October 14, 2005
There are times when solitude is better than socializing and silence is wiser than speech. Certainly, I could be a better Christian if I were alone much of the time, talking with God, and gathering up strength and knowledge through meditation on his Word.
The past years I have found myself curiously too busy to become more than superficially interested in my church’s scandal. Every couple of months a letter was read at mass by a priest who was speaking for our bishop. Again, several times a year the bulletin or monthly catholic digest addressed the sins of our fathers. As Catholicism calls us to do, I took a leap of faith and believed whatever I was told.
In the last couple of years it seems I have watched idly as the “pedophile” priests have risen to their demise at a price that no dollar amount can be placed to this tag. And truth be told, for my 55 years as a Catholic, I have never known anyone directly, once removed or even twice (or a friend of a friend...) who has been abused by a priest.
Then, one day this week it seemed that I woke up from this bad dream and finally I was heard crying out--enough is enough. When will it end?” God reminds me that our words and our thoughts and the way we use our speech greatly impact the quality of life we enjoy. Nothing cuts short a vibrant life-like evil speech and lies we tell. They set loose a force of deception and damage that we cannot control. This unleashed power not only damages those about whom and to whom we speak, but they eventually boomerang and come back and bring their deadly payload back into our own lives.
Yes, I am deeply troubled by the crisis in my church. My heart has been burdened each time I read about a teacher who has sex with a student. Certainly, now more than any time in history sexual predators, pedophiles, sex crimes and the like have reached an all-time high invisibility. So much so that current laws and access to information online have made this hunt for criminals an American pastime.
Daily priests are making headlines while the few great holy men in our community are now being relegated to small bylines near the end of the newspaper.
Where is the Catholic leadership response to all of this?
This unbearable situation has given me cause to question authority and our leadership. It is time that our leadership demand accountability and take responsibility and remove those who, over the course of the years have participated in the lies and cover-ups and are as guilty as the perpetrators...
My love of Catholicism rus deep, so is my intolerance for its lack of responsibility and the lack of recent papal condemnation. Let's be people who speak what is right, good, wholesome, holy and true.
The German Poet who lived around the turn of the 20th century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote something very inspirational in his Letters to a Young Poet: You have had many touches of sadness, large ones, which passed. And you say that even this passing was difficult and upsetting for you. But please, ask yourself whether these large sadnesses haven’t gone right through you. Perhaps many things inside you have been transformed, perhaps somewhere, someplace deep within your being, you have undergone important changes when you were sad. That is why the sadness passes: the new presence inside us, the presence that has been added, has entered our heart, has gone into our innermost chamber and is no longer even there, is already in our bloodstream. And we don’t know what it was. We could easily be made to believe that nothing happened, and yet, we have changed, as a house that a guest has entered changes. We can’t say who has come, perhaps we will never know, but many signs indicate that the future enters us in this way in order to be transformed in us, long before it happens. And that is necessary.
Dear Lord, my heart is heavy and laden with these burdens. Let not my sadness paralyze me. As this pain takes me to its depths, I know the sadness will set me free. Lord I pray for patience, resolution, forgiveness and reparation with this crisis, with those who have suffered and who continue to suffer and for your healing and peace. In Jesus name, I pray. AMEN.
My dear Charlene, I can feel your anguish and almost see your tearful heart in your sad but sweet message. I'm sure many of us wrestle with the same problem esp when we see Mahoney being so arrogant and uncaring about his flock. Last year when I had dinner with Bishop Todd Brown we spoke about the priest problem and he assured me of his zero-tolerance policy, commitment to turning over all the records to the authorities (which he has) and his covenant with the faithful. I can't even look at Mahoney's face on TV or in the newspapers because I don't see in his face compassion, sorrow, concern for his flock, humility or Godliness. I can't believe that Angelenos aren't crying for his resignation as they did for Cardinal Law's in Boston.
Last night a friend and I were discussing this matter on our way to the speaker series at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The speaker was Rev. Thomas Rausch, S.J., Ph.D., a Professor of Catholic Theology at Loyola Marymount University. He's a specialist in the area of ecclesiology, ecumenism and the theology of the priesthood, has published 11 books and over 100 articles. Rev. Tom's subject matter was "What is Distinctive about being Catholic: The Catholic Imagination." Fascinating subject, brilliant mind! He said some things that resonated me re: the priest problem; to wit, 1) Catholicism is about the community of the faithful (including the community of saints) and fulfills the need for human flourishing; and, referring to the liturgy and the sacraments, 2) God is in the act, not the being/priest who administers it.
Throughout this crisis I've concentrated on several things: contemplative prayer, my love for the sacraments and traditions of the church, my very devout family (mom, sisters, children), and my friends in the Christian community. Yom Kipper is about forgiveness, hard as it is at times, and I'm going to try to get past the church leadership's arrogant, abominable behavior, and pray that I can learn to forgive. Meanwhile, I'm not going to let a few priests and bishops come between me and the church I love so much.
George Weigel, Pope JP II's biographer, has written a book "The Courage To Be Catholic." In it he argues that the path to genuine Catholic reform does not lie in accommodating the truth to the spirit of the age, but in a renewed commitment to living the fullness of the Catholic faith. He analyzes the Church's failure to embrace the great spiritual promise of Vatican II and exposes the patterns of dissent entrenched in seminaries, among priests and the bishops who failed their flocks. He wraps it up by giving a solid agenda for true reform and holiness. Since he's a respected Catholic writer, I'm hoping and praying that the comments and ideas in this book receive much attention and initiate a dialogue that will result in true reform.
Given the problems we have today with the church, many people have described the church as a corrupt religion. Thomas Woods, Jr. Ph.D., in his book "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization," chronicles the pivotal role in shaping Western civilization for the last 2,000 years and uncovers the lost truth of the Church's contributions to our history, including:
* How the fathers of atomic theory, aviation and Egyptology were all Catholic priests
* How the Catholic Church was the great defender of the sanctity of human life and the individual against the state
* How the Church invented charitable work and the charitable spirit
* How Catholic priests developed the idea of free-market economics
* How the Church created what we now know as the university
In other words, the Catholic Church has had a monumental impact on society and western civilization as a whole and I'm not going to let a few, but a few too many, spoil the work of many people over many years.
Charlene, I pray that I've been able to give you some comfort in sharing my thoughts and readings. You're a wonderfully inquisitive, sensitive and spiritual person and I applaud your constant quest for the truth. Maybe though that's all we'll ever have on this earth, the journey, the quest. Maybe that's all we'll ever need.
This is proof that prayers are answered. TBTG (thanks be to God)
The past years I have found myself curiously too busy to become more than superficially interested in my church’s scandal. Every couple of months a letter was read at mass by a priest who was speaking for our bishop. Again, several times a year the bulletin or monthly catholic digest addressed the sins of our fathers. As Catholicism calls us to do, I took a leap of faith and believed whatever I was told.
In the last couple of years it seems I have watched idly as the “pedophile” priests have risen to their demise at a price that no dollar amount can be placed to this tag. And truth be told, for my 55 years as a Catholic, I have never known anyone directly, once removed or even twice (or a friend of a friend...) who has been abused by a priest.
Then, one day this week it seemed that I woke up from this bad dream and finally I was heard crying out--enough is enough. When will it end?” God reminds me that our words and our thoughts and the way we use our speech greatly impact the quality of life we enjoy. Nothing cuts short a vibrant life-like evil speech and lies we tell. They set loose a force of deception and damage that we cannot control. This unleashed power not only damages those about whom and to whom we speak, but they eventually boomerang and come back and bring their deadly payload back into our own lives.
Yes, I am deeply troubled by the crisis in my church. My heart has been burdened each time I read about a teacher who has sex with a student. Certainly, now more than any time in history sexual predators, pedophiles, sex crimes and the like have reached an all-time high invisibility. So much so that current laws and access to information online have made this hunt for criminals an American pastime.
Daily priests are making headlines while the few great holy men in our community are now being relegated to small bylines near the end of the newspaper.
Where is the Catholic leadership response to all of this?
This unbearable situation has given me cause to question authority and our leadership. It is time that our leadership demand accountability and take responsibility and remove those who, over the course of the years have participated in the lies and cover-ups and are as guilty as the perpetrators...
My love of Catholicism rus deep, so is my intolerance for its lack of responsibility and the lack of recent papal condemnation. Let's be people who speak what is right, good, wholesome, holy and true.
The German Poet who lived around the turn of the 20th century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote something very inspirational in his Letters to a Young Poet: You have had many touches of sadness, large ones, which passed. And you say that even this passing was difficult and upsetting for you. But please, ask yourself whether these large sadnesses haven’t gone right through you. Perhaps many things inside you have been transformed, perhaps somewhere, someplace deep within your being, you have undergone important changes when you were sad. That is why the sadness passes: the new presence inside us, the presence that has been added, has entered our heart, has gone into our innermost chamber and is no longer even there, is already in our bloodstream. And we don’t know what it was. We could easily be made to believe that nothing happened, and yet, we have changed, as a house that a guest has entered changes. We can’t say who has come, perhaps we will never know, but many signs indicate that the future enters us in this way in order to be transformed in us, long before it happens. And that is necessary.
Dear Lord, my heart is heavy and laden with these burdens. Let not my sadness paralyze me. As this pain takes me to its depths, I know the sadness will set me free. Lord I pray for patience, resolution, forgiveness and reparation with this crisis, with those who have suffered and who continue to suffer and for your healing and peace. In Jesus name, I pray. AMEN.
My dear Charlene, I can feel your anguish and almost see your tearful heart in your sad but sweet message. I'm sure many of us wrestle with the same problem esp when we see Mahoney being so arrogant and uncaring about his flock. Last year when I had dinner with Bishop Todd Brown we spoke about the priest problem and he assured me of his zero-tolerance policy, commitment to turning over all the records to the authorities (which he has) and his covenant with the faithful. I can't even look at Mahoney's face on TV or in the newspapers because I don't see in his face compassion, sorrow, concern for his flock, humility or Godliness. I can't believe that Angelenos aren't crying for his resignation as they did for Cardinal Law's in Boston.
Last night a friend and I were discussing this matter on our way to the speaker series at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The speaker was Rev. Thomas Rausch, S.J., Ph.D., a Professor of Catholic Theology at Loyola Marymount University. He's a specialist in the area of ecclesiology, ecumenism and the theology of the priesthood, has published 11 books and over 100 articles. Rev. Tom's subject matter was "What is Distinctive about being Catholic: The Catholic Imagination." Fascinating subject, brilliant mind! He said some things that resonated me re: the priest problem; to wit, 1) Catholicism is about the community of the faithful (including the community of saints) and fulfills the need for human flourishing; and, referring to the liturgy and the sacraments, 2) God is in the act, not the being/priest who administers it.
Throughout this crisis I've concentrated on several things: contemplative prayer, my love for the sacraments and traditions of the church, my very devout family (mom, sisters, children), and my friends in the Christian community. Yom Kipper is about forgiveness, hard as it is at times, and I'm going to try to get past the church leadership's arrogant, abominable behavior, and pray that I can learn to forgive. Meanwhile, I'm not going to let a few priests and bishops come between me and the church I love so much.
George Weigel, Pope JP II's biographer, has written a book "The Courage To Be Catholic." In it he argues that the path to genuine Catholic reform does not lie in accommodating the truth to the spirit of the age, but in a renewed commitment to living the fullness of the Catholic faith. He analyzes the Church's failure to embrace the great spiritual promise of Vatican II and exposes the patterns of dissent entrenched in seminaries, among priests and the bishops who failed their flocks. He wraps it up by giving a solid agenda for true reform and holiness. Since he's a respected Catholic writer, I'm hoping and praying that the comments and ideas in this book receive much attention and initiate a dialogue that will result in true reform.
Given the problems we have today with the church, many people have described the church as a corrupt religion. Thomas Woods, Jr. Ph.D., in his book "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization," chronicles the pivotal role in shaping Western civilization for the last 2,000 years and uncovers the lost truth of the Church's contributions to our history, including:
* How the fathers of atomic theory, aviation and Egyptology were all Catholic priests
* How the Catholic Church was the great defender of the sanctity of human life and the individual against the state
* How the Church invented charitable work and the charitable spirit
* How Catholic priests developed the idea of free-market economics
* How the Church created what we now know as the university
In other words, the Catholic Church has had a monumental impact on society and western civilization as a whole and I'm not going to let a few, but a few too many, spoil the work of many people over many years.
Charlene, I pray that I've been able to give you some comfort in sharing my thoughts and readings. You're a wonderfully inquisitive, sensitive and spiritual person and I applaud your constant quest for the truth. Maybe though that's all we'll ever have on this earth, the journey, the quest. Maybe that's all we'll ever need.
This is proof that prayers are answered. TBTG (thanks be to God)
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