Like I Was Saying…
A couple years ago when I joined youth ministry, I attended my first Ethics in Ministry course.
For those of you that don’t know, Ethics in Ministry was my diocese’s response to the Catholic Church Sex Abuse Scandal.
The objective was to educate people involved in ministry aware of predatory behavior, plus set down diocesan rules regarding teens.
That first year was rough. Sexual abuse is an uncomfortable topic, but that first year, the video interviewed actual sexual predators. They were a creepy bunch that talked about how they chose their prey and groomed them.
Sitting through that video was necessary evil.
I remember walking away with a sense of the danger out there.
I’ve done three ethics courses in my time as a Youth Ministry. This year was the first year care for the elderly was mentioned.
It never gets any easier.
The year before last, our Bishop decided to pull back the curtain even further and instruct the youth about the dangers they face.
It’s not a very comfortable night to be a youth minister, but again, it’s a topic that needs to be discussed.
It’s rather sad commentary on the world.
Of course, this begs the question: with all the abuse that’s happened over the course of the last fifty years, how can I remain Catholic?
Especially in light of the fact that Bishops I believe have been selected by God to Shepard His people, covered much of the abuse up.
The hardest day for me as Catholic was the day the Pennsylvania Report on Sex Abuse came out. The report had some details in it that were hard to hear.
There was a couple of minutes I thought about leaving the Catholic Faith.
But I couldn’t.
One I believe the Church is true and two, I know the Church is populated by Sinners.
It’s Christ that is true and always faithful to His Church. He’s sanctified with His blood. I believe the faith is prefect, but the people that carry out that faith, well, not so much. Even the Bishops.
Do I think the Bishops messed up?
Oh hell yeah. I think some of them covered some abuse up to “save the Church.” They loved the Church more than who they were supposed to love.
Part of me wishes, had the Bishop’s truly trusted God, and been willing to burn it all down to save one victim, their reaction to it would’ve been better.
They didn’t and they failed. They failed Christ, the Church, the predator, and most importantly the victim of the abuse.
But the Church has now, I pray, recognized the nature of the evil that’s being fought and is adjusting to the times.
I once heard this story where Sir Alec Guinness was playing a priest in the movie Father Brown. One day while walking to the set in his priestly Cossack, a young boy, came up to him and held his hand. So moved was Sir Guinness, by the idea that a young boy could be so trusting of stranger in a priest’s costume, he converted to Catholicism.
It’s a nice story and I wish we could get back to that way of things.
Tonight was a good fifth step in that process.