Could it be typical of many, dare I say most, Roman Catholic clergy? There is a real tone deafness to the impact of these scandals not simply with regard to their affection laity have for their church but the embarrassment of having this all play out in the news -- something Roman Catholics in a Southern City feel even without the news headlines of bishops and beach houses and priests and altar boys. Nobody wants to attend a church that they feel they must constantly defend or explain especially when the issues are about immorality.
You have come to expect such headlines when it is about Hollywood stars or pop musicians or even politicians. They do not lay much claim to moral authority. But when it happens in the Church and particularly when it happens with the seeming complicity of Roman bishops who are there to supervise such people and hold them accountable quickly for their failures, then there is a problem of some magnitude. The abusive situations are not the only or the primary locus of the scandal but the failure of the bishops. That they either deliberately ignored, did not know or pay attention to, or did not deem the problem sufficiently important to deal with is the larger issue and it will surely spill over into the papal court if there is anything to show that Francis was also one of the see no evil monkeys who twiddled their thumbs while the Church was burning down.
As a Lutheran this whole thing is not without its teaching moment for those not Roman Catholic but who also have a structure in place and people endowed with the authority of supervision of doctrine and practice. Lutherans sometimes act as if we are so congregational that the larger structures of the Church are optional and not essential. In fact, as essential as the local administration of the Word and Sacraments are, so also is the supervision of doctrine and practice essential to maintain not only its integrity but the very assurance of the truth to those who hear and receive its grace. Rome's failures are not simply the failures of what is still a small number of priests to gross immorality but the larger failure of those set apart for this oversight.
The problems in Lutheranism, from the outrageous Nadia Bolz-Webers of this world to those who deny the basic affirmations of the Creed, stem from a similar failure to hold accountable those ordained and to hold accountable those congregations who join a church body to the doctrine and practice of that church body. Until we fix the problems of doctrinal supervision and oversight of practice (that which is episcopus), we will continue simply to put out fires and remain tone deaf to the impact of those fires upon the faithful in the pews and those who only know us by the odd fringes so endearing to social media. Some fear the heavy hand of the Law from those who have been charged with this episcopal oversight. I fear more the loose grip of a Gospel which finds it hard to hold any accountable to the Truth.
Roman Catholicism has had this moral degradation going on for centuries. Remember Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI) who would have made Hugh Hefner look like a saint, was probably one of the vilest popes in history. Even in the day of CelestineV, he was repulsed by this immoral behaviour of priests, that he retreated up a mountain to dedicate his life to 🙏 prayer.
ReplyDeleteIn a Lutheran context, our Bishops ( Presidents) do not have this power to force congregations/pastors/people to tow the line. Do we need a power structure similar to Roman Catholics? I can see that not going over well.
We once had the same episcopal structure as before and this was no more a guarantee of faithful behavior by the clergy or orthodoxy for that matter than it is for the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, or the ECLA. Polity doesn't make the Church faithful. Only God's grace and adherence to God's Word does. Whether you have an episcopal polity or a presbyterial, or congregational polity, all of these contain sinful men, and all need to be called to repentance.
ReplyDeletePastor Peters:
ReplyDeleteBeware of the LCMS mafia!
https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/mobbing-systemic-spiritual-abuse-in-the-lcms
The nonstop, malicious infighting has worn me out. Leaving a denomination for a non-denominational congregation does not insulate from church politics - or does it? What is an LCMS layman supposed to make of all this?
Be wary of that article. I have read it but there are too many questions to accept everything in it at face value. I wish it had been substantiated before being published but prayer is the best response to something like this.
ReplyDeleteProfessors and instructors can be pretty tone-deaf to some professors throwing papers at students, and verbally abusing them, due to tenure. They ignored violence and sexual assault on campuses. Fortunately, tenure has been done away with in a number of colleges and universities.
ReplyDeleteHere are a few excerpts from one more article about the pope and the sex scandals in the Roman church.
ReplyDelete"Last week the Vatican acknowledged that an Argentine bishop working at the Vatican faces sex-abuse charges. The story drew little attention from American media outlets....
"But reporters who look at the story just a bit more carefully recognize it as a blockbuster: a potentially fatal blow to the reputation of Pope Francis as a reformer....
"The Zanchetta case demonstrates that Pope Francis continues to protect his friends and allies, regardless of his professed commitment to accountability. This one case illustrates how, since Francis was elected, the Vatican has actually moved backward on two crucial fronts: the fight against sexual abuse and the quest for financial transparency. In this pontificate, the cause of reform is dead, unless the reform begins with the Pontiff himself."
Excerpted from the January 11, 2019, Catholic Culture article, "The Zanchetta case: a fatal blow to the Pope’s reputation as a reformer," by Phil Lawler.