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!