Let the Children Come Unto Them?
 |
| Google Image |
But it seems that for every blog I write, the media reports dozens of stories
that provide many people with reasons to reject God or religion.
The latest is the
revelation that a two-year grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania resulted in what
is being called "the largest, most comprehensive report into child sex
abuse in the Catholic Church ever produced in the United States." The
report says over 300 priests abused children over a period of 70 years, that
officials found over 1,000 victims but that there are likely many more that
haven’t been discovered.
Cover Up
And, says the report, bishops and other church
leaders covered up the abuse, persuading victims not to report it and law
enforcement not to investigate it. And this is just in one state. How many more
victims would there be if other states conducted such investigations?
This comes on the heels of news that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the
retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., resigned from active ministry after allegations of sexually abusing a minor. Church officials have called allegations he abused a young person years
ago "credible and substantiated,"
and other more recent allegations have been made against him.
This is not a public relations problem, and no one should
blame the media for reporting it. It’s their job. No, this is a real problem
that has to do with how power is wielded in the church and how loyalty to the
institution often trumps all the other virtues that the church has taught for
centuries.
It’s obviously not just a Catholic problem, of course. Such abuse is also
reported among ministers of other faiths, teachers, health-care professionals,
politicians and many others. But as a Catholic, I can’t help but cringe from
shame when reading about it among the Catholic clergy.
 |
| Google Image |
"Each new report of clerical abuse at any
level creates doubt in the minds of many that we are effectively addressing
this catastrophe in the Church," Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of
Boston, warned.
Suggestions on how the church could solve the
problem is beyond me and beyond the scope of this blog. But from my perspective
clerical abuse does more than instill doubt in people’s minds about addressing
the crisis. It provides people who are already doubtful about the value of
religion with more reasons not to embrace religious faith.
After all, it’s hard to imagine accusations
that could be more inimical to the idea of a church that is a loving community
of believers led by clergy who preach the Word of God by their lives as well as
their words.
It brings to mind the scene in Mathew’s gospel in which the apostles –
already showing the human proclivity toward authoritarianism – try to keep
people from bringing children to Jesus. “Let the children come to me, and do
not hinder them,” says Jesus, “for to such belong the kingdom of heaven.”
No Contact with a Priest?
Are there parents today who wonder if they should let their children
have contact with a priest? I hope not. There’s hardly a week goes by that a
story doesn’t appear in the newspaper about a teacher who has abused a child,
and we allow our children to be with their teachers because the vast majority of teachers don't molest kids. That's also true of priests.
So what should be the reaction to these revelations of people searching
for God? Horror and rejection of pedophilia, by the clergy or anyone else, but
also what I recommend regularly in these blogs: persistence and courage in the
search, and prayer.
When I was a kid, I vaguely remember a conversation my parents had
about some parishioner who was leaving our parish because of something the
pastor did or didn’t do. One of my parents said, “How can you allow your faith to
be dependent on the behavior of others, priest or otherwise?”
Comments
Post a Comment