After reading an article about the latest aspect of the clergy sexual scandal in Pennsylvania, I scrolled down and read a couple of the comments (something I rarely ever do). I am glad that I did, because one of those commenting made the naive claim, "I'm glad I'm not a Catholic". Although I completely understand the sentiment, especially when you realize that the media (and immature Catholic bloggers who do not know how to deal with problems) like to make everything seem as bad as possible. I do not, however, agree with the sentiment.
In fact, I can say today that I am glad I am a Catholic. No, I am not glad about what some of my brother clergymen have done -- it is a vile and disgusting sin. I am glad (and proud!) that I am a Catholic because I am in the only place where the men who have committed these abominable sins can find the full grace of God through the Sacraments. They (if truly penitent) can come to the sacrament of confession and experience the forgiveness of God. What better place is there on Earth for sinners to be able to repent of their sins?
Furthermore, these priests and bishops who have fallen like this, in coming to repentance (if they are able and have not already died and met their Maker), can find not only their own forgiveness, but also be better able to pray for others who struggle with the same sins. No, we will probably never hear about this occurring, but we can expect that is exactly what every truly penitent person would do. God never grants someone repentance without also granting them an ability to help others once they learn from their mistakes.
In the Church (in spite of her sinful members) God pours His grace on us through many different means. Those different means are available to any who is willing to repent of their sins. Those who are unwilling to repent--for them, their fate is clear: eternal Hell (this is not time to tone it down). Yet for those who are willing, if they go anywhere else other than the Catholic Church, it is not assured that they will find the fullness of God's grace. They may get a touch of it, but "just a touch" of life saving medicine is insufficient.
That life-saving medicine, which can only surely be found in the Catholic Church, is given out like a vaccine at a hospital. That is why the Church has often been called a "hospital for sinners". Notice that it does not say a "hospital for laity who are sinners" but just "sinners". This means that the grace that the Church administers through the sacraments is grace for laity and clergy. No one is exempt from needing God's grace. We should not be surprised to find that there are sinners in the Church (even priests who are sinners). Yes, the sin of sodomy is grave; especially when it is young boys that are harmed (which is the wide majority in each of these cases). Those, however, who fall into this sin outside of the Church, do not have available to them as readily the grace of the Sacraments; they must come to the Church to find it.
Will all those fallen priests and bishops choose to accept God's grace? I do not know. I have heard that sexual sin is very hard to eradicate, and that it is like alcoholism -- once an addict, always an addict. Whether the temptation will ever go away or not is another question (though men who have fallen like this should never be returned to ministry, even if they say they are "OK now"). For those who do choose the path of repentance, then we can rejoice that God can heal anyone. The Church has more blemishes now than she appeared to have in the past, but that just means that she is needed that much more today.
I rejoice that I am Catholic at times like this. Yes, that may sound a bit odd, but it is true. I rejoice that in spite of all of the sins men commit (and all the attempts of the devil to tear down God's Church), that at the end the Church will still be here. It is true that the Church will likely get much smaller after this scandal. It is also true, however, that it will get much stronger. It feels like Gideon in the book of Judges. God told him that he had too many men to win the battle so the Lord eliminated a few from the ranks. God is clearly "eliminating" clergy from the ranks; and I believe it is so that He can more clearly win the battle. If we won the battle with large numbers, we would presume on our own abilities. When we win the battle and it is clear that we were too small to do it on our own, then we do not get the honor -- Christ does.
