The scandals that wrack our Church have made it impossible to ignore
corruption, and thus the negative publicity makes it possible to hope and pray
that at last the corruption may be uprooted.
Sometimes a very sick man, in desperate need of medical treatment, will postpone his visit to the doctor indefinitely, because he is not ready to hear what he knows the doctor will say. But eventually, as the disease progresses, the symptoms become so severe that he can no longer procrastinate. When that happens, these new, more serious symptoms really come as a blessing in disguise; they may be painful, but they force the patient to seek the care he needed all along.
The gruesome public exposure of pedophilia in the Catholic Church may eventually be regarded by Church historians as a similar sort of blessing. The symptoms of the disease have now become impossible to ignore. Our bishops are facing the stark reality that a cancer is growing within the Church, and it must be removed. The remedy may be painful, and the period of recovery may be lengthy, but we have no real choice. And if the treatment is effective, the patient will be truly healthy—for the first time in years!
Many observers have noted that the problem of pedophilia has been compounded by the inaction of the hierarchy. We would go further. Pedophilia, and the culture of complacency that allowed the abuses to multiply, are themselves symptoms of a deeper disease. For many years the Church has suffered from an odd but virulent strain of clericalism. Bishops, priests, and laymen alike have focused their energies on the creature rather than the Creator—on the administrative structures of the Church rather than her divine mission.
The care of the Church—the Body of Christ—is entrusted on earth to ordinary human beings. In a healthy ecclesial body, individuals struggle to overcome their weaknesses, and to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of the Church. In a corrupt religious body, on the other hand, powerful clerics bend the administrative structures to serve their own purposes; the interests of individuals take precedence over the pastoral needs of the People of God.
Could there be any more vivid illustration of this corrupt attitude than the efforts of chancery officials to protect abusive priests, at the expense of innocent children? Maybe it will seem harsh to speak of widespread corruption within the Church. But if the Internal Affairs division of a police department showed a similar tendency to coddle and protect “bad cops,” would we hesitate to say that the department was riddled with corruption?
For the sake of faithful Catholics, who have been battered by the torrent of
negative reports, it is important to emphasize that these scandals do not, and
cannot, alter the essential character of the Church. Our Lord has promised that
his Church can endure any storm, and history has demonstrated that Catholicism
can survive through hideous scandal, to emerge reformed and stronger than ever.
We may be entering a difficult period in Catholic history. This scandal has emboldened the enemies of the faith, and discouraged our fair-weather friends. The negative publicity will probably continue; the public hostility toward Catholicism might become more intense. But worse things could happen. In fact from a Christian perspective we should recognize that worse things have happened. The betrayal of innocent children did much greater harm, in the spiritual order, than the public exposure of that betrayal.
Will the lawsuits brought by victims of priestly pedophilia send some dioceses into bankruptcy? Perhaps they will. But the Church was born in poverty, and flourished. Will Catholics face public humiliation because of the scandal? Maybe so, but Jesus suffered much greater humiliation on the Cross. If we suffer, we suffer with Christ, and so, more closely united with him, gain new strength.
Thank God the scandal is reaching its height (or depth) just as the Lenten season begins. There has never been a better time for prayer and mortification, for acts of atonement and calls to conversion. For years we have pointed to the signs of corruption within the Church, arguing and pleading for reform. But some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.
—Philip F. Lawler