Denver, Colo., Sep 19, 2018 / 16:00 pm
I have spent most of this summer angry with Christ's Church.
When the first credible allegation against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick- my own former bishop- was announced, he was the focus of my anger. I marveled that a man of God could act with such cruelty toward children, seminarians, and priests.
As the weeks passed, my anger spread beyond McCarrick. First it spread to the bishops who were negligent or selfish enough to allow him to continue in ministry, and then to the institution itself- to a Church structure that seems often to reward mediocrity and punish holiness, a system that allows the sacraments of God to be tied up with hubris and the callow self-interest of twisted men.
If I'm being honest, I have also spent most of this summer deeply wounded. Disappointed that men I know- bishops I love, and admire, and respect- failed to intervene in ways that might have prevented harm to children, to priests, to souls, and to the Church. I'm hurt by indecision, incompetence, and indecency, and I'm angry at those who have hurt me.