{"id":26727,"date":"2011-03-24T12:40:47","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T12:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/?p=26727"},"modified":"2017-03-08T23:19:21","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T23:19:21","slug":"church-is-holy-scandals-are-of-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/03\/24\/church-is-holy-scandals-are-of-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Church is Holy; Scandals are of Man – UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Pat McNamara,<\/strong> whose column \u201cIn Ages Past\u201d runs every Tuesday here at Patheos<\/strong><\/a>, has an interesting piece up today on Scandals and the Church<\/strong><\/a>; a question and answer from 1929:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWill you not admit that many of the leaders of your Church\u2014 her Popes, Bishops and priests\u2014 have been wicked men? How can you call such a Church holy?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Church remains holy, no matter how many of her leaders prove faithless to the Gospel they preach, for these men are cut off from the Church\u2019s life by their sins, which can never be traced to her teachings or laws. Would you call an apple tree bad, because you discovered some rotten apples lying on the ground beneath it? No, you judge the tree by the ripening or ripe apples on its boughs. Wicked churchmen will one day have to render a strict account to Almighty God for their stewardship, for as Christ said: \u201cUnto whomsoever much is given, of him much will be required\u201d (Luke xii. 16).<\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Striking a similar note,<\/strong> Deacon Greg Kandra looks at how Padre Pio responded to an untrue accusation made about him<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After Vespers, Padre Raffaele summoned Pio to the friary parlor and read the decree received on June 11, 1931, without comment:<\/p>\n

\u201cPadre Pio is to be stripped of all faculties of his priestly ministry except the faculty to celebrate the Holy Mass, which he may continue to do provided it is done in private, within the walls of the friary, in the inner chapel, and not publicy in church\u201d.<\/p>\n

To that, Ruffin explains St. Pio\u2019s initial reaction:<\/p>\n

\u201cGod\u2019s will be done,\u201d\u2026then he covered his eyes with his hands, lowered his head, and murmured, \u201cThe will of the authorities is the will of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this caused immense suffering for Pio, which was confided privately to his friend and former teacher, Padre Agostino, he did not complain or make objections, especially in a public way. Padre Agostino asked him how he spent his time and Pio replied, \u201cI pray and I study as much as I can, and then I annoy my Brothers.\u201d Pio went on to elaborate that he jokes with his brothers. With regards to study, he spent much time in Sacred Scripture, and he especially studied the Fathers of the Church.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kandra borrowed that from Diane at the Te Deum Blog<\/strong><\/a>, who found the Pio story while covering the suppression of the Intercessors of the Lamb<\/strong><\/a>, another recent \u201cscandal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church will always have scandals and accusations brewing, and investigations being undertaken<\/strong><\/a>. Where there is great holiness, evil is always nearby. The church itself is holy, but the people within it are all-too-susceptible to their brokenness, which is why we keep our eyes on Christ, first, and understand that even as Jesus hung on the cross, he had a thief on either side \u2013 one who repented and joined him in paradise, and one who did not, and was not.<\/p>\n

T\u2019was ever thus! What we see in the stories of St. Pio, and the Nadine are stories where accusations were made, investigations were launched, and the parties involved dealt with according to what was found to be true or false. Has the church always acted as promptly and correctly on delicate matters? Sadly \u2014 greviously \u2014 no. But in these cases, she did.<\/p>\n

The thing is \u2014 as Pat McNamara\u2019s piece argues \u2014 no matter how many whispers are hissed or accusations are made, the number of \u201cbad\u201d priests or religious in the face of 2000 years of consecrated and vowed service of men and women has been very small. But of course, every exception helps to create a perception about the whole.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, today in my emailbox<\/strong> \u2013 an offer for a review copy of this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Roman Catholic priest, I was forced to decide between a supernatural love\u2014in a ministry serving the Lord\u2014and natural love\u2014in a forbidden relationship with a woman. Both were blessings given to me by the same God, the source of all love. This was my dilemma.\u201d\u2014Father Albert Cutie<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think what always bothered me about the Cutie story<\/strong> was not that he fell in love \u2014 these things happen \u2014 but that he only admitted it after being \u201ccaught\u201d<\/em> by a photographer. He was willing to go on presenting himself as a priest, celebrating the sacraments, wearing priestly garb, etc, and in effect lying to his followers, his bishop \u2013 everyone; he was content to continue to receive the love, the confidences of people who believed in him, until his hand was forced. I find that hard to look past. It\u2019s one thing to find you can\u2019t live your vows; it\u2019s another to engage in deception once you\u2019ve figured that out.<\/p>\n

The publisher\u2019s notes make it clear this is going to be a condemnation<\/em> of the mean<\/em> Catholic church for \u201cforcing\u201d Cutie to choose. That\u2019s nonsense<\/em>. There was no forcing of choice. The choices were always his to make, and the vows were his to keep or break. When he broke them, the choice was his to come clean about it or not.<\/p>\n

Not sure if I will take up the free book offer.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:
\nFr. Longenecker<\/strong> asks a question I\u2019ve wondered about, too: Do Beautiful Churches help Produce Vocations?<\/strong><\/a> Perhaps they help to illustrate the whole concept of \u201csomething greater than oneself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pat McNamara, whose column \u201cIn Ages Past\u201d runs every Tuesday here at Patheos, has an interesting piece up today on Scandals and the Church; a question and answer from 1929: \u201cWill you not admit that many of the leaders of your Church\u2014 her Popes, Bishops and priests\u2014 have been wicked men? How can you call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4828,516,4899,569],"class_list":["post-26727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookchat","tag-bookchat","tag-priests","tag-scandal","tag-vocations"],"yoast_head":"\nChurch is Holy; Scandals are of Man - UPDATED<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pat McNamara, whose column "In Ages Past" runs every Tuesday here at Patheos, has an interesting piece up today on Scandals and the Church; a question and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/03\/24\/church-is-holy-scandals-are-of-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church is Holy; 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