• Article Tools
• Print
• RSS

Hope in the Midst of Trial

by Father Dominic Legge, OP 

The recent outbreak of media articles attacking Pope Benedict on the sex abuse scandals is distressing. The Church has been discredited in the eyes of many, and this is no small matter.  But this is not the end of the story.

First, we must acknowledge that sexual abuse is a terrible problem. We cannot tolerate it in any form. Yes, it is true that the problem is worse in many other places, and that the Catholic Church is far ahead of almost all major institutions in dealing with this scourge. But the Church should have a better record. “Be holy, even as your heavenly Father is holy.” Given what we are supposed to be, there is no place in the Church for sexual abuse. As painful as it is for us to see such corruption even among some entrusted to shepherd Christ’s flock, St. Augustine was right: it is better for a wound to be painful than for the pain to subside while the wound festers. 

Of course, this is what makes the recent media reports so misleading and unfair: Pope Benedict is the one churchman most clearly aware of the gravity of this crisis, and who has acted most decisively to root out what he has called the “filth” that these few sexual predators have brought to the priesthood. He knows what the Catholic Church is, and what a Catholic priest is called to be. 

And this brings us to the claim that priestly celibacy is the cause of the sex abuse crisis, and that a good dose of sexual liberation is the remedy. All those who have been recruited into the ranks of the sexual revolution – even those who, perhaps with regret, find themselves addicted to the titillating images streaming at broadband speed into more and more households – have a strong incentive to believe that chastity, and especially the celibate chastity of the Catholic priesthood, is impossible. No one can be expected to do what is impossible, can they? A healthy and holy cadre of chaste priests is a constant rebuke to our sexualized culture’s guilty conscience.

It should be obvious that the remedy for unchastity in the priesthood is for priests to grow in chastity – and this calls for priests to rely on the power of grace, to profit from regular confession, and to use the time-tested helps of self-discipline and an appropriate asceticism. The path through this crisis is not for us to become more like the world, nor to use worldly means to combat those who would attack the Church. Such a victory would be a defeat. Rather, as in the great crises of the past, the truly Catholic response is to implore the Lord for his grace, that we would be more faithful, more chaste, more loving, more holy. (And, of course, to pray for our persecutors.)

Is there a vast anti-Catholic conspiracy behind this storm of bad publicity? Unlikely. But is there a pervasive secular desire to discredit Pope Benedict, to disable his papacy, and to silence the Church’s public voice? Of course – and why should this surprise us? (As Melinda Henneberger, former New York Times Rome bureau chief, wrote on PoliticsDaily a few days ago: “Of course the whole secular culture would love to see Benedict step down to spend more time with his family, if only he had one, hahaha.”) A vibrant and orthodox Catholicism will always be countercultural, especially in a culture like ours. It will necessarily stand in opposition to the dictatorship of relativism and the forces of secularization. 

The more success the Church enjoys in resisting those forces – particularly in the public square – the more we can expect that the typical tactics of contemporary politics (and the recent media attacks are just what contemporary “opposition research” would generate) will be used against the Church and her representatives. In a way, the fact that Pope Benedict has attracted such ire is a testament to his effectiveness. He sees clearly the threat that an aggressive secularism poses not only to the Church, but to western culture at large, and in his gentle and scholarly way, he has stood up against it. 

Let us pray for him, that strengthened by God’s grace, he will be a strong and prudent shepherd, unafraid of the wolves who menace his flock.

---

(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)