Week of August 26, 2018

Week of August 26, 2018

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Dear Parishioners,

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report. I have endeavored to read the whole thing. But, I find myself unable to do so for the same reason I have trouble reading Dante’s Inferno: I hate to see something so blatantly evil triumph. I became a priest because I like redemption, moral conversion and forgiveness. Sin is by its nature tedious and saps the life out of everything it touches.

When I became Catholic, it was in the middle of the first sexual abuse reports from Boston and other major sees. When I entered seminary, we were warned thoroughly about the dangers of being accused and never to even give the appearance of doing evil. Then, right before I was ordained a priest, I was warned by officials from the Diocese to never harm a child in this manner or give anyone reason to think that you did or else I would be cut off without question. The shadow of scandal has loomed over my whole time being a priest, and just about any priest I know with any sense, scrupulously keeps the rules to keep minors safe. This includes never being alone with a minor and keeping all communications above board. Furthermore, we were told that if we ever saw any signs of abuse of minors, we need to immediately contact the police even before contacting the Diocese. During my time of being a priest, I have seen nothing but the Church going completely out of its way to protect minors. So, it is incomprehensible to me that evil men could have persisted so long without being caught.

Yet, I also know that most of these cases were in a very different time. Since the Dallas Charter (the Charter for the Protection of Young People) was implemented in 2005, cases of clergy abuse of children has plummeted. The real problem facing us now is the revelation that bishops and other officials in charge did very little about sexual abuse when it was found out. When faced with an evil act, they chose to sweep it under the rug rather than directly address the problem and punish the people responsible. In the moment, I can see this making sense to them because they were thinking about the property and prestige of the Church. In some cases, they may have even thought they were being merciful. But, obviously, that was not the right move since it put even more young people in harm’s way.

As someone who strives to live his priestly vocation, this frustrates me. I am not perfect. But, these acts done by sick people who probably should not have even been ordained affects all of us who are simply trying to be good priests. How can we preach about virtue if people doubt our motives? How can we talk about dedication to Christ if people think we might use them? How can we evangelize if people’s first impression is that we protected ourselves instead of children? How can I claim to represent Christ when there were wolves in sheep’s clothing in our midst?

What should we do now? Above all, we need to pray for the victims of the this abuse whose pain should be our pain. In that spirit, we need to do penance for all those who perpetrated those crimes because as the body of Christ, we all suffer when one of our members is hurt. Sometimes those of us who love the Church can become defensive when we hear people speak out and try to discount them. But, what those who are hurt need to see is the love of Christ. Then, we must encourage the Church to ecclesiastically and civilly prosecute those bishops and priests among us who have aided this abuse, no matter how high their rank might be. In many ways, I am glad for this report because now we can begin a process of renewal in the Church, having stronger leadership and a willingness to do what is right. Lastly, if you see any signs of abuse from anyone (clergy or not), immediately report it to the police.

There are many other aspects I would like to talk to you all about including the connection between these abuse cases and unchecked homosexual acts within the clergy, why allowing priests to marry will not solve the issue, why removing the statute of limitations is a bad idea and why we should still believe in the Church. But, I will leave that to future letters. If you need to contact me for any reason about any of these issues, feel free to call me at the parish office or email me at toddcarterpriest@gmail.com.

God bless,

Father Carter

P.S. If you would like to read a more in depth article on how we can help renew the Church in the face of this crisis, please read the article from First Things Magazine, “Cleansing the Church of Clerical Sacrilege” by Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P. It can be easily found online with a search engine.