox of one my earlier posts on this topic, a reader here wrote that she finds herself less and less compelled to identify as a member of the universal Church and more inclined to identify only with the local parish community. This is the heart of the crisis the Church faces and it's a crisis of ecclesiology. The universality of the Catholic Church is one of its four distinguishing marks (one, holy, catholic apostolic) and any blurring of that mark strikes at the heart of who we are as the Body of Christ. The Anglican commuion, around other issues, teeters on the brink of the break up of its communio - that faith and life which binds Anglicans together around the globe. No ecclesial entity can afford or absorb such a blow to its body.

Such is the threat to Christian unity. One must also consider soberly the potential damage to Jewish-Christian relations so carefully and gracefully built up over the last half-century.

That we Catholics have sufficient trust in the Holy Spirit to understand ourselves as the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" Church is a sign of our strength and confidence. But such bold faith places the Church ever in the public eye and precisely for the sake, cause and hope of unity, it's incumbent upon us to take the greatest care in our words and deeds lest any (even unintentional) scandal be given.

The Catholic Church always has the world's attention and immense, sensitive responsibility attends such a grace, blessing and opportunity.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a lesson we Catholics can be slow to learn.

(Check out Rocco's place for a post on rabbis severing ties with the Vatican over l'affaire Williamson, including a link to the pope's comments earlier today on the Shoah.)

-ConcordPastor