The Judases and Peters of Today: Holy Thursday Essay 2010
Entering this holy Triduum, the commemoration of the Paschal Mystery, has been most difficult for me. For the past several days we have been inundated with news and revelations of horrific and atrocious crimes against innocent and defenseless human beings by the very hands of priests and bishops across the globe. Sadly, while this is not entirely something new as we have passed through these troubled waters before, the recent surge of reports reveal an even uglier side of perhaps what will be known in history as the greatest ecclesial scandal ever: the priest sexual abuse crises. And as I write this, I am reminded of a verse from John’s Gospel, a few lines after the passage read for this Holy Thursday:
“Dico vobis quia unus ex vobis tradet me – I say to you, one of you will betray me (John 13:21).”
It is striking that the Gospel chapter that is traditionally proclaimed on Maundy Thursday, the day when the Church commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and ministerial priesthood, has within its passage this prophetic message: one will betray me. While all of us, in one way or another have perhaps betrayed the living God, we are finding that the very successors to the apostles continue to follow the path of their predecessors (Peter and Judas) and deny Christ. And among our priests and bishops today, there exists many a Peter and Judas. Dare we have hope though that perhaps our bishops and priests today may be more like Peter than Judas?
And this is where this time is difficult for me. For I am starting to wonder if some of our bishops and priests are following the path of Peter, seeking the Lord’s forgiveness, and “feed” and “take care” of his sheep (John 21:15-16).
What has struck me most about the most recent news is the lack of a genuine, heartfelt, and sincere plea for forgiveness for the sins of priests and bishops past and present. Rather, there has almost been an overwhelming apologia or defense for the way some have responded, including the Pope. Bishops of the likes of Timothy Dolan of New York and William Levada of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have offered fierce attacks on the media for its intense reporting on the scandal, accusing in particular the “Grey Lady” (New York Times) of an assault upon the Pope and bishops for the scandal.
Despite the perhaps sensationalism given to the scandal by the media of late, the reporting is offering some rather incriminating evidence for the poor response of many bishops and the Vatican to the rising scandal. Even the Pope, Benedict XVI, has been questioned for his own role, while Archbishop of Munich, in the infamous case of a German priest accused of molesting hundreds of children. Whatever may be of that situation, and the countless others, the Church, the entire People of God, is in desperate need for a shepherd to care and tend to them.
Thus it is a time that is difficult for me because I am having to defend, to my friends and family, men who have not only hurt the very children whom Jesus calls his own (Matthew 19:14) but also priests and bishops who fail to, or are slow to, offer words of sincere regret, sadness, and apology for the horrors committed by either themselves or by many of their brothers. Now is not a time for a defense of the clerical members of the Church. Now is a time for genuine honesty. More harm will be done if secrets are perpetuated and tracts are given to uphold the ministerial priesthood.
I think tonight’s Gospel offers to us all the way to experience the deep and penetrating power of God’s forgiving grace:
“If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” (John 13:14-15)
If this is truly the “Year of Priests,” and the violence of the priestly sexual, physical, and verbal abuse so great, the members of the Church, and in a particular way the priests of the Church, ought to remove their fine garments and kneel before the feet of the wounded and anoint them with oil. For Christ’s Body has been brutally hurt and is in desperate need of healing.
Moreover, it might be time for bishops and priests to be like Peter and to lovingly respond to Jesus and the Church and to heed Jesus’ voice: “Feed my lambs! Take care of my sheep! Feed my sheep! (John 21:15,16,17)” Some of the bishop’s have already given fine examples of this: Archbishops Thomas Collins of Toronto and Jerome Listecki of Millwaukee. Perhaps more will follow.
