Homily Notes for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2018
20th Sunday, “How Can Reconciliation Come to Our Church?”
We read in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians today: “Because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what the will of the Lord is.”
We seek God’s wisdom as we gather for Sunday Mass today. Someone once said that a faithful preacher is to speak with the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, but that can be hard. To fail to address what is happening in the church in the present moment, however would be far from pastoral. With painful topics, there are no easy answers, no simple solutions, no quick way to take away the heartache we feel.
This week a report was release by the Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania. A long investigation and examination of the files of six Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania regarding the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests had been conducted. The report showed that over the course of the last 70 years at least 1,000 minors had been sexually abused by some 300 priests in those dioceses. The details given make anyone who reads them nauseous. The listing of crimes is not complete. One can be certain that other diocese throughout the country have similar files with similar stories. Some of these secret files have already been opened in other parts of the nation over the course of the last 30 years. We weep for the children who were violated by those they trusted. We ask the question how the wounded can heal? We wonder how the laity of the church can regain any sense of trust in the hierarchy of the church. Social scientists, psychiatrists, lawyers, others all have their opinions as to how this might happen, but does Christian Theology offer us a way forward. I would offer the following thoughts based on Christian teaching.
All serious sin fractures Christian community. Sin is often a violation of trust between individuals. Sin can also be a violation of trust between an individual and the Christian community at large. The question is how do we regain a sense of trust? How can healing occur? Is it even possible? Christianity has always taught that any sinful situation can be redeemed. Always, there is a chance of reconciliation. The worst sinner can receive forgiveness. We must believe that now, if not, our faith means little. We are no different than any secular movement.
What are the steps of Reconciliation. First, we must Examine our Conscience. Next, we confess our wrongdoing. We then show contrition. And most importantly we must make amends and resolve not to sin again. Only then can we hope to achieve some sense of reconciliation.
The institutional church is grabbling with the first three steps. The truth is coming out. Church leaders are finding out the hard way that we cannot protect church institutions with deceit. The truth is being revealed, in most cases, because of outside pressures, not because it has been bravely faced. But isn’t that how it often is with sin. Many times, we are confronted. Only then to we take ownership of what we have done. The universal church must acknowledge all its sins for reconciliation to happen.
The church must also show contrition. Bishops are apologizing. We ask the question, is any apology enough? I stand before you as a representative of the church. I apologize, primarily, for not making more noise about the subject of the sexual abuse of minors. I should have spoken up in priest’s gatherings asking more questions. I should have broached the topic when I sat on boards that ignored the issue of sexual abuse of minors. In a monarchial church that takes nerve. I do not have possess enough of that.
For contrition to mean anything there must be reform. At many levels this is happening. But more needs to happen in the church. One huge part of the reform is the implementations of new procedures. The main thing that has changed in last 18 years is that when abuse happens we now have a system in place to report the abuse. The first step when a minister of the church witnesses or hears of child abuse is that we call civil authorities. The secular authorities are to carry out the investigation when there is a credible accusation. The church is not the sole arbiter of such cases any more.
During the past week the National Council of Catholic Bishops has called for the Vatican to allow a full investigation of child abuse in the Catholic Church in the United States. The bishops have said they do not want to lead the investigation, but it must be a consortium of people independent of the bishop’s conference. Those guilty of wrong doing must pay a price. All of this is still unfolding. We must press the bishops to move forward. Making amends is going to be a long hard process. No one has easy answers.
We, as a church, have been put in touch once again with the reality that we are a collection of sinners. No one is sinless. We have lost a lot of our innocence over the last 30 plus years. We relearned the lesson that when personal sin develops into institutional sin it always exacerbates a problem. The question is, how do we learn to trust each other again. An old saying is that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We must have more checks and balances incorporated into church law. This is not a new idea. It is the Theology of Vatican II. We also need find the fearlessness to face the truth, the humility to apologize for our sins. We need to have the strength to make amends in a not only in just ways but merciful ways. We must reform the Body of Christ without destroying the Body of Christ. And that is extremely difficult. Our prayer today is that we have the wisdom to do the right thing whatever the price.