scandalous

free will does actually matter

We like to talk about scandal a lot in the Church, but I think our bishops do not seem to get that their sins have actually undermined their ability to teach the faith.

Their tarnished authority isn't primarily their problem or a loss of their power. It's the laity's problem. If we have leaders corrupted by love of money, by protecting priests rather than children, by concern for the bottom line rather than living as a lily of the field, by political jockeying, infected by the internet habits of scoring points against opponents or invoking division to go viral—it actually does inhibit the clear proclamation of the Gospel, because they are the ones supposed to be proclaiming and teaching the Gospel. 

Moral authority isn’t just some decoration on the truth. “Human failings” actually do contribute to the substance of the truth. The great terror and wonder of being part of an incarnate faith is that our actions and our choice of life or death, blessing or curse, does matter. It has material weight and substance and material impacts upon others, and the gift of creation is that the material world is more than just decoration or passing shadow. It is a means by which we can come to see God. It is designed to reveal God.

Faith is a great link of links, we are all connected through the very human act of “handing down.” And we all know that the actions of hands matter. A slap is not the same as a handshake. And tradition is not just a sui generis truth that appears outside of human hands. Truth is held in human hands, within them, confined and mediated and released through them.

To be enfleshed means that our flesh is an image of God. And if we belie that image, well, then. What is the world supposed to believe? This is not so much a question for the world but for ourselves.

How does one separate the office from the man when the man used his office to enanct wrong? When the office calls for the man to protect the vulnerable, and the man used the office to protect the strong? If power corrupts, why do those in power not beg for a corrective to that corruption?

What is the moral authority of a church leadership so riddled by scandal and so terribly obstinate about doing any sort of confession, penance, and reconciliation about it in a meaningful way that will cost them any thing? I am asking, because I do not know.

We are fond of pointing out that the church was founded upon Peter, who betrayed Christ. Clearly imperfect. But Peter, famously, wept and repented. Can moral authority actually exist if its public sins are not followed by equally public repentance?