Poor Old Church!  18 August 2003

It seems that officials of the Catholic Church can't get it right these days!
Well - hell slap it into them - if they deserve it!
    Paedophile priests are a total abhorrence, and the trouble is that Bishops (none of them infallible or sinless) have mistakenly shielded such guilty men from the full consequences of their abominable actions.
    Their motives, worldwide, have been twofold - concern for the individual priest (kindness and forgiveness is, after all, the essence of Christianity)  and concern for the public reputation of the Church. Offenders have been sent on monastic 'retreat', and having repented have been posted to other parishes.
   Catholics will readily recognise the procedure.  We confess our sins, express our sorrow and promise to reform our behaviour.  We are kindly exhorted to amend our lives.  We are forgiven through the authority given by Christ - "... those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained." (JN 20:23)    For those who are not Catholic it should be noted that priests too are required to go to regular Confession - even more than lay people. We are all in the same boat. There is a recognition that all men and women must discipline themselves, not only with regard to sex of course.  False pride, anger, lust, gluttony, greed, envy, theft, spreading false rumour  (calumny), detraction, lying, are among the common sins, each demanding prayer, dedication and God's help in order to overcome the fault, the temptation.  It is a common experience that those of us who confess our sins in this way receive kindly advice and encouragement, as well as the grace of God to amend our ways, though it is also clear that we are inclined to relapse into bad habits despite our good intentions.  It would appear to be a fact that most fail, to a greater or lesser extent, to achieve absolute purity, but Catholics like to think that their priests do achieve such perfection. Wishful thinking perhaps, but in principle we hope that they do, for as ordained priests their example and leadership is essential, giving us hope in our constant  struggle to achieve perfection of soul and body.
   St. Paul recommends total sexual abstinence but recognises that not all will be able to achieve this.  Better to get married, he states, rather than burn with sexual desire. A tall order if you cannot find a partner! (I wonder did Paul think of this!)
   But whatever our marital state we are expected to control ourselves - decide not to commit sins of the flesh, ranging from masturbation to fornication, adultery, buggery and bestiality, dreadful sins that are easily recognisable as abnormalities by everyone, Christian or otherwise.
   The trouble is that many people, Christian and otherwise, are tempted to give up in the face of the challenge.  They perhaps excuse themselves when it comes to  masturbation.  This practice is OK they say.  It's a natural thing and brings relief and pleasure. Others choose to believe that sex with a willing partner outside marriage is acceptable - natural and healthy they claim.  Natural yes, but healthy? Not if you see chastity as the ideal, inside and outside marriage, and sexual relationships as only acceptable within dedicated married love.
    Purity of mind and heart is the ideal demanded by Christ.  We must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him.  If we do not we are not worthy of Him.  'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.' he says. (MK 8:34)   A hard saying, but the only option open to us if we are to attain the freedom of perfect love.
   Church leaders recognise the difficulty, that priests will fail to live up to the obligations they have undertaken, so they try to establish ways in which errant clergy be brought to book, ergo the Vatican Instruction to all Bishops that was promulgated in 1962 - dealing specifically with priests who misuse the process of Confession to suborn penitents and engage in deeds of sexuality, making use of the weakness of individual penitents.  
   Church leaders recognise this as a dreadful crime.  The Vatican document pulls no punches.  It recognises that such dreadful abuses occur, that steps must be taken to outlaw and obliterate such practices, including punishment that ranges from withdrawal of the power to hear confessions to laicising (defrocking of priests).
   No-one can object to this.
   Where I am deeply offended is that anyone making such an accusation against a priest is forced, in the 1962 instruction, by oath and the threat of automatic excommunication, to observe secrecy, beyond the trial procedures instigated within the church.
   This was obviously an effort to maintain a deceptive outward appearance - that all is well within the Church. Hopefully the instruction is no longer in force and the attitude abandoned, for the good of Christ's Church.
   Even though I have an almost unbounded admiration for Pope John XXIII, who did so much to sweep aside stupid and irrational procedures within the church, I am appalled to discover that this Vatican Instruction was promulgated with his consent.
   Forty years ago attitudes  were, of course, different from those of  today.  Then Authority, with a capital A, existed throughout government, industry and the church.  Total control and obedience was expected. Now we have an open society in ways that were undreamt of at that time.   Nevertheless, the thought that a person abused by a priest was threatened with Church Excommunication if she / he publicly revealed his or her plight  is total anathema - a further crime, of organised violence against the person, as great as the original crime.
   When all of this is seen in perspective my hope is that Bishops and the Roman Curia will humbly recognise that only the truth will serve the Lord, that worship of exterior appearance is worship of a false god - a lie that is totally unacceptable to those who  worship God in spirit and in truth.
   We are all sinners, all imperfect - whether bishop, priest or lay - and we should recognise this openly in theory and in practice, and also recognise that anyone who offends against the just laws of society should be subject to legitimate punishment, as is now happening - with offending priests being sent to jail etc.
   It would be a healthy thing too if those who are not church members would also recognise their personal deficiencies.
   Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.