On clerical culture and the sex abuse crisis

Philadelphia Magazine has a very insightful and appalling article on the priest sex abuse situation in that city. It profiles the current archbishop and his predecessor and tries to explain why the church-as-institution seems incapable of dealing with this problem.  See http://www.phillymag.com/articles/catholics_in_crisis_sex_and_deception_in_the_archdiocese_of_philadelphia/


A key observation:  


"The Church’s protection of priests who sexually abuse children is a testament to its completely insular control and power apart from civil society. The Church takes care of its own, in other words, and that fact leads to a cruel bottom line: Maintaining the institution’s standing in the world is more important than taking care of victims of sexual abuse."

Further:
"And the crisis has spread beyond parishioners, because many priests in the archdiocese are just as enraged at how Church leadership has mishandled the scandal, and the awkward position it has put all of them in. It’s a very sad day when walking down the street wearing your collar has become a questionable decision."

And speaking of bishops and clerical culture:  

“The only virtue is obedience,” says Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and an ex-priest who has spent the past few decades trying to understand the collision of sex and power in his church. “As long as you’re obedient to the Church, as long as you protect and embrace it, you are justified.” Obedience is drilled into young seminarians from day one. “You are not beholden to charity or truth or anything else. Everything can be sacrificed to obedience.”

Read the full article, it is well worth your time.

Interesting press coverage...

An article in Slate reports a study that roughly half of college educated gays and lesbians pretend to be heterosexual in their workplace.  See http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/06/22/gay_worker_study_center_for_work_life_policy_finds_48_percent_of.html


The lead investigator on the John Jay study on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church tries to correct the record about what the report actually says. It seems that many media sources reported on something they had not really read and rushed to judgment.  See http://www.salon.com/news/catholicism/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/06/23/catholic_sex_abuse_report

Notes from a homily on the 6th Sunday of Easter, belatedly posted

I know a really good man. He is smart, and he tries always to be kind. He works hard. He has had many important jobs, and has borne many responsibilities. He has helped people with material assistance, and with spiritual comfort. He has labored long and well in the vineyard of the Lord. There is just one problem, one little problem. He is sure that he knows just what others should do. He knows what the eucharistic ministers should do. The lectors. The musicians. Other pastors. The lady in the fourth pew. The local baker and dry cleaner. And let's not even mention how he knows just what bishops and politicians should do. And he is not shy about telling everyone what they should do.   It isn't surprising that his friends sometimes call this man "Father Should."

I'm sure you know the type. Maybe you know someone just like him. Maybe you are just like him? ( no, certainly not!). I suspect there is a bit of "Father Should" in all of us.

How different is the position assumed in today's second reading from the first letter of St. Peter!    After telling us to "Sanctify Christ" in our hearts - that is, make our hearts centered on Christ and bless Christ - after we do that and only after we become Christ centered - will we be ready to "give an explanation to anyone for the reason for our hope." 

Now that requires that we do have hope - and faith - and know what we believe and why. Learning about the faith is necessary, because we can't share what we don't know, we can't give something we don't have. We have a responsibility to learn and to grow in our faith and in our willingness to share it.

But notice, I left out a a couple of words when I said "give an explanation to anyone for the reason for our hope." The line really is: give an explanation to anyone who asks you for the reason for our hope."

Now, I don't think that this forbids us to initiate the conversation. Far from it. But it does throw a caution flag down, doesn't it? It seems to assume that if Christ is in our hearts, people will notice. And if they notice it, the time will be right sometimes to share, and that sharing our faith will often be a matter of answering a question or two.  

For example, if this week at work, someone asks about your weekend, you might mention that you went to Church. That person may then say they don't go, or don't believe, or they might ask why you do go. And the conversation will go on naturally from there, as long as you know what you believe and why. 

But if Christ is not fully in your heart, or if you are ashamed or embarrassed by going to church, well, you just are not going to include it when you answer about how your weekend went. 

But there is more advice from this letter: give an answer, it says,  "with gentleness and reverence" (pause, repeat).  the letter says that if we do so, and are attacked anyway, well, that is the attackers sin, not ours. If we fail to give reasons for out faith and hope, or do it in an insulting or harsh manner, that is our sin, not someone ele's.

When I was in seminary, a fellow seminarian and I went  to the Right to Life march in Washington, DC on January 22. At the end of the march, there were some counter protesters, people who favored abortion. Walking away at the end of the march, we wound up talking to two of them them, a mother an daughter. It started out well enough, but my friend lost his cool.  ...... PRAY! He shouted. Now how wrong was that?  He had let his emotions get the better of him. He was badgering, insulting. Worse, he was using sacred language to do it. Condemnation was in his heart. And he was telling these poor, sincere, tired women exactly what they should do. I'm sure they remember the encounter years later. But not fondly. And having been yelled at to PRAY!!!! makes it less likely that they would do so.

There is in the US right now an ardent lay Catholic who claims to be the head of an organization, but many people think the organization may consist of only himself, a secretary, a computer and a fax machine. He is famous for telling other people - Catholics and non-Catholics alike - what to do. Most of his pronouncements basically start with the idea that they are wrong and have to be stopped, and all this is shouted. Does this really help?  This man - and his name is not important to the story - is convinced he's right and others are wrong, and he may in fact be right. 

But he is far from gentle in his words and attitude, and he does not reverence the people he shouts at. Those people, even the really awful and wrong and sinful people, are made in the image and likeness of God, and need to be treated as such.  Our faith teaches us that Jesus came to redeem us all, each one of us. The nasty scoundrel who sins publicly is just as much loved by God as we are. Jesus came for him as much as he came for us.

Bringing this home, if we find ourselves arguing with family members because we go to church and they don't, or because we believe one thing and they believe another, well, we may be on the wrong track. Better to give a good example and wait for them to notice than to tell them what's wrong with them.

If we find ourselves praying more for the conversion of others than we pray for our own conversion, well, maybe we need to work on ourselves more. After all, we can only change ourselves. We can't force anyone else to change; we can only influence them to change. And we influence people not by telling others what they should do, but by living as we should, and by loving them.

Start with love. Obvious, caring, reverential love. If people know that you love them, then they will pay attention to your actions, and might even listen to your words. But if they don't know that you love them and respect them - or worse, if you do not love and respect them - then no amount of words will convince them to reflect on what they believe and do. All the logical arguments in the world will be ignored. People listen to people who are interested in them, who listen to them, who love them.


And if you find that you are mistreated, called names, or dealt with unfairly in all this, do not fall into the trap of treating others poorly or using your antagonists words or style. Rejoice and be glad, because you have been treated badly in the service of Christ. And commit yourself anew to reverencing the person who you think is disrespecting you.


Do as Jesus did. When someone gave a wrong answer, the gospel says "and Jesus looked on him with love." That look, that glance, changed lives. That look invited people to risk asking a question. Criticism, especially public criticism, just hardens people in their positions. 

The Father has sent the Son to love us and to teach us how to love one another, to love even those who are wrong-headed, opinionated, pig-headed and ignorant. Especially them. That is the Easter message, and it is how we are called to share the Easter message. Go and do as Jesus did.

On the marriage debates.

While faithful lay Catholics sit in shock at the abuse and misuse of sexual words and sexual actions by the bishops and some priests, the hierarchy makes in increasingly clear that they have only empty bromides to hurl at the LGBT community. There is no real theological engagement on the issues of sexual diversity, nor even on the subject of developing a coherent political theology. The hierarch's side of the debate consists of statements that are assumed but not argued, couched in inflated hyperbole that is designed to inflame. Can anyone name one straight marriage in the six states that permit gay marriage that has been harmed by allowing gays and lesbians to marry? I sincerely doubt it. Can anyone name any gay and lesbian couples who have been harmed by being unable to marry legally in their home states? Yes, there are many. Couples are denied tax and inheritance and joint property and social security and health insurance benefits under the law. Children's lives are less secure socially and economically because the two loving adults who are raising them cannot legally marry. These are real people, who are really hurting.


For legislators, they must answer a question that is not, fundamentally, a theological issue. It is a political issue. The legislatures are not deciding on Church marriage rules, which have always varied from civil marriage law. The legislatures are faced with one question, really. Are there two sets of laws that apply, one to couples of two genders, and another to the disadvantage of couples of the same gender, or are all consenting adult couples equal under the law?


For the hierarchy, they need to understand that if they act like politicians they will be treated with all the respect and deference the American people give to their politicians, which is to say, almost no respect and deference. Their task, which they have failed to accept, is to encourage theological discourse that will help develop an understanding about how the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of the faithful, in our times, and how the tradition of the Church can be informed by the signs of these our times. This must reflect the best of modern science, philosophy, and anthropology, as well as current scripture scholarship.  Facile language about the resemblance of the NY State legislature to totalitarian regimes is inappropriate, and beneath the dignity of the episcopal office.

Homily notes - 5th. Sunday of Easter

Homily - 5th Sunday of Easter
 
In the first weeks after Easter, we heard the Easter stories - the discovery of the empty tomb, and the reactions of the disciples to that discovery. We then heard about how Jesus appeared to the apostles and to others. Now, as the Easter season continues, we  hear from Jesus' talk at the last supper as recorded in John's gospel. That may seem at first impression to be going backwards, but it isn't. Because it was at the Last Supper that Jesus prepared us for his leaving us, and for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and for our life together as his disciples in his Church.
 
There are many things that can be said of these readings today, but I'd like to focus on only one of them: who are we?
 
If I asked you who you are, how would you answer? You might tell me your name - I'm Tom.  You might tell me whose family you belong to - I'm Jimmy's daughter. You might tell me what you do for a living - I'm a nurse, I’m a student, I’m a fireman. Or you might tell me some characteristic about yourself - I'm the one who is always cleaning up around here.
 
Now, if I asked you, who are you as a Christian, as a Catholic, what would you say? The gospel and the reading from St. Peter give us a large part of the answer.
 
As a Catholic, I am a person who has a strong, intimate, relationship with Jesus Christ. For each of us, that began in baptism, and once that relationship began, it never ends. It lasts our whole life long.  Even if we sin - even if we reject it – and there are costs, penalties for rejecting it - the relationship continues. This relationship is so strong that it is stronger than death itself. Our relationship with Jesus Christ  lasts beyond our death: it is a relationship for eternity, a relationship that begins once, in time, and once begun, it continues for all time.
 
Jesus says that he goes to prepare a place for us, and that in his Father’s house there are many mansions. When I was young, I thought he was speaking of real estate. I thought that he meant that you got a little house if you were just OK, but you got a really nice one on a good plot of land if you were better. But Jesus means something deeper. He is using language that every first century Jew would have understood immediately. He is saying that his relationship with his followers - and his followers assembled together in the church – his relationship with you and with me is as close as the relationship of a man and his wife. REPEAT.
 
In those days, a man became engaged to a woman, and then he went off to prepare a place for her. He went to build, or perhaps to buy, or to restore,  a house. He would not marry his betrothed until he had prepared the place, and when he did, he came back to get her, and the wedding began.
 
Do you remember those parables about the bridegroom coming at an hour they did not expect, or about the young women waiting for the bridegroom and running out of oil -- well they were built on the same idea. The groom will come! The Lord will come! [Though in contrast to some, we believe Jesus when he says no one knows the time or the hour. And the idea of ‘rapture’ is not part of Catholic belief, and dates back only to the 1890s among some – and only some – Protestants.]
 
"I am going to prepare a place for you" and "I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be."
 
Who is the Catholic Christian? The Catholic is a man, woman, young person or child who has been called into this deep, intimate, unending bond with Jesus Christ.  How wonderful is that?
 
This gospel goes on to say that when we are united to Christ, we are united also to God the Father, for Jesus says "I am in the Father and the Father is in me."
 
Jesus is the Way. Jesus is our way. Our way to what?
 
 Our way to the Father, our way to eternal life,
he is our way of life,
he is our way to becoming who we really are, in the core of our being, following Jesus is the way we become who we were created to be.
 
Following Jesus is how we thrive and flourish in our inmost selves. The Gospel is indeed, good news.
 
St. Peter's letter also testifies to this. He focuses on us corporately, i.e. on us together as Church. Christ is the living stone of the psalms, he says - the stone rejected by the builders, but that has become the cornerstone on which the church is built.
 
And we are called to be living stones, built up together, joined together as stones in a building are joined together, with Crist, into the Church. As members of the Church, I.e. Of Christ's body, we are " a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,  a people set apart." together we are - a new creation, tied to each other in Christ by new bonds, bonds not of earthly family or people, but as followers of the way of Jesus. [expand]
 
I began by asking "who are you?" and I gave some ways people answer that question. The best answer is: I am a person chosen by Jesus to be intimately close to him, and who follows His way of life. And by the way, my name is __________.

Fifth Sunday of Lent - homily notes

The Gospel reading we just heard is the third in a series - a series that is used in “year A” of the 3-year cycle of Sunday readings. This series is also used for the “scrutinies,” when those who are going to be baptized at Easter are brought to the community of faith so that they may announce to us and to the world that they are on the same walk of faith as we are.

Lent is a time for all of us to look at this curious thing called “faith.” We can try to define it, but the definition always seems to lack something, for “faith” is a living reality, and not something that can be locked up in a box of pure reason. We are on a walk of faith, a journey of faith, a pilgrimage of faith. 

For most of us, our faith waxes and wanes over the course of our lives. For most of us, there are times when we are absolutely certain of what we believe, and are convinced that it makes sense and is the right way to go. At these times, we cannot conceive any other way. 

At other times, we are left scratching our heads or shrugging our shoulders and wondering, wondering if it is all an illusion. Sometimes these questions arise when life is particularly difficult, when we have to face the evil in the world, or the evil in ourselves, or the most scandalous evil that is done by those who act in the name of the Church. At those times, we may be brought to the point of despair, but we must not despair. At those times we must remember the times the Lord acted in our lives, and rely on the community of faith to sustain us. “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.” Those words were said by the father of a sick child in the Gospel of Mark (chapter 9). Let that be our prayer.  

Just as in a marriage where there are times when it is easy to love and there are times when love is more of a challenge, there are times and seasons when faith is a challenge and times when it is not.  Sometimes, we are called to admit our unbelief, and ask God to heal our souls so that we can believe, or believe more completely. 

We are called to persist in our faith, and to put our faith into action, even when we do not “feel” it, when we do not “feel” close to God. Mother Theresa walked most of her life in a dark night, without the consolations of feeling God’s presence. In those years, she walked by faith, but not by sight. And she and the world are better because of he persistence.

[For the record, the Catechism defines faith as: “[Faith is\ a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It involves an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words.” [CCC] Faith is a theological or divine virtue, i.e. a gift of God who plants in our hearts the desire to believe and the means to do so.

But enough of definitions. They are too intellectual, too dry. Faith is not lived in definitions. Faith is lived in relationship.]

Two weeks ago, we heard of the wayward Samaritan woman at the well. She told her neighbors: “Come and see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” Seven husbands she had, and the one she was with now was not her husband! She came to believe, and through her, her neighbors came to believe. They said:  “we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

Last week, the blind born beggar, after having been cured and interrogated by the religious officials, comes to faith:  “I do believe, Lord,” he says, and he then worshiped Jesus.

And now today, we hear of Mary and Martha. They already know Jesus, and they have a degree of faith already.  Before Jesus calls Lazarus forth, they object that he has been in the tomb for four days. Their faith appears incomplete.  But after Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb we are told: “Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.” 

What are we to make of all this? Notice that in each of these Gospels, there are certain similarities.

First, faith begins and is strengthened gradually. Each of these long Gospels tells a story of the unfolding of a relationship with Jesus, a coming to faith in time. St. Paul was illuminated by faith suddenly while on the road to Damascus, but the more usual pattern is that there is some development, some unfolding, and this is  seen in each of these Gospel stories, in a sort of miniature form. Lord knows, we see it also in our own lives. We need to let our faith grow, to do the things which nourish it. We need to come to fuller faith. Lent is especially the time to do this.

Second, notice that in each of these stories there are people who are helpful and supportive to the development of faith, and people who are not. Faith is, it is sometimes said, caught, not taught. The neighbors of the Samaritan woman, some people in the crowd around the blind born man, and Martha and Mary are supportive of faith. But others - the Pharisees, the Temple officials, and often the crowd - these folks question and dispute and are querelous and contentious and seem to want to undermine the development of faith. When you get a chance, read Psalm 1: it contrasts the just one, who follows not the counsel of the wicked or sits in the company of scoffers; and the evil, who hang with the wrong crowd. This Lent, think about who supports your faith and who undermines it. Do we let the underminers undermine us? 

Third, notice that when it is professed, faith in is the person of Jesus, and not in a formula. The way we describe the content of our belief is important, but the belief is Christ, not in the formulas. We are called into relationship with Jesus. The Gospels call us to faith through stories - through accounts of who Jesus is and how he acted - the theological reflection comes later. 

Finally, faith breaks rules of restraint. In each of these Gospels, the main figures who come to faith are outcasts, at least to some degree. They are people on the margins, living irregular lives: a woman Samaritan with too many husbands; a beggar who cannot see but who in the end sees everything clearly (even the deep things of God) while those who claim to see are blind; today, we heard about two Jewish sisters living in a household without mention of husbands or children, a household Jesus chose to visit, which was surely an unusual household at the time. 

In each of these Gospels, there is ritual defilement: taking water from a Samaritan, healing on the Sabbath, having contact with a corpse. The call to Faith crosses boundaries, boundaries of all sorts. We are Catholic - a word which means universal, which includes everyone. The Gospels make abundantly clear that the Lord of Lords and King of Kings freely mixes with the folks on the margins - on the margins of the economy, on the margins because of ill health, on the margins because of their sexual history, on the margins because of their domestic situation - and the Lord purposely calls them, us, and gets a better response from these marginal folks than he does from those who are comfortably in the center of things.

If anyone here feels unworthy, good. For no one is worthy.  If anyone here is marginal, on the fringe, believes he is invisible to society or church, or feels that she is on the outside looking in, good. Know that it is just such persons that Jesus calls in the Gospels. “Come to me” Jesus says, “come to me.” This Lent, may we hear the call, for the call is addressed to us.

If......what if...........

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? 
If I am not for others, what am I? 
And if not now, when?
Rabbi Hillel
Jewish scholar & theologian (30 BC - 9 AD)

Kudos to Andrew Sullivan on DADT

The following extended quotation is from today's Andrew Sullivan's blog: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/He hits the nail on the head about why the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is morally necessary.

"We ask young men and women to go into the line of chaos, hatred and murder in order to keep us safe. Many have gone places and seen things and done things this past decade few of us will ever understand, or be able to appreciate. They have lived with the stress of war and constant deployments that their predecessors never had to cope with. They have encountered enemies prepared to violate every rule of war, to hide among civilians, to exploit the accidental deaths of children and women, and to implement barbaric rule wherever they get a chance to hang their medieval hats.

These men and women deserve our support. Period. All of them. It's inconceivable that in wartime, we should be making any discriminatory exceptions among those who fight for us, that we should honor any of them less than the rest, allow any criterion or characteristic to distract from the simple fact that they are American servicemembers - not gay or straight ones or black or Hispanic or white ones, not male and female ones, but Americans, in the US uniform, whose identity as soldiers begins and ends there.

Some see the end of DADT as some kind of special gesture to a minority. I think they are beyond wrong. This is about moving past the notion of a minority, to a more perfect union, in which nothing irrelevant prevents a man or woman from serving his or her country. It is about attacking the endurance of the gay-straight division and replacing it with the unifying fibre of honor and patriotism. It's about gay Americans being able, finally, in some deep way known only to those who have previously been excluded from military service, to become merely Americans.

Let us lose that qualifying adjective in the service of something greater than ourselves. E pluribus unum."