The Church and the Clergy in Crisis
We
are all enduring unspeakable sorrow, indignation, and horror at what
has been revealed in the grand jury report of six dioceses in
Pennsylvania, and the McCarrick scandal. What is worse, is that we all
know now that this isn't going to go away. So how do we go forward? Each
of us and all of us together?
There is no easy answer. No one answer. The
sex scandals have revealed an American church which is, in many ways,
compromised and corrupt. This is not just a sex problem, nor is it
simply a homosexual problem. Neither is it just the problem of
incompetent or corrupt bishops and priests.
The problem is, in the words of Fr Dwight Longenecker, rooted in a profound departure from the simple, saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and his cross and resurrection, and it will only be solved by a return and renewal of the faith.
In
an article in 2010, Bishop Barron noted that Pope Benedict used a
profound and powerful image to the Roman Curia that year. “The Pope drew
attention to an arresting vision experienced by the 12th century German
mystic, Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard saw an incomparably beautiful
woman, stretching from earth to heaven, and clothed in luminous
vestments. But the woman’s radiant face was covered in dust, her vesture
was ripped on one side, and her shoes were blackened. Then the mystic
heard a voice from heaven announcing that this was an image of the
church, beautiful but compromised. The Pope appropriated this image and
interpreted it in light of our present struggles, commenting, ‘the face
of the Church is stained with dust, and this is how we have seen it. Her
garment is torn—by the sins of priests. The way she (Hildegard) saw and
expressed it is the way we have experienced it this year.” ...The
Church must pose some serious questions about its own life if it is to
understand the conditions that made the sex abuse crisis possible.
Strikingly, the Pope observed, ‘We must ask ourselves what was wrong in
our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to
allow such a thing to happen.’”
If
you and I are alive at this time, it is not a mistake. You and I have
something to offer and for each of us it will be a unique expression of
God's healing mercy: justice, action, reparation, understanding, sorrow,
encouragement, hidden prayer, blog writing, prophecy, good example,
speaking, penance.... We need this many-pronged approach carried forward
in dignity and courage together.
So
my encouragement to you is to be furious, to weep and to grieve, for
this is good, but then let us turn the energy of our indignation into
healing for the victims, reparation and purification in holiness, and a
renewal in faith for ourselves and for others.
Daughters of St. Paul
© Daughters of St. Paul. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment