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I Will Still Call Her Home
The grand jury report about the scandalous behavior of the priests in Pennsylvania is apalling. However long ago they may have happened, they are unacceptable. Unacceptable for anyone, but especially for the men who were trusted by their flock to be good shepherds. Their behaviors make me sad and angry. They make me feel overprotective of my children. I am still reeling from the news.
I sat at my computer several times over the last week to read the grand jury report. Each time I closed the tab after staring at the table of contents for a few moments. My stomach ties in knots just thinking about what I know I will read. My heart is not ready yet. I know I will; I know I need to read it, or at least parts of it, so that I may fully understand. So that I may fully defend the innocent and fully pray for the victims.
These individual priests, these hundreds of leaders in the church, have made it more difficult for us to spread the word of the Church. They have made parents feel unsafe. They have caused countless people to leave. And I am disgusted.
Yet I will not back down to this evil. I will stay and fight. I will stay for the goodness, the beauty, and the truth who is Jesus Christ. I will speak up, show up, and defend the children of the Church whom I am entrusted with - my own two boys and my students.
We will continue to call the Catholic Church our Home, our Mother. She is where we will pray for the victims and the sinners. Where we will sacrifice through the Eucharist in unity with Her around the world. I know Jesus feels even more sorrowful than I do, both about the victims and the group of priests that chose not to follow Him.
While I have not read the Grand Jury Report, I have been reading and listening to the reactions of faithful members of our Church. Please head over to their pages to read their reactions, as well as some concrete actions that we can take as a Faith community to combat this evil in our midst.
{photo courtesy of ExorcisioTe}