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The Seeds of Doubt: When Giants Fall

by Thomas Hardy

I don't know about you, but I've been getting more and more upset as I watch the news lately. How can there be so many priests who have committed sexual abuse? And if, statistically, the number of incidents is in line with the rest of society, doesn't that say something too? I get angry when I think about it. These men that I have been told to admire and trust are proving to be no better than anyone else. But then again, maybe that's the lesson.

The Bigger They Are...

I remember a particular teacher that I had elementary school -- we'll call her Mrs. Welch -- she was the best! We had so much fun in class, but we managed to learn a lot, too. It was the best situation for a little kid to be in.

Mrs. Welch was the perfect adult. She was kind and smart and pretty and always knew the correct answer or right thing to do. She was pretty strict in class, but we never thought of her as mean. Mrs. Welch just had a way of getting everyone to follow her rules and feel good about it. In fact, her class was the one that all the younger kids wanted to be in when they got to 3rd grade.

...The Harder They Fall

When I was in the fifth grade, I was out shopping with my parents when we ran into Mrs. Welch. I didn't recognize her at first -- she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and her hair was down and sort of messy. She definitely didn't look like the smart, well-dressed lady who had taught my 3rd grade class!

Then I got the biggest shock of all. She explained to me that she wasn't Mrs. Welch anymore... she was Mrs. Kendrick. She had been going through a divorce during my 3rd grade year, and she had just recently remarried.

I remember standing there, in the mall, feeling like an important part of my life had just been ripped apart. I was looking at this person whom I had admired so much, when I realized something for the first time. Regardless of my memory of her, she was not some super hero. She was a human being -- just like the rest of us. And it made me sad.

A Few Bad Apples

I guess I'm like most people in that I want everything to be nice and tidy and easily explained. Unfortunately, life doesn't cooperate very often. And just like a teacher once told me, there are rarely any simple answers for complex problems.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that we want to stereotype priests just to make it easy on ourselves. It was always easier for me to simply believe that all priests are kind, caring people who would never hurt anyone and never have immoral thoughts. They always do everything for the benefit of God or others, and never focus on themselves. In short, they could all qualify for sainthood if they could manage to work a few miracles.

Just as I stood there in that mall so long ago, again I find myself disappointed and discouraged with people I had admired. Obviously, the atrocities of a pedophile are far worse then the fact that my 3rd grade teacher got a divorce, wears jeans and lets her hair down -- but my feelings of betrayal are similar. At times it makes me wonder if these priests devoted their lives to God in an effort to make up for their horrible thoughts and desires. Sometimes I even catch myself wondering if maybe all priests have something to hide.

But I know that's not true. There are a few bad priests, but there are also many excellent ones as well. The problem is that we often forget that priests are people too. Yes, they should try to hold themselves to higher standards because of their position -- but we should not put them up on pedestals. They are not mini versions of Jesus any more than you or I.

I don't like what's happening, and I don't have any answers. But I do know one thing: Condemning the priesthood because of the wrongs committed by a few -- even though those "wrongs" are very horrible -- doesn't solve anything. In fact, it may only make things worse.

Life Applications:

Who do you look up to? Who are the people you admire?
Describe a time when someone you admired disappointed you.
Considering the media-proclaimed "crisis" in the Catholic Church, do you look at you Parish priest(s) differently? Why or why not?

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