Between the drum beats of war on the White House lawn, and the mixed signals for dealing with the sexual abuse by priests from the Vatican, our people may well be finding themselves without sanctuary in either establishment, though financially supporting both.         

In its November 8th editorial of Commonweal, “What Does Rome Want?” Margaret O’Brien Steinfels quotes Pope John Paul II’s declaration to the U.S. cardinals in April:

Because of the great harm done by some priests and religious, the church herself is viewed with distrust, And many are offended by the way in which the church leaders are perceived to have acted in this matter. The abuse which has caused the crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God. (Origens, May 2)

It is just this unequivocal stand against clergy abuse, combined with the Vatican’s refusal to force Father Marcial Maciel, founder of The Legionaires of Christ, accused of abusing nine seminarians, from active ministry that confounds our people and leaves the Vatican without credibility. (Please see “Why hasn’t Legion founder been defrocked?” in the Archives section.)

While one might be tempted to excuse the Vatican by pleading a certain naivete on its part, this postage-size nation, awash in more degrees per square foot than anywhere else on earth, with a sea of lawyers at her disposal, and political diplomats from around the globe, is no novice on the world’s stage.

With an arrogance that bewilders her followers, the Vatican, wrapped in authoritarianism, remains deaf to their questions, as though ignoring them will make them disappear.

Not so. The longer the Vatican refuses to put her own house in order, the more numerous and more vocal will be the questions until the threat of schism appears on the horizon, and one wonders if even that would give Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger pause.

Somehow, it is as if those in power have not yet considered that the printing press has long been at work on this side of the pond. With book after book spilling off the presses and into the book stores, there is simply no place for the Vatican to hide its secrets. They’re available to high school students and university professors alike. And they spread a sadness in their wake.

Jason Berry, the author of Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children, according to Heidi Schlumpf on the site: http://www.uscatholic.org/2002/11/featb0211.htm, stopped work on a book he was writing about jazz funerals last spring to work with Gerald Renner on the case of the founder of The Legionaires, to be released by Free Press in the spring of 2003.

Once that is in the book stores, what fig leaf will the Vatican find sufficient to hide its shame in allowing this priest to remain in ministry? Or, too scandalous to contemplate, what if she feels no shame to hide?

Personally, like millions of Catholics, I remember when I was proud to be a Catholic, inspired by leaders who, from the parish rectory to the seminary to the chancery office, in schools and missions, preached the Gospel in season and out of season by the way they lived.

Today? Not all the pride is gone; what is left is a quiet awareness of the millions of holy Catholics in every walk of life who keep this Church of ours going, who inspire me every time I stop to take a fresh look at the way they pray, work and love day by day.

The question is: are they being sufficiently nourished for the journey? Do they possess the strength to bear with one scandal after another without giving into despair?

While I find my idea of Purgatory, or worse, is to read one of Father Andrew Greeley’s novels beginning to end, I find myself agreeing with many of his essays, and, without any training on which to base my judgment, I trust his sociological test results. He is too much of a scientist to cut corners to shore up a personal bias.

One reason he gives for the fact that many Catholics remain in the Church is her saints. I think he is right. Saints, canonized or not, light the pilgrim’s way and reassure him or her that Christ is real. He is no mirage to disappear in the desert of loneliness and confusion. He will see them through every storm.

In such company of saints, living and dead, Catholics find their sanctuary, a refuge before threats of war and scandals beyond reckoning. And they are not alone anymore.

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