Real Love Incorporated - Articles » Priests and Scandal

I’ve worked in and around the Catholic Church for a really long time. Which means, unfortunately, that I’ve seen a few Catholic “scandals” in my day, most of which consisted of priests who did things – or were accused of doing things – that violated the trust of the faithful who looked up to them.

Some people might say that I’ve seen scandals because the Church is hopelessly scandal-ridden. I don’t believe that’s the case. I think I’d have seen roughly the same amount of scandal if I had been doing similar work with another denomination, or in public schools, or anywhere else that people interact with people. I’ve seen the statistics, and it’s clear that we’re no worse off, scandal-wise, than everyone else out there.

Nevertheless, I find Church scandals particularly sad. After all, every Catholic priest stands as alter Christus (“in the place of Christ”) at every Mass. Of course these priests, being mere mortals, can’t possibly hope to live their everyday lives as perfectly as Christ did. But when they fall into sin or depravity or scandal, they have fallen from a higher place. It’s disappointing, it’s tragic and it’s a strain on the faithful who have placed their trust in these priests.

It’s that “strain” that I want to talk about today.

I know several people at the moment who are dealing with the fall-out of various clerical scandals. A few involve popular, charismatic priests who have been accused – with varying degrees of evidence – of sexual misconduct.
Another involves a deceased priest and irrefutable evidence of sexual misconduct. In all of these cases, the people who prayed with and learned the faith from these men are suffering.

Perhaps because I received the faith at a young age, and learned about it from a variety of sources, my faith has never been shaken by scandals like these. I tend to see them for what they are – stories of a few very fallible men who have failed (often in serious ways) to live up to the glory of the teachings they espoused. It’s a reflection on the men, not the teachings.

But I’m finding a different phenomenon among many, many Catholics – particularly those who were led to the Church by preaching or the work of one particular priest. If that priest is later exposed or extradited or excommunicated, the entire foundation of their faith is shaken. They begin to questions everything. “If he was lying about that, how do I know he wasn’t lying about what he taught me?” “How could he speak so beautifully about God and yet do something like that? “He seemed so sincere, but how can I trust what I learned from him?”

I understand asking questions like that. I also think it’s really, really important to actually find the answers, instead of just using the scandal as an excuse to walk away from the Church.

Here’s what I know. Priests are people, and people are complex. They can be attracted to the truth and beauty of the Church, and still have temptations. The fact that they study for the priesthood, that they are ordained and that they are capable of speaking eloquently about the things of God doesn’t automatically erase their weaknesses or their demons. Granted, prayer and deep conversion over time can often reduce the pull of temptation, but a priest can be a wonderful and highly effective teacher without having experienced conversion on a level sufficiently deep to overcome his vanity or his ego or his greed or his various ordered or disordered sexual urges. And, when it comes to those disordered sexual urges, that deep conversion often needs to be accompanied by intense therapy and strict isolation from anyone under the age of 18.

Men become priests for lots of different reasons. A vast, vast majority do so because they love God and want to give their lives to Him. Of course, they bring their weaknesses and hang-ups and “issues” with them, but for most priests those are more-or-less garden variety, and they work out their salvation like the rest of us.

Other men become priests because they find they have a particular skill set – management or social work or counseling or public speaking – that fits in well with the priestly “job description.” Combine that with the “benefits package” of being supported for life in relative comfort, and these men are willing to use the priesthood as means to their own personal ends.

Other men may become priests because their own immense brokenness attracts them to the message of Christ. That’s admirable to an extent, but sometimes they are broken to such a degree that it impedes their ability to remain faithful to their vows. And that hurts the Church.

It is the job of the seminaries to weed out these last two categories of priestly candidates. I think they do a much better job of that today than they did in years past. Which hopefully means we’ll see a decrease in priestly scandal in the future.

In the mean time, we need to remember that priests – however eloquent or compassionate or brilliant they may be – are mere mortal men. The fall of an individual priest is his fall, not the demise of Christ’s Church on earth.

The main point of this article was supposed to be about how we respond to these scandals – how we use them to strengthen our faith. But here we are at 905 words already. Apparently this topic is too big for one column

So I guess I’ll save that for next time.


	Priests and Scandal Priests are human. And some are more human than others. April 10, 2009 I’ve worked in and around the Catholic Church for a really long time. Which means, unfortunately, that I’ve seen a few Catholic “scandals” in my day, most of which consisted of priests who did things – or were accused of doing things – that violated the trust of the faithful who looked up to them. Some people might say that I’ve seen scandals because the Church is hopelessly scandal-ridden. I don’t believe that’s the case. I think I’d have seen roughly the same amount of scandal if I had been doing similar work with another denomination, or in public schools, or anywhere else that people interact with people. I’ve seen the statistics, and it’s clear that we’re no worse off, scandal-wise, than everyone else out there. Nevertheless, I find Church scandals particularly sad. After all, every Catholic priest stands as alter Christus (“in the place of Christ”) at every Mass. Of course these priests, being mere mortals, can’t possibly hope to live their everyday lives as perfectly as Christ did. But when they fall into sin or depravity or scandal, they have fallen from a higher place. It’s disappointing, it’s tragic and it’s a strain on the faithful who have placed their trust in these priests. It’s that “strain” that I want to talk about today. I know several people at the moment who are dealing with the fall-out of various clerical scandals. A few involve popular, charismatic priests who have been accused – with varying degrees of evidence – of sexual misconduct. Another involves a deceased priest and irrefutable evidence of sexual misconduct. In all of these cases, the people who prayed with and learned the faith from these men are suffering. Perhaps because I received the faith at a young age, and learned about it from a variety of sources, my faith has never been shaken by scandals like these. I tend to see them for what they are – stories of a few very fallible men who have failed (often in serious ways) to live up to the glory of the teachings they espoused. It’s a reflection on the men, not the teachings. But I’m finding a different phenomenon among many, many Catholics – particularly those who were led to the Church by preaching or the work of one particular priest. If that priest is later exposed or extradited or excommunicated, the entire foundation of their faith is shaken. They begin to questions everything. “If he was lying about that, how do I know he wasn’t lying about what he taught me?” “How could he speak so beautifully about God and yet do something like that? “He seemed so sincere, but how can I trust what I learned from him?” I understand asking questions like that. I also think it’s really, really important to actually find the answers, instead of just using the scandal as an excuse to walk away from the Church. Here’s what I know. Priests are people, and people are complex. They can be attracted to the truth and beauty of the Church, and still have temptations. The fact that they study for the priesthood, that they are ordained and that they are capable of speaking eloquently about the things of God doesn’t automatically erase their weaknesses or their demons. Granted, prayer and deep conversion over time can often reduce the pull of temptation, but a priest can be a wonderful and highly effective teacher without having experienced conversion on a level sufficiently deep to overcome his vanity or his ego or his greed or his various ordered or disordered sexual urges. And, when it comes to those disordered sexual urges, that deep conversion often needs to be accompanied by intense therapy and strict isolation from anyone under the age of 18. Men become priests for lots of different reasons. A vast, vast majority do so because they love God and want to give their lives to Him. Of course, they bring their weaknesses and hang-ups and “issues” with them, but for most priests those are more-or-less garden variety, and they work out their salvation like the rest of us. Other men become priests because they find they have a particular skill set – management or social work or counseling or public speaking – that fits in well with the priestly “job description.” Combine that with the “benefits package” of being supported for life in relative comfort, and these men are willing to use the priesthood as means to their own personal ends. Other men may become priests because their own immense brokenness attracts them to the message of Christ. That’s admirable to an extent, but sometimes they are broken to such a degree that it impedes their ability to remain faithful to their vows. And that hurts the Church. It is the job of the seminaries to weed out these last two categories of priestly candidates. I think they do a much better job of that today than they did in years past. Which hopefully means we’ll see a decrease in priestly scandal in the future. In the mean time, we need to remember that priests – however eloquent or compassionate or brilliant they may be – are mere mortal men. The fall of an individual priest is his fall, not the demise of Christ’s Church on earth. The main point of this article was supposed to be about how we respond to these scandals – how we use them to strengthen our faith. But here we are at 905 words already. Apparently this topic is too big for one column So I guess I’ll save that for next time.