The McCarrick Scandal

I am saddened but hardly shocked by the revelations of the pedastry of Cardinal McCarrick, who was our talented, energetic, charming and intelligent shepherd here in Newark for many years. He was admirable in his competence and I appreciated his loyalty to the Magisterium of Pope John Paul.  However, when he got his red hat he turned to the dark side and became chaplain to the Biden-Pelosi Congregation of Catholics-who-despise-Catholicism. Now it makes sense: the personal is always political and theological! How could he fight for the Church, in D.C., the political epicenter of  the Culture War, when he was already captive of his own concupiscence and disordered cravings? That he was influential in the choice of many American, especially NJ,  bishops places a dark cloud over our episcopacy. It is not to assert guilt by association nor that they knew or colluded in his wrong-doing. Rather, the travesty is that, with Francis, he jprefers as bishops kindred spirits who for whatever reason lack the wisdom,  heart and courage to defend the sacredness of innocent life, sexuality and marriage. Some at least are weak on basic Catholic values but invest immense spiritual energy in the standard leftist causes: immigration, environment and the death penalty. Pope Francis himself is erratic and unreliable in confronting elite culture but autocratic in imposing his own political preferences.  Viewed in the context of Church history this and related incidents are not surprising and are best evaluated with from a place of serenity.

I myself was happily, effectively inoculated against "scandal at the Church" at the age of 16 at Seton Hall Prep by a marvelous Catholic catechesis when a priest asked us:  "How would you react if you learned that your mother was a whore?" Creepy question from a priest! But he led us through a simple logic: You would be, of course. shocked, confused, ashamed, and angry...and more shock, confusion, anger, shame! But, at the end of the day...think about it:  She is your mother. You love her, your mother the whore. Than he paused and said. You must know that your Mother the Catholic Church is a whore! She is the Bride of Christ and your Holy Mother, but she is also, in her human dimension, sinful and unfaithful in all her members, including priests, bishops and cardinals (excepting our Blessed Mother of course.) From then I was immunized against scandal:  If I were to learn today that the Pope and his cardinals were a cabal of psychotic, sadistic terrorists I would think:  "The regrettable, unavoidable sinful side of the Church! Thank God the Holy Spirit watches over us in all of this!"

Coming of age in the 50s and early 60s I was aware of the problem with alcoholic priests: the pastor of my childhood parish was rarely present to the parish and when he was behaved in a strange, eccentric manner. Clearly he suffered from alcoholism or perhaps an emotional disability.  Miraculously, the parish flourished despite him. This seemed, to me, to be normal Catholicism. As an adolescent this sensibility was strengthened by reading about the endearing "whiskey priests" of The Edge of Sadness and the Power and the Glory.

And so, the moral weakness and corruption of the clergy is, for me as a cradle Catholic, a "given." Nor am I indignant that "everyone knew" and insistent that we uncover "who knew what when."  Everyone knew...but what did they know? There was no clear testimony but rumors about a strange pattern of sleeping with seminarians without real sexual interaction: it entailed adults, consent (although an egregious inequality of power), and seemed to be less than a clear violation of celibacy. This seemed  weird but less than shocking in the world-post-sexual-revolution. Understandably, none of the young men were willing to publicly testify out of fear of retaliation and possibly out of a sense of guilt and responsibility for having complied. As Rod Dreher pointed out: conservatives avoided it because it was a cardinal; liberals avoided it because it involved homosexuality. Only in the last few weeks have we learned that he is alleged to have violated, over the years, at least two adolescent boys and also to have crossed the line into actual sexual acts with at least some seminarians. We know that sexual predators and compulsives are expert in hiding their activity: they precisely target as victims those who are insecure and timid, desperately avoiding the confident and assertive. We are instructed, within the Church, by St Ignatius of Loyola (whose feast day is today) among others to always put the best interpretation upon the actions of others, especially the clergy. This entails a reluctance to rush to rash judgment. I am inclined to give the culprit here full credit for fooling those around him. The post-Council Church is a culture of mercy...probably to a fault...clearly our mercy needs to be tempered by truth, justice and wisdom...although our pontiff and his lieutenants seem not to see this. It helps also to remember that clergy, to the degree that they themselves are wholesome, chaste and innocent are perhaps the least competent when it comes to detecting and confronting sociopaths, criminals, sexual predators, and borderline personalities. A prime example: Saint John Paul is widely criticized for his handling of the priest sex crisis but I see it as a sign of his personal sanctity and integrity that he simply could not fathom such a thing and that he was less than an outstanding bureaucrat. And so it is hardly surprising that a cleric of such talent, charm, energy and drive would rise to the top of the organization: he would have risen this way in the army, business, politics or any large institution.

Nor am I anxious that gay cabals have secretly taken over the entire Church. I am satisfied, from my own experience with priests, that most are substantially faithful to their vow of celibacy by abstaining from sexual intercourse (pornography and masturbation are, no doubt, pervasive as in the broader society of men.) Many of our finest priests, I am sure, experience homosexual attractions but control them and live  quiet, chaste, holy and fatherly lives. Surely there are circles (seminaries, orders, dioceses) that are infiltrated by active gay men but the fact that they are so well hidden and out of sight is a positive sign that the Church maintains overall a culture of sexual continence and fidelity.

There is also a chronological catastrophe at work here: just as AA did not exist prior to the 1930s so that alcoholics, until then,  were hopeless cases, so the recovery programs for sexual compulsives (Sexaholics Anonymous, Courage for homosexuals within the Church, etc.) were nonexistent until the 1980s. And so, the bumper crop of sexual predators, pedarists, pedophiles and compulsives that exploded, covertly, on the scene in the 1970s, in the wake of the Sexual Revolution, faced even deeper despair, shame and self-hatred than did the drunk pre-1940. Imagine the interior tension, guilt and conflict that must have afflicted these casualtes of the Sexual Revolution.

One wonders: did he not have a confessor, a spiritual director, a counselor or support group to encourage him, correct him, and hold him accountable? Probably not: we knew him as a workaholic, a super-high-achiever, a careerist. He probably did not know how to take care of himself in his own neediness. He is emblematic of American achievement and activism and the incapacity for genuine rest, contemplation and receptivity.  While fully conscious of the gravity of the violation, I for one am not without compassion for the violator.

It is good to review the findings of the John Jay Study:  over 80% of priest abuses were against adolescent males. Only 6% involved pedophilia; surprisingly few females involved. Most violators were homosexual; but not all homosexuals are violators. Nevertheless, the craving for young, masculine flesh is widespread in gay culture and should give pause to Pope Francis as he empowers James Martin SJ and his like to crusade for gay liberation. There is nothing "gay" about homosexuality: it is a sadness, a suffering, an affliction; like all crosses it bears abundant fruit, in in lives of countless priests and religious, when endured patiently, humbly, prayerfully, chastely.

The bulk of violations occurred between 1965-85: there was an explosion of Lust from Hell that swept our society off its feet. There were almost none in the 1950s and we seem to be returning towards that as normal. Now we are mostly dealing with the "perfect storm" of chaotic, contagious concupiscence that infected an entire generation...us Boomers and pre-Boomers! It is calming to know, although sin is always with us, we are out of the hurricane!

I think that it is good that the truth is out. I agree that the Church probably needs something like an "internal affairs" institution to investigate allegations even against bishops and cardinals. Perhaps this requires a board of lay prosecutors, soldiers, policemen, accountants, lawyers and investigators with full powers to uncover financial arrangements and access all paperwork.

But the organization fix is never enough. This revelation comes as an opportunity for Father McCarrick (he is still a priest but no longer a Cardinal at this time) to "repent and pray" as the Vatican directed him. May he experience the gravity of his sin: the immense power he yielded over these men whose entire clerical life depended upon him;  but even more the sacrilege that this "father of fathers" whose mission was to strengthen young priests in their paternal role as fathers was systematically emasculating them out of his own disordered craving of masculine affection.  Worse, of course than the seminarians is the younger men he violated! Victimized also are many Catholics, especially the young and innocent, who are scandalized that the Church, great herald of chastity and fidelity is so filthy.

McCarrick is a whore! The entire Church, including the episcopacy, is a whore! I am a whore myself! Let us pray: for abusers and all the victims. May our Savior embrace His unfaithful Bride and breathe his Holy Spirit on us: healing the wounded and cleansing the impure!

Letter to My Granddaughter and Cousins on Service Trip to Guatemala

July 4, 2018

Dear Brigid, Brendan, Ally, Jake and Mary,

I am thrilled...and I speak also for our family...that you are going to Guatemala.

“Blessed are the poor, for the Kingdom of God is theirs” Jesus famously said. Perhaps on your trip you will encounter the poor and enter into this strange, puzzling Mystery.

The initial experience of raw poverty, for us who live in comfort and relative affluence, can be harsh, disturbing, troubling and even traumatic. I can imagine four possible reactions:

One would be to despise the suffering and deprivation; flee desperately from it; and move forward to avoid poverty at all costs and do all possible to accumulate success, security and prosperity. This, of course, is a response of anxiety and fear. It could also be aligned with a sense of superiority and arrogance: that our society and way of life is far better, technologically and economically, in that we are able to build such wealth in comparison with these inferiors who live in poverty due to ignorance, laziness or primitiveness. That would clearly be an unhappy outcome and (thank God!) improbable for you.

A second would be only slightly better: to become sad and discouraged, weakened in faith, to forget or repress the memory, to avoid thoughts about such suffering and inequality, and to live a mediocre, ungenerous life with a small and fearful spirit.

A third would be better morally, but unfortunate in a subtler, deeper manner. This would be anger and resentment against the suffering and the offensive inequality that some live in obnoxious extravagance while others suffer deprivation. This is, to an extent, a just and truthful reaction. It can take the form of an indignant, political judgment against capitalism, structures of inequality and discrimination. Again, in right proportion this is a holy response: Jesus said “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.” It can lead to a simplistic approach to economics and politics that fails to grapple with the complexity of things. Worse, the resentment can simmer and produce a shrill, indignant, judgmental self-righteousness; a disguised arrogance and superiority; and underneath, perhaps, an anger at God who allows this. Such agitation and resentment is not good for the poor or the heart and soul.

Finally, a response rooted in our faith in Christ and His Church will be deep, joyful, nuanced, hopeful and complex:

1. You will recognize in the poor, underneath the physical deprivation, marvelous resources of resilience, joy, courage, generosity, gratitude and strength. You will come to love, not poverty as deprivation, but the poor themselves as fascinating, charming, delightful, and inspiring. You will see that they have much to teach you! You will be jealous of their faith, hope and love.
2. Enriched by this new friendship, you will be moved to live your life liberated from excessive consumption, competitiveness, and covetousness in simplicity, gratitude and magnanimity. You will, in the words of St. Mother Theresa, “live simply, that others may simply live.”
3. You will think patiently, deeply, inquisitively about the roots and resolution of poverty. You will ponder the workings of global capitalism as it results in an odious degree of inequality as it pulls millions out of poverty; it enhances freedom of enterprise as it tends to erode bonds of family, faith and community; it is extraordinarily productive materially and technologically as it can impoverish interiority and relationality. You will consider the proper role of government on behalf of the common good and the underpriviledged, avoiding extremes of an oppressive, overly-controlling state as well as a libertarian individualism that advantages those already wealthy and powerful.
4. Most importantly, you will recognize, in this encounter with the poor, your own inner poverty and need for God's help. Your poverty may be feelings of anxiety, depression, confusion, inadequacy, weakness, ugliness, and inferiority. Adolescence is, for almost everyone, a time of ferocious, miserable insecurity. On Facebook, the athletic field, or in a bathing suit on the beach: almost everyone seems so much more attractive, popular, muscular, and confident. It is a time of self-doubt, jealousy and overall psychic misery (not all the time Thank God!). I invite you to bring your own hidden poverty into intimacy with Jesus: “Lord, I am a poor one, in need of your mercy and your love." this is hard.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                And so, on this beautiful pilgrimage to Guatemala, may you:...... Find comfort in your own inner poverty in prayer intimacy with God; in good friends and cousins; and in love of family. ....... Find strength and energy in Christ's presence in the Eucharist: so small, quiet, humble, poor, generous and powerful........ Emulate the poor in faith, gratitude, joy, patience and fortitude. ....... Rejoice in the Holy Spirit in all your blessings and gifts as well as your struggles and suffering. ....... Be exhilarated to find yourself blessed by these marvelous people you will encounter and find that you are yourself, for them also, a blessing...not by any altruism, effort or achievement on your part, but simply by your attention, presence, humility and grateful receptivity.

Our prayer, hopes and love go with you.

Love,

Paca-Matt