Woe To The Shepherds Who Mislead My Flock

Yesterday's first reading at Mass was so on spot for this moment in time when we are reeling from the Cardinal McCarrick scandal.  Jeremiah 23: 1-6.  My pastor wrote a commentary on it for our bulletin.  I assume it is ok for me to retype it here.  I mean he made it public to the world.  If I am violating some copy write or ethical issue, I apologize.  I guess I should ask him, but I feel rather shy about it all, ironically.

Here it is:

WOE TO THE SHEPHERDS WHO MISLEAD MY FLOCK.  Today's passage from the prophet Jeremiah highlights a truth which can be as present in our lives today as in Jeremiah's day:  those appointed to lead and protect a people can misuse their power and take advantage of that people.  We see it in the world's dictators.  We've seen it in faculty members and sports coaches.  And, sadly, we have seen it in the revelations concerning sexual abuse committed by some Catholic priests, bishops and even cardinals, over the last few decades.  The victims were Catholics:  Altar Servers, teenage girls, children of parish families.  These were clearly the "sheep of the flock" who deserved protection by their shepherds, but were misled and betrayed by them instead.  The survivors of that abuse exist in every diocese, and perhaps in every parish.  Some still struggle to make sense of what happened to them.  Some struggle to be able to remain Catholic.  Some have come through their experience with a strong awareness that our priests are not gods:  they are human, prone to sin like any one of us.  The work of healing goes on in our midst in the American Catholic Church - and in the Church worldwide.
In today's Gospel passage from St. Mark, Jesus' heart was moved with pity at the sight of the people, because they were like "sheep without a shepherd."  May we as Catholics have the compassion of Jesus, as we continue to pray for the victims of sexual abuse, those who committed the crimes, and the bishops and priests and parishes and organizations who work to promote healing.  Let us pray that these things will never happen again, as we all work together in love, compassion and forgiveness.

I love this very much!  I appreciate my pastor a lot.  In the 17 years that I've been at this parish, he has been a good shepherd.

However, I think it still ignores the elephant in the room.  If priests are prone to sin, like every one else, then there ought to be some sort of check and balance in place to keep them on the right path in their role as leaders of the Church.  There is none to speak of.  Priests get elevated to bishops.  Bishops and cardinals run the Church and from themselves they choose our Pope.   The good old boy network allows a culture of power-seeking, secrecy, complicity and corruption.  Priests are not gods, but they ought to be well enough along in their own relationship with God to be spiritual leaders.  I get that priests sin, who can avoid venial sin anyway?  We need God's grace!  But we can avoid mortal sin.  And even if we might stray into mortal sin territory, we try to get ourselves out asap.  Hopefully, we are not serial mortal sin committers!  If we are, we ought not to be priests.

The institutional Church can not have its cake and eat it too.  You can't claim to be sinners to excuse horrendous behavior while having all the authority to keep your sins out of view.   There must be a reliable way to let priests and others call out corruption in the Church when they see it.  Decades long cover ups are inexcusable.