A scandal close to home
Published Tuesday October 6th, 2009
People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young.
John Paul II, 2002
Catholicism can be a challenging enough religion to following without its leadership seeming to make the headlines for moral failings with the predictability and regularity of the changing of the seasons. As the leaves turn vibrant colours and a chill bites into the morning air, Catholics once again are seeing one of their clergy accused of a crime no one would wish on their worst enemy. This one hits close to home, with Nova Scotia's Bishop Raymond Lahey, charged last week with possession of child pornography, taking refuge in the monastery in Rogersville.
Less sickening than what he is accused of but equally unsettling is the way so many people no longer respond to allegations such as this with shock, but rather with sadness, headshaking, or perhaps even sighs of resignation. There will be more slumped shoulders in the pews in Nova Scotia, to be sure, but I'm sure members of the Church throughout the country have been flinching at some level this past week.
It's important to remember that priests convicted of such charges are not representative of clergy as a whole. I grew up in a Catholic family, attended St. Malachy's High School and St. Thomas University, and my life has been enriched in innumerable ways by the priests and nuns who took an interest in me - professional or personal - during my formative years. They are the face of the Church.
The crime of which the Bishop is accused does not represent his Church, does not represent his colleagues, and certainly does not represent the hopes and beliefs of members of Canada's largest religion.
It's these people, the genuine leaders in the Church, who are faced with the unenviable task of again serving shaken congregations, reflecting from the pulpit on the nature of sin and forgiveness, and leading their parishioners beyond this scandal. It's a shame that it's something they've had to do time and time again. Like Sister Aloysius Beauvier in Doubt, these things cause the faithful to question their trust. These leaders must feel a sense of betrayal at least equal to that of their congregations.
I heard Michael Higgins, president of St. Thomas University, on the radio last week commenting that people cannot always expect sound judgement from their leaders - people will make mistakes from time to time - but they should be able to expect integrity. He's right, and that's part of the reason this strikes so close to heart. It's not a politician having an affair or a singer busted for drugs or an athlete facing a DUI. It's a priest charged with possessing child porn.
Just a few months ago, Bishop Lahey helped broker a $15 million settlement between the diocese and 50 years of parishioners who claimed its priests sexually abused them. It's also been revealed since his arrest that there were complaints about his possessing child pornography given to police in Newfoundland 20 years ago. As happens in these cases, any good work Lahey accomplished as a clergyman and an educator will be washed from his reputation should he be convicted of this disgusting crime.
Clerics convicted of possessing child pornography are not remembered as pastors or professors, but as pedophiliac voyeurs who in secret lived vicariously through those who preyed on children. John Paul was right - there should be no place in the priesthood for such men.
The Church is also in the position of being an organization that calls people to be charitable and preaches forgiveness. The monks in Cistercian-Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of Calvary in Rogersville have taken in a man no one else wants. It's a beautiful place of worship nestled in the natural beauty of rural New Brunswick.
If a priest were convicted of a crime such as this, it might be best to spend the remainder of his days removed from society, praying off his past, atoning in a tiny agrarian community of brothers. And without access to the internet. Forgiveness isn't forgetfulness.
It's another chance for the Roman Church, at every level, to reflect on how to self-examine itself to minimize the chance of this happening too many more times. Periods of great renewal in the Church have occurred because of discontent. There would have been no Counter-Reformation if the clergy had been unable to look at itself and say 'this has to stop.' The day can't come soon enough when stories like this become as rare as selling indulgences.
Peter Smith is a teacher and writer. His column appears each Tuesday.
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