Low Point Reached For Cathoic Church,

Or Just Beginning?

By Tom Anselm

This isn’t going to be easy. It’s all over the news, local, national international. The story has been and continues to be shocking, horrendous, disgusting, frustrating in equal measures, one day so bad it can’t get worse, until the next day, it does.

What I am referring to is the most recent disclosure of sexual abuse of adults and minors by certain clergy in the Catholic Church. I won’t chronicle the specifics here. One can get that from other sources at the click of a mouse. Suffice it to say that this is a scourge on the institution of the Church, and it only seems to be getting worse.

The real problem as I am coming to see it is that this isn’t just an isolated revelation, focusing on one part of the country. From the looks of things, this kind of aberrant behavior and the subsequent attempts to keep it from coming to the forefront may be so widespread in the Church and among its clergy and the hierarchy, that it could reach nationally, even globally, maybe even to the highest levels of Church leadership. And by that, I mean to Rome, the Vatican… even the most recent Pope and his predecessors.

That would be cataclysmic to the religious organization I have been part of since birth.

My family history goes back many centuries to a faith relationship with the Catholic Church. On both sides, all Catholic, born and bred. It is part of me. I wasn’t always the most faithful member, falling away for awhile in my youth, but through the grace of God and the love of a great woman, I came back. And I am glad for it.

My association with this faith is a big part of who I am, and want to be. So this latest news has been hard to take. I have so many emotions. I feel betrayed by those commissioned as our leaders who have buried their heads in the sand, or worse, taken active roles in allowing this to continue, unchecked. I feel deep sadness for the victims.

I feel anger and disgust for the perpetrators. I feel embarrassment for my Church and fellow Catholics, who are saddled with trying to bring some sense to this huge mess.

I feel sorrow and compassion for all the many priests who are holy and caring and honest and decent who are being painted with this same brush of suspicion, borne by the scandalous, illegal and immoral behavior of some.

And so, I wonder. Where will this lead? What will be the result of this? And also, what can I do?

A young priest I know, one greatly pained by all this, said in so many words that ‘it is about time,’ meaning this revelation should have happened long ago.   He said it would get worse before it gets better, but if a purge is what is needed, then let’s get on with it, and not stop until the Church is cleaned up for good. He compared it to a boil, that when it bursts, the pain is still there, but the healing can begin. He wants those who are in power to fix this.

He said this is not about the faith. That, he said, comes from God, from the scriptures, from the sacraments. This is about tainted, imperfect men, sick in mind and soul. It is about an abuse of power and a system of deceit. One that was allowed to go on far too long.

But also one that can be fixed. And he gave me hope.

He told me to pray for everyone involved. Those abused, those who were derelict in their duty to deal with it, and yes, even the perpetrators. All must change, all need healing. To ‘keep the faith.’ And in that, good will come.

This isn’t going to be easy. But it is going to be necessary. Nothing less should be acceptable.

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