this bjturk.commentary:
defense ministry

Lately, the news has been rife with stories of Catholic priests being accused of child molestation, lawsuits against dioceses, accusations againsts high-ranking church officials for their alleged misdeeds as junior priests, and calls for the resignations of cardinals. All of these things have called into question the integrity of the priesthood in particular, and of the clergy in general. One must ask whether this kind of treatment is truly fair.

In America's too-recent past, entire classes of people were judged by the shape of their eyes or the color of their skin. While these negative racist stereotypes certainly had some actual living people who personified them, history has shown time and again that there were a great many who truly distinguished themselves (and still do), while the vast majority were about as close to "ordinary people" as one could imagine. As a society, we gradually accepted that such generalizations were invalid and became less and less accepting of both the opinions and those who held them.

The generalized condemnation of the priesthood is a similar case. We prefer things to be simple, so it is far easier to believe that all priests, if not all clergy, are like the pedophiles we have heard so much about. It is easier to be wary of or fear them all than it is to exercise sound judgment on a case-by-case basis. And so the many are scarred and tarred by the misdeeds of the few.

Is this a concern? Certainly. From the time I was a child, it was a given that the clergy were the most trusted, and most trustworthy, of any city or town. They weren't deified themselves, but they were invariably pillars of their communities and highly respected as counselors, advocates and friends. Indeed, most were truly deserving of this reputation. As representatives of the Almighty, they were highly trusted, just as their congregations themselves trusted in Him.

The devastation of the general reputation of the clergy undermines our entire society. We have sought their counsel for so long, seeking a voice of reason and a direction in which to travel that the loss of such badly-needed needed moderators could cause our entire society to spin hopelessly out of control. When too many of us accept wrong as right, and with no one in a position of trust (in our own view) to tell us otherwise, we run the risk of recklessly traveling the paths of greed, lust, gluttony and the other deadly sins without hope of salvation. It allows us all to drive our nation and our way of life into ruin.

We as human beings tend to hang ourselves if we are allowed too much rope, and it has always been the clergy who stood by vigilantly to rein us in before that could happen. The excesses that have caused every powerful culture in world history to collapse have occurred in a vacuum of religious reason. From before the fall of the Roman Empire until long after the collapse of Nazi Germany, the absence or ignorance of God's divine guidance has been the ultimate downfall of them all. Even today, priests and ministers are jailed or killed because they dare to speak His voice of reason and restraint.

We continue to trust doctors, no matter how many have taken advantage of their patients. It is as if we believe that what they have done is not so bad because they usually commit their misdeeds with adults. Not so with the clergy, and the effects have been evident for many years. Fewer men are entering the priesthood than ever before, such that the U. S. armed forces are accepting older priests as chaplains than they will accept from any other religion simply because there aren't as many and the demand remains high. Church membership and attendance are lower this generation that the last, and there is little indication that will change. We are falling victim to the worst of our own humanity and we are trusting our best guardians less and less all the time.

Is it enough for the clergy to trust in God as their sword and their shield? While we can, and should, condemn the pedophiles and criminals of the cloth, we should not also scorn the many wearing the collar who try to walk the right path and guide others to follow. It is often thankless work, but that work is the glue that holds us together. We dare not allow the kind of generalizations that led to the murders of millions by the Nazis, and to the oppression of millions of Blacks in the United States, to destroy one of the few checks that remain on our baser instincts.

And I admit that my plea is somewhat self-serving. I am, after all, a minister myself. We know that all of us will ultimately receive the judgment we deserve, and nobody gets off on a technicality. He is just, and He is merciful, but it is difficult to believe that He could be that merciful. However, He reserves the right to prove me wrong.

April 6, 2002

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