We are now in the last weekend in our meditation of the Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of John. The gospel this weekend recalls the abandonment of the other disciples, who initially were mesmerized and enthralled by the power of Christ, but could not accept his primordial teaching and revelation that He is the Bread of Life, and that his flesh is the true food of the soul. As John the Evangelist in the Gospel describes “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” As Jesus experienced this painful rejection, he turned to the twelve apostles and asked them, “do you also want to leave?”
This question of Jesus to the disciples really struck me as I struggle with the horrific, disheartening and appalling sexual scandals that the Church is embroiled in again nowadays in the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report and the scandal involving Cardinal McCarrick. I talked about this extensively in my homilies in my last weekend’s Masses (9am, 10:45am and 12:30pm). I wish I would have talked about it at my Vigil Mass last Saturday, but I wasn’t able to read the official transcripts of the grand jury before that Mass, so I waited till the following day to talk about in my homilies. Personally, I was outraged, angry and discouraged heavily when I first read the specifics of the events. It’s beyond imaginable the pain and sorrow that the victims and their families have gone through with this kind of violation and abuse. People’s lives have been destroyed forever. The incredible abuses that took place under the hands of the fallen clergy violated the most sacred trust. There is no other way to describe it but pure evil. Greatly appalling, deeply disturbing and infuriating were the cover-ups and “tolerance” of the abuses by those church authorities who had been tasked to oversee and report these abuses. Their inactions and keeping a closed eye on these abuses put people in greater harm and danger and perpetuated the abuses. The silence for decades on these abuses is heartbreaking. There has to be greater accountability on all those who were part of these abuses starting from the abuser (though most of them are already dead) to those who had been involved in these cover-ups. Resignation and removal from their ministerial posts is the least thing that they could charitably do for the good of everyone, but also to submit themselves to the justice system for their criminal acts. True repentance and apology involve justice. Until such accountability is seen, the Church will have zero credibility in her battle against these abuses. It cannot just be rhetoric, but concrete actions. What concrete actions needed to take place? First, to strengthen our prayer life. True conversion only happens when one grows in our relationship with God. We need to lift up to the Lord the victims and their families. We should also pray for the fallen clergy, especially for their conversion and repentance. We must not forget also to pray for the sanctification of the clergy and for their perseverance in their faith and ministry that they may not lose heart in the midst of this turmoil; included in this is to pray for our bishops that they may act in God’s wisdom. Second, to continue to reach out to the victims and their families, offering them our full support even if the statutes of limitations have already passed. Full support means whatever they need to alleviate their situations. This is not just a matter of charity, but of true justice. Third, to evaluate whether the safety and protection protocols that are in place actually work. It’s not enough to say that we have established safe environment guidelines, but to actively assess them if they indeed protect everyone. Fourth, to establish clear and strong protocols that put bishops or anyone charged with handling clergy misconduct more accountable canonically and legally. Failure to do so must result to immediate removal from office and filing of criminal charges. Fifth, to continue to strengthen seminary formation ensuring that the candidates to the priesthood are healthy, putting greater emphasis on their “human and spiritual formation”, rooting out anything that would be harmful to one’s future ministry.
I must say that the Church has made great headways since 2004 in the way we handle these issues, but we cannot be passive and be complacent in ensuring that concrete steps are followed and observed. These horrific events taint all of us, not just the clergy, because we are all One Body—if one part of the body is hurting, then the whole body feels it, so we are all one in this painful journey. That is why the call to conversion in this difficult time is for everyone, rooting out everything that blurs our identity as sons and daughters of God and blemishes or mars our identity as temples of the Holy Spirit.
It’s easy to lose heart and the focus of our faith when something like this explodes in front of our face. It disorients us and sometimes even puts our faith in question, but it is important to remember that we all here because of the Eucharist, the source and summit of Christian life and the very presence of God. It is the Eucharist that makes me hopeful, and it is the Eucharist that makes me stay in the priesthood, and it is in the Eucharist where God leads and answers me in my own question in the words of Simon Peter, “Master, to whom shall we go?, you have the words of everlasting life”. – Fr. Cary