Great homily by a brother Deacon

For our homily this week I am posting this offering from Deacon Walter Wiggins; a FB brother deacon who I met in New Orleans back at the July National Diaconate Congress.  A great homily, especially in these days of church crisis, by Deacon Walter:

It’s been a difficult summer for the Catholic Church in the United States. On July 29th a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report stating that they had found evidence of widespread child sex abuses and cover-up actions by Catholic clerics in six of the eight dioceses of Pennsylvania going back several decades. Over 1,000 child victims were identifiable from the church’s own records, and over 300 priests were identified as sexual predators. The report stated that it is safe to presume there are more victims whose records may have been lost or who were afraid to come forward.

Much closer to home, there was the news of credible evidence of the sexual abuse of a minor, accusations of sexual abuse and abuse of power perpetrated against seminarians, and sexual abuse settlement payments to priests by the former Archbishop of Newark Theodore McCarrick while he served as a priest in the Archdiocese of New York, the Bishop of Metuchen, and the Archbishop of Newark.

These reports, to say the least, are terrible and shocking, and a cause of anger, confusion, and doubt among faithful Catholics and those who have looked to the Catholic Church as a source of moral authority. These cases are all the more infuriating in light of everything the Church has attempted to do in the United States since 2002. That year, the Boston Globe uncovered widespread occurrences of clerical sexual abuse of children and cover-up efforts in the Archdiocese of Boston. In the years following these events, the Church in the United States had made noteworthy strides in implementing protocols and safeguards aimed at protecting children, and holding accountable those clerics who, after due process, where found guilty of abusive acts, covering them up, or failing to act on credible allegations of abuse.

And yet, here we are again. It’s painfully clear that not enough was done then to expose these heinous acts the light of day and that much more needs to be done now to effectively deal with this problem and root it out. These reports and all reports of sexual misconduct by clergy throughout the world continue to cause our Church great shame and pain. They are a scandal and serve as a type of anti-gospel that work against the Church’s mission of sharing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus walked the earth today, he very well may have spoken the same words he spoke to the Scribes and Pharisees in today’s Gospel to the clerics involved in these activities:

"This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

In a recent article on CatholicPhilly.com, Richard Doerflinger of the Catholic News Service offered this description of the term “clericalism”. He writes, “Clericalism separates out the clergy as a privileged caste, in a mutual bond that excludes others and invites the laity to be mere passive recipients of what the clergy offers. It fosters exclusivism and mutual protection as ends in themselves, so the first instinct when a priest is accused of wrongdoing is to “circle the wagons” for protection.”

The “human tradition” of clericalism that exists in many dioceses and fosters an environment where sexual abuse can happen must come to an end once and for all. If we are to be a missionary church, boldly proclaiming the gospel to all peoples we simply cannot continue to tolerate this.

Any cleric – deacon, priest, or bishop - who through due process is found to be responsible of committing acts of sexual misconduct, covering them up, or failing to report known activities of misconduct to the rightful authorities should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the civil law and accountable to any and all penalties available under Church law.

The lay faithful cannot be “mere passive recipients of what the clergy offers,” but must have a role in helping the Church through this difficult period of healing, reconciliation, and reformation. Among the things you, the laity can do is remain vigilant for instances of clerical sexual abuse among those you know. If you have been a victim of abuse by a cleric or know someone who has, I encourage you to come forward to both civil authorities and Church authorities. As difficult as it may be, do not be afraid to speak up yourself and for those who may not be able to speak for themselves.

The Church may also call upon the lay faithful with particular skills or talents to work with Church leaders in helping victims of abuse to heal and obtain justice, or to implement policies or procedures to safeguard the faithful. If you are asked to participate in some way and you are able to, please share your talents with your Church and those who are in need.

All of the faithful – laity, religious, and clergy – can and should offer prayers and penance in reparation for the deep wounds against God’s holy Church caused by these scandals.

Through all these happenings, however, we must realize that something beyond really wicked men doing really wicked things is going on here.

Jesus goes on to tell the people in today’s Gospel:

“From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

And so it is with the human heart that refuses to acknowledge its own sinfulness. A person that begins to believe that the things that our Lord mentions here are not so bad opens themselves up to defiling their hearts and in turn, opens their heart to the workings of Satan. I believe that the workings of Satan are what we’re really up against.

Brothers and sisters, I firmly believe we are under attack! Our Church is under attack by Satan! As St. Paul say in his letter to the Ephesians, “We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Satan will exploit any opportunity, any weakness in the human heart to turn it away from God and God’s law and in on itself. Indeed, Christ has already won the ultimate victory over Satan, sin, and death. And Satan knows he is defeated. But that does not stop him from his quest to drag every possible soul down to hell with him before the end.

Satan is on a mission to destroy the Church through the weapons of division, separation, and lies. He is working non-stop to divide the shepherds from the sheep, to separate the head from the body, and make the truth appear to be a lie and lies to be the truth. This is what behind all of these cases of clerical sexual abuse and indeed all sins!

But Church, we are not alone! We are not without hope! Jesus has given us the spiritual weapons that can defeat Satan. We have the weapon of prayer. God hears our prayers and answers them when we pray to him in the name of Jesus. Through prayer, God can change our hearts and by changing our hearts change the world if we but have faith!

We have the gifts of the Holy Spirit which enable us to recognize the workings of Satan and not give into his attacks or fall into his traps and to stay focused on Jesus.

We have the gifts of the sacraments, in particular, the Eucharist and Confession, that strengthen us and bring us into a stronger bond of love, communion, and reconciliation with God and our neighbors.

We have the gift of sacramentals like holy water, religious medals, rosaries, and holy cards, which serve as a reminder to us of the presence of God in our lives.

We have a great army in heaven here with us – the angels and the saints, led by Mary the Great Mother of God who crushes the head of the serpent and St. Joseph, the Terror of Demons and guardian of the Church. Together with them, we are greater than Satan and his demons because we have God is on our side. And “if God is for us, who can be against us”?

Brothers and sisters, I ask you to join me now in the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel for all victims of clerical abuse, and for the good bishops, priests, deacons, and seminarians to protect them and give them the strength and courage to be holy and virtuous men throughout their lives and in their ministries of service to the People of God.

St. Michael the Archangel
Defend us in battle
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray
And do thou, O prince of the heavenly hosts
By the power of God
Cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
Who prowl about the world
Seeking the ruin of souls.