The shame associated with the abuse of children by Catholic priests is borne these days by all Catholics forced to explain to incredulous friends and acquaintances how this could have happened, how it could have gone on so long, how it could have been allowed to become so extensive—questions that still require a proper answer. Like a millstone around our necks, the scandal, year after endless year, drags us all down with it. How the church as the people of God respond to it should not be a question of loyalty to the pope nor even more demands for his resignation; it is a matter of restoring the church’s integrity as an institution and renewing the life of holiness for its members. It is a matter of corporate conversion.An editorial in America sounds a call for institutional conversion - a theme gaining ground in many publications these days.
Will the same theme gain ground in our hearts?
Image source: DailyImpact
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I would add one more to your litany of questions: how can you stay in the church given these events? I always answer that one, I think, credibly well...something along the lines of: well, we have a great parish or there needs to be a change in the hierarchical order... but it is uncomfortable and "causes me to tremble."
ReplyDeleteAnd i would answer that question "how can you stay in the church given these events?" by saying, change will only happen if I stay, (being a victim i had to choose to come back)stay and remain faithful to God and HIS church and HIS use of me. If i leave then sin wins, i never want sin to be the victor!!!
ReplyDeleteI choose to stay and be HIS light in this darkness, it is my humble gift back to God.
yes, we have to stay IN IT, whatever it is, to make change possible and move forward...
ReplyDeleteand not fighting for what is right and/or just being silent- or keeping a secret- is really like letting sin (or a person who hurt you) win.
Indeed, the editorial in America magazine clearly defines important steps to end the hiding and to start the healing: Seek out the victims; Come clean; Be accountable; and Empower the laity. These, as well as lay participation in church governance, are part of the mission and goals of Voice of the Faithful (www.votf.org) and the American Catholic Council (http://americancatholiccouncil.org/), planned for Pentecost weekend 2011 in Detroit.
ReplyDeleteOf all of the articles, editorials, etc., that I have read, in my view, James Carroll in an op-ed Monday, April 5, in The Boston Globe comes the closest to identifying the problem, the history behind it and the solution to it.
ReplyDeleteRosemary
I'd like to add a few words from the perspective of one who did leave. It wasn't clergy sexual abuse that was the impetus, however. This was quite a few years before that became public.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was entering recovery from alcoholism and realizing that I needed a church which would affirm me as a whole person -- as a woman who was bisexual. The priests at my church supported me as a person, but sexism was clearly present, and gay folks had to settle for their sexual orientation being treated with kindness and not celebration, or at least certainly not in public.
Staying might have worked for someone who had grown up with a positive self-image, but when the fog of alcohol lifted I began to realize how little I'd been taught to respect and love myself. It was unhealthy for me to stay anywhere (and most especially in a church!) where all that God had blessed me with was not celebrated. So, after some wandering and waffling, I became an Episcopalian.
I do not offer this in an attempt to lead a charge out of Rome and over the wall to Canterbury. I do, however, want to encourage folks not to judge too harshly those who do need to leave. They may not be "letting sin win" or being cowardly or lazy. They may be hearing God saying to them, "What I want you to have is more readily available to you over here, somewhere else, where you can do the work I want you to do."
There are many paths, but the same journey. My time in the Roman Catholic Church was vital to my growth as a child of God, but then so was my leaving. It may be so for others as well.
I was very touched by the above message...there are so many aspects of why people stay in the Church and why they leave...I am not surprised at all by recent disclosures and certainly papal behavior in past history has been less than perfect, and some how the Church seems to survive. I envision the collapse of the priesthood as we know it and a rebirth of leadership in a different form. My heart goes out to all of the priests who have worked so diligently in our lifetime and can only begin to comprehend how difficult their path has been given the moral climate we live in today.
ReplyDeleteJamma
To Just another Piskie: I was also touched by your post. I have a friend who is an Episcopalian and she said many in her church are former Catholics. Many feel the Catholic church has become an exclusive club i.e. must be heterosexual, married, (if divorced-annulled), not living together, not using birth control, are pressured to vote for certain politicians who favor their views, favoritism towards men, and that bishops/cardinals (and popes!) have a different standard for morality than the laity. I love my Catholic faith but I agree with someone who posted earlier, I have lost faith in the institution. I think God is bigger than the church!
ReplyDeleteIn good times and in bad, people stay in the Church for many reasons and people leave the Church for many reasons. Some folks complain that the Church does not strictly enough compel us to live according to the Lord's Word and law; others believe the Church demands more than is humanly possible; and still others believe that the Church should make no demands on its people other than what individual Church members decide to appropriate for themselves.
ReplyDeleteAll three of these approaches (especially the third) can fail in faithfully representing the whole of the Church's mission to call God's people to accountability before the Word and law of the Gospel of Christ and our neighbor.
Comboxes are great venues for people to share (perhaps to vent!) their ideas and feelings but serve us less successfully as ways for getting to the heart of issues.
Comboxes are often filled with either heartfelt and sweeping generalities or particular and person questions difficult to engage and respond to a(especially if you're the blogger moderating the combox!).
A variety of thoughts, opinions, beliefs and feelings can be found just in the comments on this one post. The identities of some of the commenters here are known to me while others are not. In all cases, I'm grateful that so many people with varying histories, hopes and views continue to frequent this Catholic blog and to find value in it.
(Might this be a good time to remind subsequent commenters of the "Think Before You Write" note on the sidebar? Yes, I think it is. Consider yourselves gently reminded!)
I was only speaking for myself in my comment earlier- I believe that is all any of us can really do because we are the only ones who truly know our experiences, shared or not.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was someone who did not grow up with a positive self-image- in fact, it was repeatedly knocked down and the negative beliefs about myself are so deeply in me that it is very hard to change those beliefs...
My faith is very important to me- and I think I may be different from some (or most?) in the way that I am very uninformed about the news of the Church. I think I do this consciously and unconsciously. Faith for anyone is a very personal thing and I think, for me, it is to an "extreme"- that I really try to focus on my relationship with God and other personal things... and mostly that's it.
That may be looked at as selfish, maybe, or something, but I hope it isn't- it is just how I get through, try to get through...