Wednesday in Holy Week 2010

Holy Thursday is a special day for a priest. On Holy Thursday morning all priests join with their bishop to celebrate the Chrism Mass. It is at this Mass that the priests renew their commitment for priestly service. It is an awesome moment for the individual priest as well as the entire presbyterate.

This year's observance coincides with some not so happy news in the media. The terrible scandals of sexual abuse by clergy has made the headlines once again. The news from Ireland and Germany, to name a few, has reopened the same deep wounds here on stateside.

This is troubling to the priests who will renew their commitment on Thursday morning.
+ That something of this magnitude could even happen!
+ That the trust of our vocation could be so compromised and violated!
+ That the vessel of clay spoken of by Paul the Apostle could be so scratched and cracked!

Priests are not perfect men. They are penitents as well as confessors. They regularly go to confession as well as hear confessions. Pope John Paul II used to say that a good confessor is a good penitent.

But, no one ever thought that such misbehavior would happen. I certainly never did. I still remain jolted by the whole thing. Just when I think that I have heard it all, I am again surprised and disappointed.

I ask: "Why"?

I am disappointed by my colleagues. And frustration descends and muscles in on my prayer and reflection. I am careful not to condemn but I do not deny the need for penance and retribution.
The news is no better even when one considers that the cases reported are not recent. The fact is that they happened. My prayer is that there are no new cases. That sacrifice, penance, honest admission, holiness has purified the soul of the presbyterate.

Sincerely speaking, I pray for our Church, our damaged credibility. We are truly damaged goods seeking repair, to rebuild in an already sinful world.

Sometimes I hear it said that the Church must put this scandal behind us and move forward. Perhaps better said: we ought to deal with it head on and do so by both the leadership and the priests. Apologies only go so far. Often they have seemed empty and just full of nice words.

Maybe the Church and, also the clergy, became too comfortable within the structure of power. Power can corrupt and that is what we may have experienced. A corruption born out of privilege.

The Gospel calls us to return to a simpler way of life in all ways: for bishops, priests, religious, seminarians. Maybe we all need to be put into the brown robes of St. Francis, be given a cell and, fortified with the Holy Scriptures, "rebuild the Lord's Church."

I make my re-commitment on Thursday a troubled priest. Not because I am about to despair or lose hope but because I feel that we have distanced many of God's people from the message of the Christ of Faith. I am less concerned for the loyal Catholic than I am for the fence-sitter, the questioner, the young, the non-catholic christian, the outsider who wonders about what is happening on the inside.

I love my priesthood and after 37 years and (living through these last ten) my spirit and my zeal are no less en-kindled
+ Celebrating Mass is the high point of my day.
+ Hearing confessions continues to remind me that I am instrument of God's loving mercy.
+ Standing at a bedside with the Holy Oils reminds me that I have a lot to live up to - being an "alter Christus".

Pray for us priests.

Pax et Bonum
My Holy Thursday Thoughts for 2010