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Fr. Gerry Creedon's homily delivered at St. Charles on May 26, 2002
Bishop Loverde has called a meeting for this Wednesday of all of the priests in the diocese so he can receive our counsel on sexual abuse by clergy before he goes to the Annual Bishops meeting in June. He has sought our advice on a number of questions. I thought it was important for me to hear from you before I advised the Bishop. As we all probably know by now, the clergy has no lock on wisdom on these questions. So I put on the web site the questions the Bishop raised to the priests and already have received a number of comments from parishioners that have been very helpful. I have put the questions in the parish bulletin today and invite you to get back with me via e-mail, fax or by dropping off comments in the parish office before Wednesday. I'll bring your recommendations to Bishop Loverde. The questions he raises are:
- How would you interpret zero tolerance? How would you apply it?
- How can we reach out to victims in ways that truly apologize reconcile, heal and assist?
- What areas in priestly formation need further development?
- Invites discussion of "other aspects".
We need to hear not only from priests but also from families, from those that have been touched by abuse and from victims themselves. We need to hear from the laity. We are a Church dealing with a crisis with a variety of dimensions. We need all the wisdom we can get if we are going to turn this crisis around and renew and regenerate our Church.
Cheap Grace-No Way to Deal with Criminal Misconduct
The scriptures today deal with the question of condemnation and forgiveness. God is described as slow to anger and full of kindness. But unfortunately we as a Church have used the compassion and forgiveness of God as a way of avoiding responsibility, accountability and punishment for crime. It was thought that just going to confession or seeking some kind of treatment was enough, when obviously it is not enough. That kind of cheap grace and forgiveness is no way to deal with criminal misconduct. So we do need judgment, because at the core of this problem is the respect and concern we need to have for children.
I went to a meeting recently where a Monsignor of our diocese got up and almost cried for all the priests and how 2% were giving us all a bad name and how awful this is. I wish he had saved his tears for the children who have been abused, because they need to be our first concern. How do we make amends and how do we find a way of protecting children and minors so that this kind of situation does not ever recur for even for one child? What kind of standards and policies do we need to put in place to protect against a repetition of this scandal?
Should the Pendulum Swing to Zero Tolerance?
So no easy forgiveness; but at the same time do we want the pendulum to swing toward zero tolerance? Many would say yes. Zero tolerance is an expression that comes out of political sloganeering. Zero tolerance has filled our jails with poor people that do not have the lawyers to defend themselves, and women jailed on petty offenses. There's no room in the church for pedophiles in the priesthood, but is there any distinction made between pedophilia and other forms of criminal misconduct and their treatability? These are difficult questions not easily resolved.
We need your wisdom, guidance, and input. Clearly we have erred on the side of forgiveness using it to condone criminal activity. Do we want to move to a situation of condemnation where there's never room for rehabilitation or redemption? That's the question and there are no easy answers. So think and share with me your views, your input, your thoughts, and your concerns. What would you do if you were the bishop? How would you attempt to get to the root of this and advise me and I assure you that every single word you write to me gets to the bishop's desk.
There's a gift in the middle of this crisis that strikes me. The humiliation of the Church may be a positive. During Vatican II bishops talked about an end to a triumphalistic church that claimed all sorts of divine attributes and creeping infallibility for all of its actions. We are now revealed as earthen vessels and fragile.
Proclaim the Holiness of God, Not of Ourselves
As Catholics we are prone to creating idols. We make idols even of the sacraments. We certainly over time created idols of the hierarchy. We put priests on pedestals forgetting that the church is not divine. It may be True, Holy Catholic and Apostolic but not divine. Our function as a church is never to proclaim our own holiness but to proclaim the holiness of God. Our function as church is to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ and so we need a feast like the Holy Trinity to refocus our faith.
Our faith is not in our institution, our clergy, our sacraments, or our traditions. Our faith is in the Sovereignty of God, the Father, Son and Spirit. If our Faith gets wrapped in the institution and the institution disillusions us, we walk away from our mission. Our call is just to be a people, a spiritual community where God dwells among us. So let's remove the idols and make room for the living God who redeems our world and even the Church itself.
May I lighten the sadness this sorrow brings? My father used to train all of us to defend ourselves. He liked nothing more than hearing when we came back from school if we had some fisticuffs. Of course we always won. My father's nickname in high school was Tunney, after the American heavyweight. My mother had a different philosophy of child rearing. My father never bothered about blessings or holy water. My mother always kept a holy water font by the kitchen door. She wouldn't let us go to school in the morning without first of all putting her hand in the holy water and blessing us. We would escape the kitchen running to school trying to avoid the dollops of holy water that might be blessed Knock Water, Fatima Water, Lourdes Water or just holy water from the local church. Her idea was that the blessing of God would somehow or other protects us from the evil we might commit or the evil out there that might afflict us. She was saving us through her blessings. She didn't defer to the clergy to give benedictions.
I would ask all of you to consider blessing someone today. Try it. I'm not sure it worked with us but it might work for you. Bring the blessing of God, The Father, Son and Spirit to redeem the times.
Let's stand in faith.* * *
or 2002
Homilies
Revised/reviewed June 4, 2002