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(This article originally appeared in The Wanderer and is reprinted with permission. To subscribe call 651-224-5733.)
The current wave of scandal did not surprise her because she “encountered two religious brothers who were clearly sexually twisted” when she was a girl. This is why she says, “I didn’t let my own kids near a Catholic school.”
I guess we cannot deny that experiences of this sort can shape an individual’s perception of the Church. But what interested me more in this woman’s letter was something else. She writes: “I’d like to suggest that the credibility problem caused by clerical pedophiles and complicit bishops goes deeper than a disconnect between what they say what they do. Ordinary Catholics have to be asking themselves what these men really believe. Do they really believe there is a hell where sexual misbehavior is punished?”
She asks further, “Do they really believe there is eternal retribution for putting young souls on the path to damnation? They sure seem to have been carrying on pleasantly enough for decades with this burden of sin on their shoulders.” Which is why, she maintains, “Ordinary Catholics have to question whether the messengers themselves believe their message is bogus. This makes the scandal much more damaging from the point of view of faith.”
She ends by referring to Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, where the “Reverend Dimmesdale committed adultery but suffered private pangs. He did wrong, but did it in weakness. He did it all with the consciousness that he was damning himself. I don’t get the sense that these priests and bishops are suffering that way.”
Atheist or not, this woman hit the bull’s eye. We can’t ignore her point. I don’t know if we will ever find out what pedophile priests think about themselves in their private moments. But there are only a few possible explanations, if “Mary’s” charge that they no longer believe in a punishment in the hereafter is not the answer.
One possibility is that these priests actually do experience great anguish over their behavior and beg regularly for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance, but continue to fall to their temptations. I guess that could be. But I agree with “Mary.” I also see little evidence of these priests having lived their lives with a “burden of sin” on their shoulders. They seem more concerned about covering up their shameful behavior — and finding ways to continue it undetected.
There is also the possibility that these priests bought into the homosexual revolution so completely that they did not consider their behavior sinful. Not impossible. We have all heard of priests who disagree with the Church’s teachings on birth control and abortion. It would not be far-fetched to conclude that there are some who believe that the Church’s prohibition against homosexual actions, even between men and young boys, will one day be changed, as it has in certain “progressive” Protestant denominations. Those who think this way would feel no burden of guilt for their behavior, and would have their views reinforced by homosexual activists both in and outside the Church.
On the other hand, perhaps “Mary” is right. Maybe it is as simple as she suspects. It could be that these pedophile priests are men who have dismissed the notion of a Hell – perhaps even of an afterlife — from their moral calculus. If so, there are lessons to be learned, especially on the question of “universal salvation.”
Most readers of this publication will be aware of the ongoing dispute between Dale Vree, editor of The New Oxford Review, and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things, on the question of whether there are actually souls suffering eternal damnation in Hell. In any event, there is no need at this time to summarize Vree’s and Neuhaus’ positions, except to say that Vree is convinced that the biblical testimony verifying the existence of Hell is too strong to ignore, while Neuhaus believes there is nothing heretical about hoping that all will be saved through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
I respect the character and scholarship of both these men. When I read Fr. Neuhaus on this topic, I get caught up in the force of his logic and powers of persuasion. There are times when I feel he may be right. Now is not one of them, however, not after reading about these pedophile priests. If “Mary” is right — and I suspect she may be — it is precisely the fear of God’s wrath that is missing from their consciences. Their shameful behavior forces us to focus on what it means when men and women no longer worry about meeting their Maker; if they are convinced He is going to forgive everything, like some friendly counselor at their group therapy sessions. If anyone understood human nature, it was Jesus, and He mentions Hell far more than he mentions Heaven in the Gospels. We have to conclude that there is a reason.
Am I sure that this is why these priests were able to commit such vile acts with children? No. I have never talked to a pedophile priest. But it seems obvious that it is far easier to give into a temptation when you are sure that there is no penalty that you will pay, in this life or the next; if you are able to cover up your misdeeds. Which is what these priests and their accomplices were quite good at doing. They were able to hide these scandals for decades.
So which is it? Are these pedophile priests men who are genuinely contrite for their sins, but unable to control themselves in spite of their and their spiritual advisors’ best efforts? Or are they homosexual activists, who do not believe that sex with young men is a shameful thing, but cannot admit to that conviction in public? Or are they men who no longer fear God’s judgment because they no longer dread the pains of Hell?
There are no good choices on that list. Is there another explanation for what is going on in the minds of these priests, I can’t think of it. I wish I could.
