Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: November 25, 2018
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
Few things surprise me. At least I’m the kind of guy who thinks so. I know that the world is full of human beings, who each have free will and by their nature enjoy doing unpredictable things. (Incidentally, since I’m one of those free-willed humans I’m also unpredictable sometimes. So are you! I suppose the main challenge for us all is to make sure that the unusual things we do are moral and safe ones!) So I’m not usually amazed when the unforeseen happens.
Yet I have to admit that I still get surprised occasionally. For example, when people fail to fix fixable errors, well, to me, that’s surprising. You know, there’s a famous saying (variously but incorrectly attributed to many people, such as Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin): “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.” Maybe that’s not a universal truth, but it sure makes sense to me.
Last week some of those moments happened within the Church in our country. For example, just as all of the Catholic bishops of the nation began their annual meeting in Baltimore, seeking to begin to address their own past mistakes in protecting child abusers and even permitting them continued access to young people, BOOM! The Holy See through Cardinal Marc Ouellet made another of their famous public relations blunders. He directed the bishops not to make any decisions but to wait for an international meeting of bishops on the same subject three months from now. Many commented that too many people in the Vatican still just don’t yet “get it” that permitting child victimization in the Church really is as important as parents know it is. I think these pundits are right.
Sure, it’s certainly true that improvements in an international institution as big and complex as the Catholic Church won’t be finalized overnight. But there’s an old legal truism, “Justice delayed is justice denied,” and failure to make progress in strengthening moral leadership and taking responsibility for past mistakes thwarts both holiness as well as justice. It just flabbergasts me that the pace of improvement is so slow, explained so poorly and often led by inexpert persons who are too super-cautious. Sigh!
What I try to do is stay positive by focusing on the big picture, and the fact that things are improving, albeit glacially. Fortunately, at their meeting the US bishops – without being directly disobedient – apparently continued with their own substantive discussions, both publicly and privately, as far as they could go. They seem contrite over past failings, but even better, determined to put in place mechanisms to catch and punish the inevitable future mistakes. There seem to be few bishops still “in power” in our nation’s dioceses who think that the institution of the Church is more important than morality in her leaders and justice for victims. Past mistakes and abusers are being identified, and victims’ pain and suffering addressed. The media and governmental officials are continuing to expose the truth and hold the Church accountable to the public. All of this is good. In the end I actually hope to be surprised by improvements to come!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Father Paul Counce
