Two colleagues of mine from the university, though brought up as Catholics, decided to leave the Church because of the scandalous behavior of certain members of the clergy. This pains me because I believe that there is nothing outside the Church that could provide them with a more comprehensive way of living their lives in a Godly fashion. On a lesser significant level, it is as if they are telling me that I must be foolish to remain in such a scandal-ridden institution.
The Church, and most assuredly the world, has been rife with scandals throughout history. The most notable of all scandals belongs to Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Judas was selected as one of the first of the twelve apostles. He walked with Christ and was the companion of saints. But his betrayal, from all indications, did not occasion any of his colleagues to abandon Christ. It did not shake the faith of any of them.
No doubt the apostles were familiar with the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8). The Word of God, in certain instances, may not be received: “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires about other things, entering in, choke the word, and it is made fruitless.” Human beings are free to accept or reject the Word of God. The fact that some do not accept the Word because they are enamored by riches, should not be surprising, let alone a cause for despair.
There have been several bad popes whose conduct was truly scandalous. Pope Alexander VI allegedly bought the papacy by bribing his fellow electors. Pope Urban VI called for the brutal killing of cardinals who plotted against him. Pope Leo X, after spending money recklessly, relied heavily on the sales of indulgences in order to balance the books. Pope John XII was 18 when he took the Chair of Peter. He was clearly not celibate and died of a stroke while in the arms of another man’s wife.
Only by the grace of God, we might say, has the Church survived for more than 2,000 years. Catholics must not allow scandals to harm their faith. They must look to Christ, the Mass, the Sacraments, and the saints. St. John Paul II was not rocked by the egregious misbehavior of some of his predecessors. I think my two university confreres may have had better reason to leave the Church if they lived at a time when any of these wayward popes had been at the helm.
Donna Steichen is the author of Prodigal Daughters: Catholic Women Come Home to the Church (1999). The book recounts the personal testimonies of seventeen women who left the Church to seek autonomy in the feminist movement, or to follow the path of the sexual revolution, New Age spiritualism, drug abuse, or academic skepticism. Each of these women found their way back to the Church after an arduous journey from apostasy to repentance. One of these “daughters,” aware of how easy the ego can reject the truth of Christ, composed a prayer in which she said, “O God, first make me a good person, a virtuous person, a loving person. Then give me the truth.” She was praying that her soil would be sufficiently fertile to receive the Word of God. The ego can be hostile to truth.
Blessed Josemaria Escriva would tell his followers to welcome the repentant sinner. He strongly advised against judging the person who is lost because “he may become an Augustine, while you remain mere mediocrities.” I have lost touch with my two colleagues and pray that they may have returned to the Faith having been disenchanted with her replacement.
A pertinent distinction must be made, that between an excuse and a reason. A person is at a party, let us say, and wants to leave because he is bored. He tells his host that he has a splitting headache and needs to go home and rest. This is an excuse. It is a fabrication, though a plausible one. On the other hand, a person in this situation might offer a reason to leave the party, such as: his wife is in the advanced stage of her pregnancy and needs him at her side. The host cannot distinguish an excuse from a reason.
Why does one leave the Church? Does he have an excuse? Or does he have a good reason? It may be difficult for any of us to make this distinction. An excuse can offer us the easy way out. Yet we must be honest with ourselves and ask “what is the reason for our excuse?” Leaving the Church because of the scandals may be an excuse rather than a reason. One of my colleagues cited the presence of “hypocrisy” as a reason. But then, to be consistent, he would need to abandon wherever he is since hypocrisy is everywhere.
We are very clever at making up excuses. Academic skepticism may be nothing more than an excuse for avoiding the responsibilities that truth brings into focus. “Despite your faults, I love you still,” is a good bromide to keep husband and wife together. It also applies to one’s relationship with the Church. The fact that Christ came for sinners suggests that sinners may be as plentiful in the Church as sick people are in a hospital.
Tolerance is better than despair. Only Christ is without fault. Man is an excuse-making animal. More importantly, he is a rational animal.
Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash
