Another disturbing article about failures in the Catholic Church published in the New York Times, which I read online this morning. Very upsetting indeed. The title, "Amid scandals and Politics, Polands Youth Lose Faith in the Catholic Church."It begins..."The Catholic Church in Poland is in deep crisis as its authority is sapped by cascading sexual abuse scandals ...."
The article then goes on to list why young people are turning away from the Church in a heavily Catholic country such as Poland. Young people for the most part still believe in God but it's the institution that is troubling them because of sexual abuse cover-ups, the transfer of priests known to be abusers (which happened in the past)......the same repulsive story that has played out in other parts of the world. Failures of the hierarchy to realize the evil and "cancer" that sexual abuse is and the damage it does to those affected and the credibility of the church. In these modern days of social media and the 24- hour news cycle, the damage will be compounded and long lasting and it threatens the very foundations of our religion.
For those who make high level decisions in the Church, such as the pope, bishops and cardinals, I hope and pray they make necessary changes before its too late. If the Church loses young people around the world, there will be little left. Some people say, a smaller church is not such a big problem.....but that's not what Jesus said. "Go therefore and make disciples," was his command.
So business as usual will not work, it's not working and it's damaging the Church. Radical changes are needed.
As this Advent season began, I attended a beautiful liturgy at my Church, where a baptism took place at Mass. The best of Catholicism on display and lived out. The beauty of the sacrament of baptism, Catholic parents bringing their infant to be anointed, the Church does nothing better than the sacramental rituals. But the elephant in the room, the failures of the institution threaten the very foundation of Christianity. I don't think that's an exaggeration.
Wake up! Wake up Church and follow the commands of Jesus.
NJA
