|
 In
face of the scandals,
The Church, Holy
and Immortal, Shall Prevail!
Published in The Washington Times,
April 11, 2002
“Thou art Peter; and upon this rock
I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail
against Her” (Matt. 16:18). To this first promise, Our Lord
added a second: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words
will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Thus did Jesus Christ establish
the One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, sealing
Her immortality with His divine guarantee.
The violence of the storm currently assailing
the Church would likely bring down many a human institution,
but not the institution supported by God’s own promises. The
Church’s enemies try with all their might to defame and dishonor
Her. They hurl mud and muck, but they fail to sully Her.
They declare that She cannot survive the
scandals perpetrated within and against Her, but their words
ring with the uncertainty that it will indeed be so. Confronted
with the silent testimony of history, they know by experience
that the Church is both holy and immortal. Nothing stains
Her, not even infamy rising from Her ranks, for She is the
spotless Bride of Christ.
Even at the height of His passion—when the
insults against His Divine Person, the wounds inflicted on
His Sacred Body, and His public humiliation had reached their
apex—the Word of God Incarnate lost none of the grandeur in
His moral profile.
We see this in the Holy Shroud of Turin.
Here is a Man atrociously wounded, one would almost say crushed,
yet, no painting or sculpture of a king presents more majesty,
dignity, or honor than the figure stamped on that burial cloth.
Betrayed ignobly
from within, attacked fiercely from without
So it is with the Catholic Church
today. At the height of Her passion, betrayed ignobly from
within, attacked fiercely from without, nothing can disturb
Her serenity. When this frightful storm finally abates, She
will appear again radiant and victorious.
But while the storm lasts, the suffering
is intense, and our faith is tested. For us Catholics this
means the shocking realization that a hostile element, a horrendous
cancer, grows within the Mystical Body of Christ. We shudder
at the tragic and unnatural “peaceful coexistence” between
vice and that which is virtuous and holy.
The existence of homosexuality1
in the institution that is the very soul of purity and chastity
is deplorable beyond words. Equally deplorable is the fact
that this “peaceful coexistence” has lasted for decades due
to the unpardonable connivance of shepherds who should have
been ready to lay down their lives if necessary to prevent
this evil from gaining access to the fold.
The Catechism of St. Pius X calls
homosexuality a sin that “cries out to Heaven for vengeance,”2
and the Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated
by Pope John Paul II in 1992 says: “Basing itself on Sacred
Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave
depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered.’”3
Homosexuality is a sin condemned in the Old Testament4
and by both Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the New5,
by Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and by the Popes for
2,000 years. Saint Peter Damian, Doctor of the Church, says
it “should not be considered an ordinary vice, for it surpasses
all of them in enormity.”6
We speak of homosexuality, for this indeed
is the problem. We all know the truth: the vast majority of
the exposed scandals are cases of pedophiliac homosexuality,
and thus a particularly heinous spillover of the more widespread
problem of homosexuality. Large sectors of the media, however,
choose to gloss over the homosexuality and highlight the pedophilia.7
This same media have no qualms about unleashing
a ferocious uproar against the Church, Her doctrine and morals.
Adding insult to injury, they give the impression that the
criminal behavior of some is the general rule. This is a supreme
injustice to all the priests and religious who are faithful
to their vows. Moreover, they suggest that the scandals exist
because of clerical celibacy. Callously oblivious to the faith
and feeling of one billion Catholics, they make scant attempt
to show the other side of the coin, namely the sublimity of
the Catholic priesthood as reflected in its saints down through
the ages.
A mysterious process
of “self-destruction”
Let us put aside, however, this
external assault on the Church and focus on the more important
problem within.
The first step in solving any problem consists
in its thorough and accurate analysis. Then we can see its
detrimental consequences and especially its root cause.
The problem would not exist but for the
most culpable negligence of numerous shepherds and, in some
cases, the most condemnable complicity of others. There is
much for the clergy to address within its ranks, vigorously
and urgently. Oh, how many tears will turn to joy when the
faithful see bishops like our glorious Saint John Neumann,
Philadelphia’s fourth (1852-1860), fearlessly taking on those
who would harm Christ’s “little flock.” It behooves us all
to beseech God earnestly to send saints and heroes to teach,
govern, and sanctify His flock.
Is the clergy alone responsible, though?
Is there not the possibility that we—the Catholic laity—stand
to be blamed as well, if in varying degrees? Surely, we trusted
in the watchfulness of our shepherds. Surely, we feel that
our trust was betrayed. Nevertheless, Our Lord had more than
just the shepherds in mind when He said, “Watch and pray,
that you enter not into temptation” (Matt. 26:41); He addressed
us as well.
Did we “watch and pray?” Unfortunately not.
In the Garden of Olives, we would have been among those who
slept. If our analysis is to be honest we must acknowledge
this.
Decades ago, Pope Paul VI warned that “the
smoke of Satan” had entered the Church.8
He also said that She was undergoing a mysterious process
of “self-destruction.”9 Did
we take this warning to heart? Did we investigate this mysterious
process? Its methods? How it affected both clergy and faithful?
We let this “smoke of Satan” fill every
nook and cranny in the Church. Like a stupefying gas it relaxed
and anesthetized us. It diminished our fighting spirit. Indiff-erence
became generalized, and the process of “self-destruction”
was left free to do its nefarious work. Today we see the consequences.
This “smoke of Satan” also spread intellectual
and moral “relativism” throughout the Church.10
This relativism spared nothing: the sublime vocation and sacred
persons of priest and bishop; the respectful and prayerful
atmosphere within churches; the rules of beauty in Church
art and architecture; the reverence due to consecrated religious
life; the rules of modesty in dress, not only in public but
even in our churches; and so much more. All that elevated
the souls of the faithful, all that filled them with admiration
and veneration for the supernatural, was targeted.
Inevitably this relativism slowly weakened
in consciences the notions of good and evil, sin and grace,
vice and virtue. The Church’s clear teaching on every aspect
of sexual behavior was gradually blurred. Virtue was replaced
with a pathetic feel-good spirituality, so that eventually
we fell to where we are today, proof positive of the existence
of a process dubbed “satanic” by a Pope in our own lifetime.
Some critics, moved more by emotions and
force of habit than clear thinking, will deny this process
of “self-destruction.” Unfortunately, the media bring us daily
a most palpable sign of its continuation: Seeing the Church
so hard pressed by the scandals, Her enemies both within and
without are quick to clamor for additional “reform.” In open
challenge to Her Supreme Magisterium, they demand that the
Church abolish clerical celibacy and accept the ordination
of women, divorce, contraception, abortion, and, oddly enough,
even homosexuality. This is exactly what the Church should
not do! This would be the next step toward the abyss of total
relativism.
Retracing our steps
There is only one way to extricate
ourselves from the problem we are in—now that our eyes are
open. We must retrace our steps. We must return from whence
we came. Only in the fullness of Church teaching will we find
the solution to the present crisis. The Church has dealt with
many problems during 2,000 years. She is no less able to deal
with them today.
The first and obvious step then is to pray.
The second is to watch, as
Our Lord commanded. We must hone our ability to watch, to
pay attention to lurking danger. Thus, when danger appears—particularly
when in sheep’s clothing—we must know how to resist it; we
must know how to assess things in the light of Catholic principles.
This presupposes a clear understanding of the perennial truths
of the Faith and the unchanging principles of morality, for
which we must study. This “back to the basics”
study of Church teaching will rekindle in our hearts a burning
love for all the principles long eroded by relativism.
A call for heroism
The third step is a proper understanding
of sanctity—the heroic struggle for virtue.
True and heroic virtue is not anemic or self-centered. It
is full of fruits in the apostolate with others. It rejects
the comfort zone and the dictates of human respect—the fear
of creating complications for ourselves. When faced with opposition,
be it from within or without, it does not cringe and boldly
proclaims the faith and sound doctrine. The truth is not something
to be ashamed of. Our Lord wants us to influence society,
as yeast ferments the dough. He expects us to be courageous
in the face of public ridicule, like Veronica. He invites
us to heroism: “Everyone therefore that shall
confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father
Who is in Heaven” (Matt. 10:32)
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For this journey back to the paternal home
to be successful it must become a true spiritual crusade,
with all the dedication, self-sacrifice and zeal shown by
the heroes of old. These answered Blessed Urban II’s call
to arms at Clermont-Ferrand, when he launched the First Crusade,
with reverberating cries of “God wills it! God wills it!”
If this crusading spirit burns within our
breasts, our ecclesiastical leaders will have no doubt that
they can rely on our enthusiastic support, provided they courageously
assail this largely unchallenged process of “self-destruction”
with the indispensable vigor of shepherds defending their
flock from ravenous wolves.
Beyond any doubt, the Church shall
prevail
If both clergy and faithful
carry out their respective duties, with the unfailing help
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of Saint Joseph, Her most chaste
spouse and Protector of the Universal Church, of all the angels
and saints, we will be rewarded by seeing the Church win one
more battle. The present crisis is but one more episode—even
if one of the worst—in Her glorious history of struggles.
We are reminded of this by the Catholic
intellectual Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, who wrote
in his seminal work, Revolution
and Counter-Revolution: “Amid the storms
through which She passes today, the Church could proudly
and tranquilly say: ‘I have seen other winds, I have beheld
other storms.’11 The Church
has fought in other lands, against adversaries from among
other peoples, and She will undoubtedly continue to face
problems and enemies quite different from those of today
until the end of time.”12
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