Henneberger’s cri de coeur is a scorching rebuke to Catholic bishops

After the Vatican ordered US Bishops to refrain from voting on episcopal correctives to their failures on the sex abuse front (a February bishop’s gathering in Rome will now address it), American bishops left their bi-annual conference with little to show for their time beyond approving a the promotion of the excellent Sister Thea Bowman’s cause for sainthood.

The do-little gathering left plenty of American Catholics feeling short-changed and fed-up, and precipitated Melinda Henneburger’s scorching rebuke to the bishops as she declared herself “done” with the Church. Her piece is a stunningly naked and raw howl of authentic anguish from a woman who feels betrayed beyond endurance.

[USCCB President Cardinal Daniel] DiNardo recounted that it happened this way: “In our weakness,’’ he said in Baltimore, “we fell asleep.” Not so much like Peter in the garden, though. More like Rip Van Winkle, and for a century instead of 20 years.

When and if the bishops do fully rouse themselves, I won’t be in the pews to hear about it.

Read all of it.

Henneberger says she has not been able to bring herself to attend Mass since last June, when revelations concerning former-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick came to light. Having covered the Vatican for the New York Times, Henneberger thought she had a good sense of McCarrick, and so she felt particularly and personally crushed by his sins, and the evidence they gave of the man’s deep betrayal of everything he professed and preached:

After “credible and substantiated” allegations that the now former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had taken advantage of seminarians, assaulted an altar boy in 1971 and even, because evil knows no shame, abused the first child he had ever baptized, the accused was shipped off to the quiet of a Kansas friary — thanks so much for thinking of us out here on the prairie! — to pray, repent and, so far, stick to his story that he has done nothing wrong.

Far from alone
Yes, that’s one angry woman, and she is far from alone. My email is a daily font of fury being expressed by friends and Catholic media colleagues who declare their faith shaken enough to impact their prayer lives, their attendance at Mass, and even their foundational belief in the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Amid so many lies, cover-ups and assists to evil, they catch themselves wondering, is any of true?

The behavior of our hierarchs and churchmen — our “shepherds” — and their sometimes wholly out-of-touch responses our expressions of pain have driven more sheep than they realize to the point of questioning not just some of their faith, but all of it.

It leaves me praying for many, but wanting to say this: My friends, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we need not lose our faith over men who have proved more feckless than faithful.

If regard for our bishops has been deflated, that may not be a bad thing. We were always better off keeping our eyes on Jesus, who is ever steadfast, than in imbuing a character of holiness upon human beings who, with a few exceptions, are destined to disappoint and fail and to shake our trust in our own abilities to discern who is worthy of admiration, and who is not — possibly something that plays a small part in Henneberger’s own despair.

There are many good bishops working earnestly to serve the Gospel and the Church with forthright conviction and servant’s hearts, and they are worth admiring. Others, admittedly seem less so. Before they are anything else (including “princes”) all of them are men in need of salvation, same as the rest of us.

We need to see them as such, and let them know that we do.

I pray that Melinda and the many Catholics who are staying away from Mass will be able to pray it out, and come to realize that, as the psalmist warns, we ought never place our trust in princes (Psalm 146:3).

Because here’s the thing about princes:

  • They are usually so insulated they become out-of-touch to common human realities
  • They are so shielded from accountability as to become thoughtless, selfish, and benumbed
  • They are treated with such deference as to become slavish fools to their privilege
  • The people permit all of that.

It should be different for “Princes of the Church” but it is not, because they are only men and therefore as eager to be liked, as susceptible to the soul-threatening charms of being praised, feted and indulged as anyone else. If some of them strike us as being closer to hell than heaven, it is good to recall that very few bishops, or priests (or monks or nuns for that matter) are “naturally holy”. Some, indeed are good and righteous, but whatever holiness they possess comes not from the office — it is no residual product of their pectoral crosses — but from the working of grace in their souls, unearned yet invited in through prayer, humility, self-effacement, and a shepherd’s instinct to sacrifice for the sake of the sheep.

How we got here, and how to move on
Today we are nauseated and roiled by this never-ending ache of discovery and disgust for three reasons:

    Primo: For decades the bishops shunted aside the Gospels and looked to the world, and to the so-called “experts,” to tell them how to deal with pedophile priests, predator priests, and power-abusing bishops, recidivism be damned.

    You live by the world, you die in the world, the carrions picking away at your bones. Secular advise should never again take precedence over the wisdom of the Gospels. Because we are a freaking church, first, or we are nothing.

    Secondo: For even longer, the laity permitted a deferential clericalism to color what they saw, and heard and accepted as true — even within their own families. Too respectful to challenge, or too fearful of precipitating scandal within the church, we helped things remain hidden.

    We will now have to step up and share in the penance, and then insist on meaningful inclusion in the structuring of reforms as we go forward.

    Terzo: With great humanity of mind and language, we must admit that yes, there is a homosexual element to some of what has been revealed in these awful disclosures, and address it openly, while keeping in mind the number of hard-working priests, faithful and devout, who live with same sex attraction and remain chaste.

    At the very least, that discussion would reinforce the notion that chastity is actually meant for everyone not called to the marriage vocation, including those espoused to Christ and his Bride the Church.

    I hope every bishop in the United States, most particularly those with open lines to the Vatican, read Henneberger’s piece and understand that this is not a single, isolated voice. The number of Catholics who feel as disgusted, betrayed and fed up as she is growing daily as new investigations open up, state-by-state, as new norms and practices are discussed but not acted-upon, as months slip by and Rome continues to crank slowly in an era that demands fast resolutions.

    Advent and the Nativity of Christ are before us, and then all-too quickly Lent will follow. The sacramental and sacred work of credibly communicating God’s consolation and salvation cannot go on if the pews are empty.

    UPDATE: Deacon Greg Kandra shares a story about how the Church is currently seen

    Read more: Vatican, US Bishops face class-action lawsuit from victims of clergy sex abuse

    Image: Public Domain

Dear Bishops: Don’t Wait Until November to Take Action

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” H. L. Mencken

Mencken’s statement is, of course, caustic and not meant to be taken literally. Still if their social media postings are to be believed, many Catholics wish they could at least spit on their hands and hoist a black flag against a seemingly feckless leadership. As they process the terrible Grand Jury report out of Pennsylvania, and read the mostly unsatisfying public statements that have dribbled forth from bishops around the country, what Catholics keep saying, with a mounting sense of anger and frustration is “they just don’t get it.”

Most of the statements have been received as underwhelming. When a bishop says he is appalled and enjoins us all to fast and pray and participate in penitential rites, it seems like fairly weak sauce: yes, any sane human being would be appalled, and we haven’t really needed bishops to call us to prayer; layfolk have been making that call since the McCarrick story broke, over a month ago.

In his “Letter to the People of God” Pope Francis emphasized the culpability of the clerical culture (both ordained and lay) in permitting a twisted and corrupted vein of evil to become so enlarged and poisonous amid the Body of Christ. He equally emphasized the need for lay participation in the penances that must be offered in atonement, throughout the church. In response Papal biographer Austen Ivereigh tweeted, “Perhaps most important thing about pope’s letter is that it doesn’t blame & expel…but calls for repentance & conversion of whole ecclesial body…”

Well, yes, St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians of the Mystical Body of Christ, “If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it,” (1 Corinthians 12:26), but the letter was received by many with yet another sigh of frustration, perhaps because the Holy Father moved too hastily to that point of common penitence before recognizing that yes, there are specific blames to be assigned and yes, there are specific expulsions to be made that are neither unreasonable nor unmerciful.

Missing from Pope Francis’ letter was any mention of bishops, any recognition that by the inhumane, sometimes criminally negligent responses to the abuses perpetrated by their priests, and by their dishonest cover-ups, some must own a particular and stated blame for the severe wounds inflicted upon the Body of Christ through the destruction of innocence — the very definition of Christ’s own Passion.

These are wounds that will echo in Eternity through the loss of countless souls whose faith has been crushed; both justice and accountability can only be served by the swift removal of some bishops from their exalted and powerful offices.

Absent that blame, absent those removals, the laity will remain convinced that “the hierarchy does not get it”; it will be impossible to regain their trust. Right now, in case anyone doubts it, trust in our leadership is at a nadir most of us would not have imagined even a year ago.

All have sinned, all must confess and do penance? Yes, of course — this writer conceded as much (and called for prayer and penance) nearly two weeks before the Grand Jury report was released. But the laity are within their rights to demand thorough confessions and sincere expressions of contrition from their bishops. Many of us are already taking on the heavy work of penitence; we’re praying, fasting, making sacrifices, and we’re wondering of our leadership, “And where are you? What penances are you undertaking, and then, Sirs, what actions will you be taking to excise this vein of corruption, rethink your failing structures, and become the shepherds you are supposed to be?

Among themselves, the laity continue to ask, “What can be done, what can we do to affect change?” Speaking to America Magazine, Fr. Mark Horak, S.J. is blunt: “There isn’t a whole lot you can do because lay people are not in positions of power in the church,” he said. “Basically you’re outsiders, and the only way you can influence is as an outsider.” Encouragingly, he adds, “Fortunately there are lots of people throughout history who are outsiders who have made great changes through persistence and firm pressure.”

Indeed. Never forget the persistence and firm — nay, unrelenting — pressure successfully brought upon a pope by a laywoman known as Catherine of Siena.

We need to stand up, ask questions, demand accountability and the inclusion of layfolk on investigative panels and as seminary formentors, sooner rather than later. We must also, perhaps, be ready to recommend creative and practical action to a leadership seemingly stumped as to how they can possibly regain our shattered trust. Recently, this writer has offered a few suggestions to the bishops:

1) Schedule a nationwide Holy Hour of Repentance, with Benediction — a penitential hour observed simultaneously, around the country, with the leadership in full view on their knees. Follow it up with regular hours of reparation, or other local action, monthly.

2) Hire an administrative team of business-minded layfolk to oversee as much as possible within each diocese in order to free up bishops to get out of their offices and, as Pope Francis has said, take on the “smell of the sheep.” Freeing the bishops from the separate and stultifying boardrooms as much as possible might save their vocations and their souls. One of the worst-received communiques released by a bishop came this week, from Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin who admitted that, as an auxiliary bishop in Pittsburgh, he had become “aware of incidents of sexual abuse when they were reported to the diocese.” But that such matters were outside his purview, that, “My responsibilities…did not include clergy assignments or clergy misconduct, but rather other administrative duties such as budgets, property, diocesan staff, working with consultative groups, etc”.

Administrative duties should never preclude action to protect innocence. As Jacob Marley eventually learned, and told old Scrooge, “Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business.”

One final suggestion: Open up your mansions.

Some bishops do live humbly, either in rectories, converted convents, or small apartments — Cardinal Sean O’Malley and Pope Francis come to mind — but many bishops take residence in sprawling mansions or multi-storied living spaces more suited to princes than shepherds. At one time in our history, the mansions had a purpose — to the larger society, they said, “Catholic pennies built all this; respect that and imagine what they can do for the coffers of your township, or your union, or your political party.”

Those purposes no longer relevant, these residences look like ostentatious statements of clerical excess and privilege. This is a good time to consider giving up the largest part of those spaces to the people of the diocese in the same way that a shepherd shares a field with the sheep, or a father opens up his house to his children. A bishop might create an apartment in one corner of the building – or a top floor — and allow the rest of the house to be used by the people, as a meeting place for prayer, for continuing adult formation, for the gathering and fellowship of deacons and their wives; as a social facility for the elderly. What a healthy thing for a bishop to live not separate but among the people he is meant to serve.

Of course, if a residence is large enough and has a bit of property to it, a bishop might want to go full-on sacrificial and use the mansion to establish a monastic house of prayer in the diocese, because the presence of contemplative religious, praying every day for a diocese and the people within it, will speed healing like almost nothing else.

Plus, everybody loves nuns. You can’t go wrong by bringing in nuns (contemplative or active) to address a problem.

Bishops, don’t wait until your gathering in November to (in the Roman Catholic way) “begin to talk about” taking action. More investigations are coming, we all know that. The laity are only going to get more frustrated, as they unfold. Take meaningful steps now, so at your meeting you have real action-items in place to show us.

In this way you will make a start in restoring the trust of the laity. Real, observable action will also help out the hard-working priests who are already being put upon, unjustly facing physical attacks and suffering emotional abuse for the sins of past priests and current bishops.

Hey USCCB, How About a Nationwide Holy Hour of Reparation?

Lots going on — lots of pronouncements, lots of calls to penance and prayer from the Church leadership, for instance. We layfolk have been keyed into the need for that for weeks, now, and are willing, although we’d like to see some real action on the part of our Bishops and Cardinals, and from the Holy Father in Rome, whose letter today…well, I was underwhelmed; perhaps your mileage varied.

More on that tomorrow. For tonight, I was at Adoration and recalling when Pope Benedict XVI used part of his visit to the United Kingdom to invite 80,000 of his close personal friends to participate in an outdoor Holy Hour and Benediction. I’ll never forget it. The stillness, the silence, the nearly palpable sense of prayer coming over the airwaves…

Well, if Pope Francis wants prayer and penance from the whole church, what’s better than an Holy Hour of Reparation? At first I was thinking, “Tri-State area” but then…hey…why not a national Holy Hour, with Benediction? A simultaneous Holy Hour, throughout the nation?

Think of it! At the same hour every diocese in the United States gathering outdoors — lots of College campuses and sports stadiums to be used; lots of high school fields — to pray a concentrated hour of reparation.

Even better, perhaps our bishops will prostrate themselves before the Blessed Sacrament as an expression of penitence visible to the entire Church. Parishes too distant from the outdoor gathering can participate in their own churches, with video feeds.

I mean, this the 21st century. We have the technology. We could use a few signs and wonders.

I’m all for this. I know it can be done, and if the Holy Spirit wants it, it can happen quickly. What do you say, bishops? Prayer has power. Prayer offered by the Bride of Christ before the Living Reality of the Bridegroom is most powerful.

And, “it is a fearsome thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Let the besmirched, injured Bride fall into the Bridegroom’s arms to receive his cleansing and his healing!

Friends, if you like this idea, forward it to the USCCB; forward it to your bishop. The layfolk in the flesh are willing; let not the Church’s spirit be weak!

I mean…realistically, we could make this worldwide…but I’ll let someone else suggest that.

Image mine.

Dear Cardinal DiNardo & USCCB: Do the Right Things, and We Will Have Your Backs

United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, President
3211 Fourth Street NE
Washington DC 20017
202-541-3000 @USCCB

Dear Cardinal DiNardo and US Bishops,

Thank you for your recently-released statement addressing the revelations concerning both Archbishop Theodore McCarrick and the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report.

Many American Catholics are grateful to read that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is committed to investigating, reporting on, and resolving questions and circumstances surrounding both issues. We ask that you please shine a hard light on the matter of Archbishop McCarrick. A truly objective, thorough, and forensic examination of his story is essential, and as you “develop a concrete plan for accomplishing these goals” in time for your November meeting, we will pray that the Holy Spirit guides you into wise discernment and courageous action, that you may truly begin to address the cesspit in which our Church seems mired.

From where we layfolk are sitting, here is what we see: Theodore McCarrick’s entire clerical career was fraught with dishonesty, psycho-sexual misconduct, human objectification and abuses against the bodies, minds, and spirits of young Catholics, in particular seminarians — young men who began their studies in faith and hope only to find themselves preyed upon, abused, and threatened with social exclusion or fraternal isolation when resistant. There is now also a credible accusation of what would be criminal abuse. Through it all, McCarrick rose through the ranks of the church with the support of influential churchmen, until becoming himself (and remaining) a key influencer in the Church. We need to know: How did that happen?

That is a major question we want answered; we suspect that if you pull that string, the whole fabric of corruption will begin to come apart, as it must if our afflicted church is to be restored to health.

Know this: We appreciate that getting to the bottom of McCarrick’s story may actually cost you something, may anger some powerful people, may require more of you than you have yet imagined. But if you pursue this investigation faithfully, fearlessly, truthfully, and thoroughly, you will have the prayerful support of the laity — the currently extremely angry, betrayed-feeling laity who at this moment are inclined to doubt you, and perhaps the Church itself, though never Christ.

We want to believe in the sincerity of your stated intentions, and when we see commensurate action behind your words, action rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ rather than self-protection, we will have your backs, because we are Church, and we want to see our Eucharistic and Sacramental church thrive, not shrivel. We need priests, and bishops, you need us.

One additional thought: While it is heartening to see the USCCB acknowledge that lay input will be an important part of all of this going forward, the scope of lay involvement, as outlined in your statement, is entirely too narrow. You write, “Lay people bring expertise in areas of investigation, law enforcement, psychology, and other relevant disciplines, and their presence reinforces our commitment to the first criterion of independence.”

It is true that lay people within these disciplines are important to the process you’re about to begin, but sirs — with all due respect — if you believe you will satisfy the demand for lay involvement by inviting only those with credentials in specific areas of expertise but do not include some people from the pews, the ordinary folks who worship and volunteer and tithe and try to raise their children in this church, you will invite failure to your objectives. Lay participation in future proceedings must include Catholic parents who have no other claim to being in the mix except to say, “This is our church and as fully as we suffer for her sins out of love for her, so must we be included in its processes as we seek to protect her.”

It would be good to see the Conference establish protocols for the inclusion of ordinary layfolk in every diocese who will — among other things — participate in examinations of clerical or parish misconduct, and in the screening, formation and pastoral training of our seminarians. If they are to be good shepherds in the future, their formation must put them into regular contact with the sheep they will serve.

There is much work to do. As with your statement, this is a cursory outreach to let you know what we’re thinking. In the name of Christ Jesus, please hear us.

Image: Saint Thecla prayer, Public Domain