Institution Men



(Editor's Note: The following is a homily given by a priest in North Carolina on March 10, 2002.)

However, I would like to make a point about something that concerns the periphery of the main issue. I encourage you not to be taken in by so many pundits in the media and self-anointed expert dissidents in the Church itself who make the argument that somehow the problem and evil we are now dealing with is caused by celibacy. The great majority of priests, who do live by their promises, would be amazed to be told that the celibate state, which our Lord Himself lived and encouraged in others, leads to something like the perversions we are seeing come to light. Likewise, such proffered, so-called cures for the problem of sexual scandal among priests as “allowing” them to marry ignores the fact that the institution of marriage itself is in worse shape than ever before, with its own many attendant scandals.

Now to the main issue. In so much of the huffing and puffing by the Boston Cardinal and his bureaucratic machinery, there has been in the attempt to cover all this mess up and in the attempt then to seem like they were cooperating with the investigation – in all this the children and their families who were so wounded by this clerical treachery do not really seem to be the concern. But I am telling you that here is where the greatest harm has been done, and few of the talking-clerics seem to be able or willing to face it. They just keep on defending the institution that butters their bread, making excuses and setting up smoke screens.

For example, we finally heard from the president of the American bishops' conference, Bishop Wilton Gregory (who, since he is president of the conference, speaks for the whole group, I presume), who embarrassingly recounted all the good that the Church does for society (true enough in itself) and that through all these terrible happenings “we have all been enlightened.” As if the problem had anything in the world to do with a lack of “enlightenment.” And Cardinal Law himself spoke of society and the Church being on “a learning curve” in regards to the molestation of minors. As if any learning were needed to see what is so obvious to almost everyone: that you do not allow a sexual predator of children (and a repeat offender no less) around children. American society, for instance, has known enough about the sexual abuse of minors to have this offense classified as a felony in all fifty states for decades. For decades. No, here we are not dealing with ignorance on the part of bishops and priests; we are dealing with a flagrant negligence of their duty as shepherds. A wolf was loose in the archdiocese of Boston, a predator of children known to be about his evil and sick adventures since 1980 – a wolf was having a hay day among the flock, and the shepherd did next to nothing to stop him but assigned him to new venues in which he pursued his monstrous vices.

How could this happen? How could a bishop be so neglectful? I will tell you: when they are no longer shepherds but rather hirelings, institution men, who are devoted more to the structure and system than to what counts for far more, infinitely more – the lives, hearts and souls of their people. The sheep, especially the little ones, were not being guarded. And that is the kindest interpretation to put on this tragic failure.

Things, however, were not always this way, and they will not remain this way forever, thank God. Recently a friend was telling me the story of Alec Guinness' experience in France when he was there acting the role of a priest in a film. One day Guinness got all dressed up as a priest – cassock and Roman collar – and walked down to the outdoor set. There he found out that things had been postponed, and so he started walking back toward his quarters along an old railroad track. Soon he heard, “mon pere, mon pere,” and he turned to see a young boy, returning home from school, who ran up to Guinness, grasped his hand and began walking with him, recounting to the famous actor (whom the boy thought a priest) his school day adventures, his plans for the weekend, all the many excitements in a young boy's mind. And then off he ran when they came to his village house. This event so touched Guinness – that there was such an affection, trust, and openness between a boy and a man who was a stranger (but not a stranger because he was a priest) – this occurrence so moved Guinness that it became for him his first step in his being received into the Roman Catholic Church.

That kind of trust has now been strained if not broken. It will take time and lots of effort to restore things. But let us please have an end to all these appeals to ignorance and lack of enlightenment. I am not interested, concerning this issue, with the state of the bishops' enlightenment and where they are on a supposed “learning curve.” For what is sorely needed here is not enlightenment, but repentance and real, long-awaited reform in the Church.

Meanwhile, do not let these things disturb your faith. The Church has been through worse scandals. In fact these things in some sense point to an important thing about the Church – that no merely human institution could have ever survived the terrible leadership that the Church has, on occasion, had to endure, as is the case these days in some places in this country. But even if all the scandals were added up, collected, and piled onto the floor here in front of us, the sum total of it would not be real evidence against the truth of the Catholic Faith. Our Lord Himself was betrayed by one of His own chosen Twelve, an unspeakable scandal. That is, the question is not so much how Catholics, including priests and bishops, live, but whether the Catholic Faith is true or not. And if people want to know what the Catholic Church is capable of doing in a human life, then look at our Saints; take some time to reflect on the life and work of a Mother Teresa.

No, the thing to do is not to doubt, but to pray and to seek the renewal in the Church that will most definitely come. All the faithful must pray for the Church … pray, and also make it known, through whatever legitimate channels, to our bishops, to Rome itself, that the time has come, now more than ever, for bishops to be chosen who will preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who will love and serve the Church and their people, laying down their lives like Jesus did for the sheep – bishops and priests who will be shepherds. Please, no more “institution men,” but rather shepherds!


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