We’ve seen this pattern before in other professions. Ask the Catholic Church what happens when an intense concern with public image induces leadership to ignore a growing avalanche of red flags. Pope John Paul II (now a canonized saint) was in most respects an inspiring leader and an intensely holy man. Nevertheless, his strong commitment to developing and ennobling the priesthood gave him something of a blind spot when it came to bad priests. When rumors trickled upwards that priests were abusing minors, the pontiff seems to have assumed that this just couldn’t be true.
Some have suggested that the Soviets once used allegations of sexual misconduct to undermine and discredit good priests. The young Karol Wojtyla (who would later become Pope John Paul II) got used to dismissing such charges as so much anti-clerical hot wind. It’s easy to understand how that could happen. Plenty of modern people hate the Church! But in this case, tragically, it wasn’t hot wind. When the horrific realities of priestly sexual predation came to light, the Church suffered a blow from which it has yet to fully recover.
Obviously, the tragedy was devastating for the victims of abuse, and their families. The Church’s reputation was also badly tarnished. The fallout still affects rank-and-file Catholics by the millions, as punishing lawsuits push dioceses into bankruptcy. Unsurprisingly, the crisis deepened an already-dire vocations crisis, and good priests suffered immensely through 2000’s. Just ask a cleric how it felt in 2002, when parents would see him in the frozen food aisle and shepherd their kids in the opposite direction.
Last January, on Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, Ted Cruz gallantly referred to the police as our “priests in blue”. Perhaps some people liked that image. I shivered.
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