Time to Play Defense
I wasn't necessarily known for my defense on the basketball court, but it's time to defend Papa. Holy Week brought another tidal wave of attacks on Mother Church. This time the cavalry is focusing on our Holy Father himself, Pope Benedict.
Before fighting back, I think it's important to recognize the grave evil perpetrated by Catholic priests and horrendous manner in which some Bishops handled these cases. These events have seriously scarred many victims and brought much embarrassment to the Church. No defense from the media blitz should include excuse-making for these sins - especially egregious sins when committed by men ordained to stand for the person of Christ. Thankfully, judgment for these crimes is ultimately left for God.
Now, because of these scandals, the credibility of the Catholic Church is being questioned. If the Church really is the authorized custodian and teacher of God's revealed truth in the person of Jesus Christ, is it possible for evil acts to be committed by her representatives? Not only is it possible; it is guaranteed! Jesus promised the Church will be made up of both wheat and weeds (See Matthew 13). In fact, one of the original 12 bishops ordained by Jesus himself turned out to be quite a weed, did he not? Christ's promise of the Holy Spirit to lead his Church to all truth (John 16:13) obviously does not guarantee that her human representatives will always be able to live up to her own official teachings. Do you think Judas caused scandal for the first century Church? You can bet the "New York Times" of its day was all over that one. Two thousand years later, not much has changed.
So what do we make of a media market obsessed with bringing down the Pope? Well, this hatred for the Church was also guaranteed by our Lord. No slave is greater than his master. If they persecuted him, they will persecute his appointed vicar (John 15:18-20). I see so much panic within Catholic ranks over this, but I'll tell you when we should panic: If the Church ever became so weak that the world found no need to attack her, then we should worry.
Nevertheless, these attacks do confuse the flock and cause many sheep to leave the shepherd, so we must fight back in order to minimize the damage. So let's play a little game of Fact or Fiction?
FICTION: The New York Times broke a major story pinning the transfer of 1979 German pedophile priest Peter Hullermann on the Pope (then-Cardinal Ratzinger of Munich).
FACT: Their only piece of so-called "evidence" for this accusation is that Ratzinger was "copied" on a memo about the issue, and current judicial vicar of the Munich Archdiocese, Lorenz Wolf, said the memo was routine and unlikely to have landed on the archbishop's desk; therefore, that means (according to the Times) Wolf "was unable to rule out that the Archbishop had seen the memo." Gasp! Stop the presses.
FICTION: According to NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Cardinal Ratzinger "ignored repeated warnings and looked away in the case of Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, a Wisconsin priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys."
FACT: How exactly could Ratzinger have "ignored repeated warnings" about these crimes occurring an ocean away in the 1950s, long before he even rose to high positions in the Church? Twenty-two years after Murphy's last reported offense, his victims pressed the Milwaukee Archbishop to take action in 1996. Ratizinger was then head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and his office approved a trial which could have led to Murphy's defrocking. The CDF also waived its internal statute of limitations for pressing charges against priests in order to keep the trial alive! In June of 1998, Ratzinger's deputy suggested letting a dying Murphy accept "banishment" if he admitted guilt and expressed remorse. But the trial continued up until two weeks before Murphy's August death. Wow, Ratzinger's office approved the trial and waived the statute of limitations to keep it alive. This is a cover-up?
FICTION: The Associated Press has uncovered a 1985 letter to the Bishop of Oakland in which then-Cardinal Ratzinger denied the defrocking of pedophile priest Stephen Kiesle.
FACT: This letter was addressing Kiesle's request to be removed from his vow of celibacy and had nothing to do with covering up pedophilia. It had everything thing to do with his (and John Paul's) efforts to restore the dignity of priestly and marital vows after an excessive period of diocesan dispensations. In fact, in the same letter Ratzinger charged the Oakland Bishop with making sure Kiesle didn't re-offend while the Church dealt with the "grave significance" of his actions.
FICTION: Pope Benedict is the ring-leader of a long-time orchestrated effort to transfer pedophile priests and cover up their crimes.
FACT: No human being on the planet has done more than Pope Benedict to rid the Church of "the filth" (his words). He has brought down the hammer on offending priests and bishops, convened multiple bishops' conferences on the matter, met with victims, apologized on behalf of the Church multiple times, and implemented drastic reforms and legal procedures for the way the Vatican handles these cases. What else can he do?
FICTION: The Catholic Church is the epicenter of sexual abuse, and the Pope should be tried for "crimes against humanity" (a UN judge actually said that with a straight face!).
FACT: The abuse scandal occurred mostly between 1965-1985. During this time, less than 2% of priests were found guilty. Meanwhile, the number for Protestant ministers is 10%. The amount of abuse within the public school system is reportedly more than 100 times the crimes committed within the Catholic Church. Studies show that as much as 60% of sexual abuse occurs from within the family. Do you know how many cases were reported within the 65 million member American Church in 2009? Six. Not six thousand. Not six hundred. Six. As George Weigel said, "The Catholic Church today can be empirically shown to be the safest environment for young people and children in North America."
FICTION: Oppressive, unrealistic celibacy is the cause of sexual misconduct and pedophilia. "It is child abuse to teach that a celibate saint/nun is a noble aspiration," as one Denver Post online commenter said about me.
FACT: There is absolutely no link to celibacy. None. Most (by far!) of these crimes are committed by non-celibates. Today's culture can't wrap their collective heads around the fact that celibacy can be fruitful. They can't fathom giving up sex for the good of the kingdom of God (Mt 19:12). The world is trying to tell us that surrender to every temptation and desire is natural and good. Never mind that following this nonsensical idea would quickly turn a person into a fat, dirty, diseased, mangy beast in prison.
So given all these facts, why does the media firestorm and pathetic Pope-bashing continue? As Bishop Conley wrote, "No other world religious leader, Jewish, Muslim, or other, would be treated in this way."
Here's why: because the Catholic Church remains the only world-wide institution in rock-solid opposition to so many inconvenient truths. The Church is an indigestible pit in the world's stomach. Most notably, the pagan media can't handle the following Church teachings: abortion is murder, contraception is evil, sex is a sacred marital embrace for procreation and bonding, authentic holy matrimony (i.e., between husband and wife) is the bedrock of society, and hell does actually exist.
So let's not be surprised by the latest rounds of shameless attacks on the "pillar and foundation of truth" (1Tim3:15). The Enemy is most certainly behind every one of these guaranteed attacks. I know it can be depressing for Catholics to read the newspaper, but let us not despair.
How can we not find comfort in a guaranteed victory issued back in 33? No, I'm not talking about Joe Namath in Super Bowl III. This came from the Son of God! The powers of death will not prevail against his Church! (Matt 16:18)
Maureen Dowd and Co... good luck with that.
I think credit for this cartoon goes to Sean Delonas of the NY Post.
"If the Church ever became so weak that the world found no need to attack her, then we should worry." So true.
I am reminded of a quote from Chesterton: "A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."
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Well said sir. Thanks for this. During this whole fiasco the words of Pilate have been reverberating in my mind: Quid est veritas? What is truth? (Jn. 18:38)- Is it what the pharisees and the crowds said about Christ or is it Christ's voice? There have certainly been a number of atrocious acts committed over the Church's history and as an institution of men, we are bound to commit more mistakes (hopefully not to this degree, but evil lurks and our work continues). However, the truth of Christ will prevail over the mistakes, because the faults of man can never supersede the truth of Christ's voice. We just need to make sure we are truly open to the voice of Christ, so we know what He is trying to tell us- not what the crowds claim to say. Where the darkness of sin and death exist, through his death and resurrection, Jesus promises us the hope of a purificaiton that brings forth new life. Out of these 'dark' moments, I think we will begin to see the purification of our Church- a purification that will hopefully lead us to the truth. Here's a link to an article I came across about the purification our Church is undergoing (something we've briefly discussed). I think in light of what you've given us here, it puts the recent events into further perspective and continues to challenge us to seek the truth in the midst of the shouting crowds.
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=36049
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