by "Father John"
(A post on an internet discussion board in response to a seminarian that was abruptly expelled from St. Mary's Seminary in Emmittsburg, Maryland because he maintained a web site which linked to other religious web sites.)One hears this, and experiences it, again and again, in regard to dioceses, seminaries, and religious communities. There are times when this callousness is expressed through a left/right, conservative/traditional, pro-x or anti-x lens. But the underlying fact remains that whatever the individual manifestation, the Church hurts. It hurts laity often enough, but laity can choose to participate less, to give less, and to take comfort from other areas of their lives. Clergy and religious have no such buffer, and it hurts more.
By the time of ordination, even the most optimistic of seminarians should have learned that his major cross as a priest will be in the Church. Not celibacy, not the respect and obedience he has promised or vowed, not a simple lifestyle, not poverty if he is religious, and not the challenges of parish life, but the Church itself.
There is no meaningful system of checks and balances, and one is left to the whims, desires and opinions of those in charge, be they pastors, diocesan officials, bishops, cardinals, or provincials. A humble and true servant of God, in such a situation, risks corruption by isolation. A humble and true servant of God, in such a situation, is a joy to behold and a true gift from God.
But, as the American founding fathers understood, and as our Church does not seem to understand, one cannot expect that men, even churchmen, will be uniformly virtuous.
In the Church in the US today there is a pernicious idea that we are always on the right side, on the side of good and angels, and that anyone who raises objections is evil, wrong, and out to get us. That is a recipe for disaster. For, once a person is convinced of their own righteousness, there is no end to the evil that they can do. The person convinced of his own righteousness will overlook any evil, any disrespect shown to a person, or any lack of common courtesy, as somehow justified because, after all, he's already decided that he's on the side of the angels.
We are in a terrible spot. Truly sin speaks to the sinner in his heart so that he knows not his guilt. So pederasts are planted among vicitms, resources are misappropriated, those weaker in the ecclesiastical food chain - like seminarians and priests - are sacrificed, and any voice that points to the distance from the Gospel is silenced one way or another.
Yet through it all, the Gospel, somehow, is preached. And babies are baptized, and the dead are buried, and the sick visited, and words of comfort and compassion are spoken, by loyal and good priests, by sincere religious, and by a long-suffering laity.
To the men of the Mount, if any of this is true, you have my sympathy. But better to learn it now rather than later. And us it to become a better priest. Pick of this cross, and those of the future. Realize that this cross strewn Church is the only way given to you to follow Christ. Love the Lord, and strive always to talk honestly, to avoid glossing the Gospel with the group-think engendered by the institution, and thirst for justice. In doing this, you will become in persona Christi.
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