A Church in Crisis

A few months ago I dismissed as alarmist voices that claimed our Catholic Church was in deep crisis. The events of this past summer have convinced me that I was wrong: that we are possibly facing the deepest ecclesial catastrophe since the French Revolution or perhaps the Reformation. It is not one scandal but a "perfect storm"...a convergence of at least 10 crises which have infused each other in a synergy of evil.

1.  The basic priest scandal was an epidemic of primarily homosexual predatory abuse of adolescent boys and erupted in the specific time frame of 1965-85 immediately following the sexual revolution.

2.  The episcopal cover-up whereby these abusers were protected and moved from place to place and so allowed to molest more victims. This scandal infuriated many Catholics more than the first.

3.  A new wave of abuse was unveiled this summer: that by bishops and even cardinals. McCarrick is one of many but he is a blatant example because he was not just protected by a coalition of ranking hierarchs, but he was promoted to Cardinal, disciplined (albeit informally it seems) by Benedict, and then rehabilitated under Francis. It is now undeniable that at the highest levels of the Church there is an alliance of power-brokers who protect homosexual predators.

4.  The financial crisis in the Vatican continues. Vigano found $50 million in hidden funds during his short tenure at Vatican City and was then removed to the USA lest he find more. The thorough audit ordered by Francis was aborted for reasons unexplained. Clearly the financial corruption at the heart of the Vatican is untouchable.

5.  The China pact of this summer between the Vatican and Peking effectively gave control of the Church there to the communist, atheistic, totalitarian regime. The contrast is startling: if John Paul undermined the Soviet Empire, Francis is giving the Church over the the Party!

6.  Institutionally the Church is in trouble. It is clear that bishops and pope are really not accountable to anyone so that they can do what they want. The Vatican has remained largely silent and not felt obliged to offer the slightest explanation for the McCarrick debacle. Clearly we need something like constitutional controls within the Church to check abuse by papacy and episcopacy. More profoundly, however, it is clear that the non-essential Church institutions...schools, hospitals, social agencies...have expanded into huge bureaucracies such that their maintenance has become a priority and threatens the primary Church mission: holiness, worship, truth. For 50 years I have been resisting Ivan Illich's proposal that the Church de-institutionalize itself in order to preserve itself. This summer I have finally surrendered: the ministerial Church must surrender to the laity the secular enterprises that are essential but complex and demanding. Part of the reason McCarrick was promoted was surely that he was a sharp administrator and an outstanding fundraiser. EWTN, our own little Magnificat Home, and the many initiatives coming out of the ecclesial movements are all examples of the wave of the future: all are independent of pope and bishop.

7.  A grave crisis of Truth is apparent in the theological confusion and incoherence flowing from the Vatican. A blatant example is the "death penalty  correction" to the Catechism in which a prudential, actually sentimental and emotional, subjective judgment has been elevated into a allegedly-permanent moral absolute, casually dismissing tradition and natural law and without any consultation with the broader Church. In general there is an emotivism, a sentimentality and an anti-intellectualism operative at the highest levels that dismisses the brilliant retrieval, under the previous two popes, of a "Splendor of Truth" that yearns to unveil to faith-and-reason.

8. Politicization of the hierarchy has compromised the Church as specific political, ideological agendas (climate control, immigration, death penalty, equality) have become the primary concerns of our current leaders. We as a people become polarized and divided as the Church mimics a political party. Under current leadership our Church is mimicking Trump-era American politics in which rage and resent reign and we demonize and despise each other. In living memory we have never seen cardinals and bishops insulting each other!

9. Acceptance of evil has become fashionable as some of our leaders explicitly reject the simple but profound adage "hate the sin, love the sinner" in favor of an "accompaniment" that makes everyone feel accepted and cherished and eschews a harsh, demanding, paternal love.

10. The crisis of the papacy is the hard reality that Pope Francis, an admirable and gifted man in many ways, himself embodies and intensifies all of these problems, except the first. He is impulsive, incoherent, emotional and basically incompetent as Pope. He clearly is listening to the wrong people as he is intensifying all of the deplorable dynamics identified above.

The always-underlying crisis is that of holiness: we are not close to God the Trinity; we do not trust; we do not surrender and obey. This is the ultimate, defining crisis or drama for each of us...every day of our lives. So we can relax and breathe easy: despite the problems, God is with us. We are His bride and He is our groom. We can rest in this. We can commit ourselves to seek Truth, humbly, as we love each other, even and especially in conflict. We can allow Him to fill us with His mercy and love!