Virtuous Anger and Reform of Our Church Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, As I preached at three of our Masses last Sunday and share with all of you below, I believe that anger is the Christian response to the evils of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, the complicity of bishops in covering up such abuse, and the scandal surrounding Archbishop McCarrick. Prayer for everyone affected by these evils is certainly important. For the foreseeable future, we shall continue to pray during Mass at St. E’s for survivors, for abusers, and for our bishops. But prayer alone is not enough. We must also demand justice, including real accountability for bishops and other Church leaders who covered up these evils. Here is where we need to focus our anger and not get caught up in the self-destruction to which anger is so easily prone. So I ask you not only to be angry but also to be patient and vigilant as the universal Church conducts the investigations necessary for authentic reform. This process will take some time, and I don’t think anyone knows yet exactly where it will lead. This much we know: a holier Church means not only protecting children but also ending the abuse of power and secrecy characteristic of so much Church leadership. In the meantime be assured that we are already vigilant in our parish implementation of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Policy for the Protection of Children and Young People. As most of you already know, one sign of this vigilance is that our former youth minister is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for violating one of our teens entrusted to his care. Finally, I have addressed these issues directly and repeatedly from the pulpit over the past few weeks. As the process of reform continues, I believe it’s time to focus on other aspects of our Catholic faith during our worship. There’s more to our Catholic faith and relationship with Jesus Christ than these scandals. Therefore I will continue to address this ongoing reform periodically in our bulletin and on our website but not from the pulpit for the foreseeable future. With kind personal regards and deep gratitude for your faithfulness, I am Sincerely in Christ, Monsignor Bill Parent Pastor’s Homily Sunday, August 19, 2018 After another devastating week of revelations about the monstrously evil crimes of priests against children and the failures of bishops to respond, the Letter to the Ephesians asks us to live wisely, not foolishly. What does that mean in times like this? What does it mean to be wise in the face of so much evil in our midst? I believe St. Thomas Aquinas offers wisdom that applies to our situation. According to Aquinas the hatred of evil is part of the virtue of charity. To live the virtue of Christian charity, to live the virtue of Christian love, means hating evil. So to be wise today means focusing Christlike hatred on the evil in our midst, which is not an easy thing to do because hatred and anger are prone to foolishness. I learned this the hard way as a child and adolescent. I had quite a temper and would occasionally vent it foolishly hitting walls or breaking things or even hitting people. More often than not I just made things worse or hurt myself or both. It seems to me that some of the anger in the Church lately, though understandable, leans towards foolishness.
For example, our Church is our Church. It does not belong to sexual abuser priests or to negligent bishops. Abandoning the Catholic faith implies it’s their Church.
Or for example, some of the angry proposals among those of us who plan to stay would only hurt the whole Church or hurt the poor, not those responsible.
Some people are angrily jumping to the conclusion that all bishops and priests are part of the problem. Let me say for the record that not all of us are part of the problem but some of us are. We need to focus our anger like a laser onto those who are.
But precisely what is our problem? What exactly is the evil that needs purging? Of course it’s the sexual abuse of children by clergy and the complicity of bishops, but I honestly believe this is actually the most horrific example of a more foundational problem – an underlying pattern of sin that’s the real source of this evil – a pattern that will continue to plague the Church by emerging in surprising and demoralizing ways until we root it out. To name this problem, let me share with you a letter that I received a couple of days ago from a survivor of serial sexual abuse by a priest many years ago. She wrote this letter to me after the Pennsylvania grand jury report came out this week. I’ve known her for almost 30 years. She’s not a parishioner here, and she gave me permission to do whatever I saw fit with her letter. I’d like to share it with you. It’s brief, and I believe it contains a lot of wisdom. After a brief opening, this is what she says: At 83 years of age, #Metoo, I have come to peace with this tragedy of abuse in the Church. I’ve arrived at an objective view of the Church’s dysfunction in this area. The culture of secrecy is a betrayal to all of us, especially faithful priests!!! It must change to be an institution of integrity. Our relationship is with God and the Eucharist and Christ’s presence in all (all else is subject to human failure). Please continue to be open & honest & faithful. Her line about the culture of secrecy is punctuated by three exclamation points, and she underlines the words, “it must change.” In my opinion, she nails the root problem perfectly: The culture of secrecy is a betrayal to all of us!!! It must change. That’s the evil where we should focus our anger now, and frankly, the failure to admit this evil is why I’m personally so enraged by the response of so many bishops. Allow me to focus this anger a little further. The Pennsylvania report is horrific and contains nauseating details most of us would not have imagined possible. However, the Church has changed a lot since the crimes and cover-ups detailed in the report. The 2002 Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People really did change the way that we report and try to prevent the sexual abuse of youth in the Church. But the scandal surrounding the abuse of seminarians and priests by Archbishop McCarrick reveals that the culture of secrecy continues. McCarrick is really only a symptom of this deeper problem: secrecy and the abuse of power. That’s why I’ve been saying since the first Sunday after the McCarrick scandal broke that we need answers from our bishops and other Church leaders to the questions, “What did you know?” and “When did you know it?” And don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is just a problem for the Church in the United States. I have no proof, but I’m convinced that someone in Rome knew about McCarrick’s misdeeds. The investigation promised by our bishops and, please God, that will be led by laity better lead to the Vatican and continue there. In part that will mean investigating what Vatican charities received financial contributions from either Archbishop McCarrick or from his charitable foundations. I don’t know yet exactly where all this is going to lead. I don’t think anybody does. Prayer certainly needs to be part of our response. Prayer is what we always do as Christians. But prayer alone is not enough. We also need justice and an end to this culture of secrecy. Ultimately, there must be very real consequences for those bishops who knew and did nothing or who lie about what they knew. Following the wisdom of Aquinas, the nature of our anger and hatred for evil is ultimately love. It’s not about revenge or Church politics or scapegoating. How will we stay wise and avoid foolishness on this path? A survivor’s words to me are important signposts for us all: be open and honest and faithful.