2018 HORIZON, Number 4, Fall

Fall 2018 www.nrvc.net | Volume 43, Number 4

Ministry amid the storm 2

Updates

3

Walking with discerners in the turbulence

By Sister Susan Rose Francois, C.S.J.P.

7

Scripture insights for difficult days

By Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I.

12 FAQs and 10 things to know

about church sexual abuse

17 What does a healthy

church culture look like?

23 Our “Vocation Culture Project”

By Father Thomas McCarthy, O.S.A. 26 Feed your spirit

In peace you shall be brought home 27 Book notes

Once you’ve taken the plunge

By Father Jim Kent, O.F.M. Conv.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 1

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Editor’s Note

Reflecting on the fray HORIZON Editor Carol Schuck Scheiber Proofreaders Sister Mary Ann Hamer, O.S.F.; Virginia Piecuch Page Designer Patrice J. Tuohy © 2018, National Religious Vocation Conference.

HORIZON is published quarterly by TrueQuest Communications on behalf of the National Religious Vocation Conference, 5401 South Cornell Avenue, Suite 207, Chicago, IL 60615-5664.

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Cover: Photo by Stuart McPherson

T

HE PHOTO on the cover of this edition shows a storm in Norwich, England, home of the famous mystic, Julian of Norwich. While her theological heft goes far beyond her famous “All shall be well,” what stays with me is her solid foundation in God’s providence during a time when society was falling apart. The black plague killed at least one half of the population in her region, and the church was suffering under a papal schism.

Yet she was able to say with confidence, “All shall be well.”

Our church in recent months has been experiencing the ecclesial equivalent of Julian’s turbulent times. Corruption, violence, cover-up, betrayal: it is ugly, deep-seated, and overwhelming to anyone paying attention. Many, myself included, question our affiliation with an institution so broken and a scandal so sordid.

And vocation ministers are asking people not only to stay Catholic but to give their lives to the church. That’s a hard sell. It would seem absurd if we didn’t believe that vocation directors are not really “selling” anything but rather helping discerners uncover their true calling.

Reflecting on the fray, religious themselves have taught me to continually go deeper. Look beneath the surface. Go to the authentic core and see the “root of the root and the bud of the bud,” as poet E.E. Cummings put it, where our treasure lies. We must rebuild from that good root and set aside what leads to rot.

Our writers in this edition help us to look at this ministry and this church during these tumultuous times.

—Carol Schuck Scheiber, editor HORIZON is an award-winning journal for vocation ministers and those who support a robust future for religious life.

It is published quarterly by TrueQuest Communications on behalf of the National Religious Vocation Conference.

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE BOARD Sister Kristin Matthes, S.N.D.deN., Board chair Sister Gayle Lwanga Crumbley, R.G.S. Sister Anna Marie Espinosa, I.W.B.S. Sister Virginia Herbers, A.S.C.J. Father Charles Johnson, O.P. Sister Lisa Laguna, D.C.

Father Adam MacDonald, S.V.D. Sister Belinda Monahan, O.S.B. Sister Priscilla Moreno, R.S.M. Sister Anita Quigley, S.H.C.J. Mr. Len Uhal Sister Mindy Welding, I.H.M.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 1

Updates

Austin Blanchard, Unsplash

Other themes that emerged at the synod included church sexual abuse, migration, women, secularism, digital media, and the challenge of communicating the church’s teaching on sexuality. Find more information on the synod at synod2018.va.

Save the dates!

Here are some of the key religious vocation events coming up in 2019. Learn more at nrvc.net.

Synod 2018 focused on the needs of young adult Catholics.

Synod examines needs of young adults The synod of bishops held in Rome October 3-28, 2018 focused on outreach to young adults. The young adults who gave input to the synod emphasized several pastoral needs within the synod’s theme of “young people, faith, and vocation discernment.” Among the concerns they outlined—and which drew the attention of attending bishops—were: • A desire for the church to listen to, accept, and reach out to young people where they are • A desire for authentic witnesses and mentors • A desire for the church to respond to their concrete life concerns, including things like emotional wellness, employment, and sustainable development.

Sister Nathalie Becquart, Xav. vice president of European Vocations Service and a collaborator with NRVC, addressed the synod, emphasizing the importance of listening before speaking or acting. She told cruxnow.com: “It’s a long process of being silent, listening to young people, and understanding their realities. Then you can speak.”

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World Day for Consecrated Life February 2, 2019 National Catholic Sisters Week March 8-14, 2019 Religious Brothers Day May 1, 2019 World Day of Prayer for Vocations May 12, 2019 NRVC Summer Institute: Chicago July 9-24, 2019 Fall Institute: Leavenworth, Kansas October 7-24, 2019

New resource: Vocation Vocabulary Designed to help discerners, youth ministers, parents, and parish staff understand the language of vocation, this new resource from NRVC is perfect for anyone who is beginning to learn about religious life. Order this 20-page booklet for just $3 each; $2 each for NRVC members.

Purchase it at nrvc.net.

Updates

Photo by Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M.

Victor Rodriguez, Unsplash

Many are calling the church broken. Is this any time to be inviting people to be its public face?

Actually, yes.

Walking with discerners in the turbulence

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ATELY I HAVE FOUND MYSELF praying with the image of a storm as I seek to make meaning and find my own way through these turbulent and challenging times, both within our church and in the wider world, the mission field, where we are called to serve God’s people and witness to the Gospel. In the best of times, it can be difficult to listen for the still small voice of God calling us to risk life, love, and goodness. On a clear day, this call can be drowned out by all the countervailing messages we hear in our culture to instead seek self-interest, power, profit, and pleasure. In the chaos of the storms, it can feel close to impossible to find our way through to the other side, let alone to encourage others to journey with us.

On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up (Mark 4:35-37).

Francois | Walking With Discerners

By Sister Susan Rose Francois, C.S.J.P. Sister Susan Rose Francois, C.S.J.P. belongs to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.

She is in congregational leadership. In addition to writing for HORIZON, she is a monthly columnist for Global Sisters Report and writes a blog, “At the Corner of Susan and St. Joseph.” She is a former member of the HORIZON Editorial Board.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 3

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).

I find great comfort in the words of the disciples: “Do you not care that we are perishing?” Here they are, keeping an eye on the impending waves, trying to bail out the boat and stay afloat amidst rising waters, and Jesus is, of all things, asleep! I can relate to how they must have felt.

Temptations abound when we think God is asleep on the job and that we’re in charge. We can be tempted to think that the storm is too much for us, this is the end, so we might as well give up. We might be tempted to think that we can ride out the storm because everything will be the same afterward anyway, and so we hide under the figurative covers or in the cellar. We might be tempted to … fill in the blank.

In reality, what we do know is that the chaos of the storm is the texture of our present moment. It is the context in which we are called to live the vows each day for the reign of God, following in the footsteps of countless men and women who lived through their own stormy weather for the sake of the Gospel. “From the very beginning of the church men and women have set about following Christ with greater freedom and imitating him more closely through the practice of the evangelical counsels, each in their own way leading a life dedicated to God.” (Second Vatican Council, Perfectae Caritatis).

The storms of politics and public opinion, polarization and division, confusion and doubt, anger and frustration, sadness and powerlessness, you name it, swirl all around, within and among us. There is no way to avoid the stormy weather—it is the very air we breathe.

Moreover, we too are caught up in the storm, whether through personal experience, ministry role, or simply by our identity as Catholic sister, brother, priest, or lay coworker. Waves upon waves are crashing upon us, and our boat is already filling up.

At the same time, we are experiencing the paradox of a flood of people and situations in need of the witness of our charisms and our very presence as religious men and women, while our communities experience the relative desertification of vocations, at least when compared to past boom times, and the drying up of pools of leadership. The chaos of the storm can be overwhelming.

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He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm (Mark 4:39).

So what to do? Jesus calms the stormy sea with three little words … “Quiet! Be still!” On a spiritual level, we know the wisdom of these words in our own interior lives. We know that regular prayer is key to finding our way through the storm. If we are mixed up and muddled and overwhelmed, chances are we will stay lost. We need time to pray and reflect and we benefit from spiritual guides and way-finders who help us on our journey.

I began discernment during the first wave I have found myself reflecting on my own spiritual journey through similar stormy times. In the early 2000s I had just found my way back to the active practice of my Francois | Walking With Discerners

Catholic faith, after taking a 10-year break during my 20s, when the church abuse scandals began to fill the headlines. My own archdiocese, Portland, Oregon, became the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy because of sexual abuse claims. One day, walking down the steps after attending daily Mass on my lunch break, I was confronted by a newspaper reporter asking what I thought about the bankruptcy.

This was and remains a complicated question, because it is deeper than the bankruptcy of that moment, or even the current questions of systemic cover-up revealed at the highest levels. At the core, the scandals must be about the real suffering of children and vulnerable adults caused by the abuse of power by authority figures in the church. In fact, as I stood on the church steps wondering how to answer the reporter, I was thinking of someone very close to me who is a survivor of clergy sexual abuse. Given the breadth and depth of the situation coming to light in Pennsylvania and other places, many of us know survivors, we just may not know that we do. Known to us personally or not, however, the suffering is real and demands attention. Reflecting on the high cost of abuse claims that led to the bankruptcy, I told the reporter that “no amount of money is going to be able to go back in time and remove the hurt of all these people.” (“Catholics Puzzle over a Bankruptcy Filing,” by Eli Sanders, New York Times, July 8, 2004) What I did not tell the reporter was that I was beginning to discern a religious vocation. Being a returned Catholic in light of the abuse crisis was tough enough, but here I was considering becoming a Catholic sister, a public figure in the church. I had to seriously consider if I could do this and still be a person of integrity.

Thankfully, my pastor had encouraged me to begin spiritual direction with a religious sister. This aspect of my discernment continued during my novitiate, when the legal files from the bankruptcy proceedings were made public on the Internet. I have not read the files from the Pennsylvania grand jury, but my stomach was turned reading every page of the files from the Portland bankruptcy. I had time being a canonical novice, and so I spent a week reading and praying with those troubling documents and taking my reflections to spiritual direction. It was heartbreaking, and for me it was necessary.

When I had returned to the church a few years earlier, it was not because all my questions were answered or because I had this incredible faith all of a sudden. Rather, I realized that the Catholic Church is my home and that it made more sense for me to live into the questions with other good-hearted people than on my own. When I Francois | Walking With Discerners

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decided to request entrance to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, it was not because I was at peace with the role of women in the church or entirely comfortable being a public face of a broken church. Rather, I suspected deep down that the best way I could be a woman in the church, and public face even, would be with the support of this community of faith-filled sisters. They help me daily to find my way through the storm to a place of relative calm, where I can better hear the still small voice of God and answer the call to serve God’s people in need as part of a community for mission.

Then he asked them, ‘Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” (Mark 4:40).

What are those of us who believe in religious life to do in this present moment? Should we batten down the hatches, or do we trust that the sun rises the morning after the storm? In the words of Pope Francis: “You, dear

consecrated brothers and sisters, are the church’s perennial dawn! I ask you to renew this very day your encounter with Jesus, to walk together towards him. And this will give light to your eyes and strength to your steps.”

We are called to be the way-finders for spiritual seekers lost in the storm. We are called to help men and women discerning a call to religious life to listen to what God is saying to them in and through the storm, not despite it. We are called to welcome those who may rebuild our church, create safe spaces, preach the Gospel, make peace and heal divisions. We are called to be present to the texture of this stormy moment and to wonder at the movement of the Spirit through it all, leading us to risk life, love, and goodness. The rest is up to the awesome power and mercy of God. They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mark: 4:41.) n

It takes a community to grow a vocation HORIZON helps leaders and members prepare for the future.

Each HORIZON issue offers religious communities information and insights to help all members understand the issues that affect new membership.

HORIZON readers also receive: • Theological perspectives, social context, and vocation trends • Vocation strategies, programs, resources, and tools • Networking and professional development GIVE THE GIFT OF HORIZON TO YOUR LEADERS &COMMUNITY MEMBERS TODAY! NRVC.NET/SIGNUP Reminder: NRVC members receive a free subscription to HORIZON and a 60% discount on additional subscriptions!

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Francois | Walking With Discerners

Priscilla Du Preez Unsplash

Scripture insights for difficult days “The recent revelations (again) of sexual abuse by priests and the cover-up by church authorities have left many people wondering whether they can ever again trust the church’s structure, ministers, and authorities,” Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. wrote in September 2018. “For many, this scandal seems too huge to digest.”

Recent events in the church have been overwhelming for many, and as leaders, ministers, and the faithful ponder and seek a right course of action, Rolheiser’s reflections on Scripture in light of scandal may be helpful. The following piece is derived from “Carrying a Scandal Biblically,” an edited text of his 2002 Henry Somerville Lecture in Christianity and Communications, delivered at St. Jerome’s University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

A

S CHRISTIANS WE’RE ASKED TO CARRY this scandal biblically. What does that mean? Carrying something biblically means a number of interrelated things that I’d like to look at one at a time.

Rolheiser | Scripture Insights

This dark night in the church is meant to stretch our hearts. The pain won’t leave until we’ve learned from it.

By Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. is a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He is president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas and is the author of many books. His latest is Wrestling with God: Finding Hope and Meaning in Our Daily Struggles to Be Human (Image 2018).

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 7

Compassion for the pedophile is, I believe, a biblical test as to the real measure of our compassion: Can we love and offer empathy when our love doesn’t feel (or look) clean?

Name the moment

Not everything can be fixed or cured, but it needs to be named properly. Jesus called this “reading the signs of the times.” This scandal, this particular time in our history as a Catholic Church in America, is a moment Healing, not self-protection and security of humiliation, a moment of humbling, a moment of pruning. We must begin the process of To carry this scandal biblically means healing by clearly, and with courage, namtoo that healing, not self-protection and ing that—and then not, through an oversecurity, must be our real preoccupadefensiveness or personal distancing, try to tion. Sometimes for bishops, provincials, To carry something escape the humiliation and what that calls religious superiors, and church officials biblically means, first us to. there’s a real (and understandable) dan-

The call to compassion

of all, to reground ourselves in the nonnegotiables of Christian compassion—respect, tolerance, patience, and graciousness.

Our faith is biblical. So the question is: What does our biblical tradition ask of us at this moment, in this painful situation?

First of all, to radiate the compassion of Christ. That sounds obvious, but, so many times, when we are in crisis the first thing that goes is the compassion and understanding of Christ. Simply put, we too often end up bracketing the fundamentals because we think that our cause is so great and our indignation so justified that we may disregard some of the essentials of compassion, namely, respect, tolerance, patience, graciousness, and understanding. To carry something biblically means, first of all, to reground ourselves in the non-negotiables of Christian compassion—respect, tolerance, patience, and graciousness.

Wild anger, disrespect, bitterness, personal distancing, and viciousness will not help carry this to any kind of meaningful closure.

And our compassion must, first of all, go out to the victim. The cross itself teaches us this. It highlights the excluded one, the one who has been hurt. Empathy must always move first toward the victim.

Usually, though, we are pretty good at this. Empathizing with a victim generally brings with it a good feeling. This crisis, however, asks us to take compassion to another level: We are asked too to have compassion for the perpetrator because this person was also a victim and he or she is ill ... and ill with the most unglamorous of all sicknesses. No sickness is glamorous but most sicknesses don’t have horrific moral connotations to them. It’s easy to be selective in our sympathy, offering our compassion at those places where we feel good and clean when we give it and withholding it from those people and places where we don’t get a good, clean feeling when we offer it.

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ger of losing perspective in the face of accusations of sexual abuse. Many times, in fact, we have lost perspective.

In the vortex of this crisis, what has to be our primary preoccupation? To protect the innocent and to bring about healing and reconciliation. Everything else (worries about security, lawsuits, and the like) must come afterward.

Carrying this crisis is now our primary ministry and not a distraction to our ministry Henri Nouwen used to say, “For years I was upset by distractions in my work until I realized the distractions were my real work!” That is also true for this sexual abuse scandal. This is not a distraction to real ministry in North America: it is the real ministry for the church in North America.

Carrying this scandal properly is something that the church is invited to do right now for the sake of the culture. It is easy to lose sight of this. The church exists for the world (not vice versa). Jesus said, “My flesh is food for the life of the world [not for the life of the church.]”

In essence, Jesus came “to be eaten up by the world.”

That’s why, symbolically, he is born in a trough and ends up on a table, an altar, to be eaten. The church exists for the sake of the world, and we must keep that in mind as we are faced with this crisis. What does that mean?

Right now priests represent less than one percent of the overall problem of sexual abuse, but we’re on the front pages of the newspapers and the issue is very much focused on us. Psychologically this is painful, but biblically this is not a bad thing: The fact that priests and the church are perhaps being scapegoated right now is not Rolheiser | Scripture Insights

Wikimedia

necessarily bad. If current events help society by bringing the issue of sexual abuse and its devastation of the human soul more into the open, then we are precisely offering ourselves as “food for the life of the world,” and we, like Jesus in his crucifixion, are helping to “take away the sins of the world.” And as stated before, this is not a distraction to the life of the church; it’s perhaps the major thing that we need to do right now for the world and our culture.

There are very few things that we are doing as Christian communities today that are more important than helping the world deal with sexual abuse, abuse of power, and cover-up by institutions. If the price tag is that we are humiliated on the front pages of newspapers and that the Roman Catholic Church in various places ends up financially bankrupt, so be it. Crucifixions are never easy and they exact real blood! It might well be worth it in the long run if we can help our world come to grips with this.

Painful humiliation as a grace-opportunity This is a moment of purification for the church. Granted the rest of the culture is also guilty, but, for too long, we falsely enjoyed clerical privilege. The chickens have come home to roost. Now we’re being pruned, humbled, and brought back to where we’re supposed to be, with the poor, the outcasts. That’s where we are meant to be. Jesus resisted all power other than moral power. Too often we bought into power. Today the Body of Christ is not just being humbled, it’s being humiliated, and we have the chance to come to humility through that. This is an important grace-opportunity for all of us inside the church.

Biblically, it’s our agony in the garden.

What does this imply? Two things: First of all it implies the acceptance of being scapegoated. In the Garden of Gethsemane, before Jesus has his life-and-death conversation with his Father, he invites his disciples to “watch.” He wants them to learn a lesson. He has just come out of the Last Supper room, and he invites his disciples to go with him into the garden. “Watch and pray!” he tells them. But they sleep through it, overcome not by wine or the tiredness that comes at the end of a day, but, as Luke says, “they fell asleep with sorrow.” They fell asleep out of disappointment, as we also often do. And they missed the lesson.

What is the lesson? Luke captures it in one phrase: “Wasn’t it necessary!” There is a necessary connection between humiliation and redemption. We can only carry this scandal biblically (offering ourselves up on the altar Rolheiser | Scripture Insights

Rembrandt: Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves (detail)

of humility for the sake of the culture) if we recognize and accept this connection: redemption comes through this kind of pain. And we learn that lesson through “watching” how Jesus did it: “Stay awake, watch, pray!”

Unlike the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, we must not let ourselves fall asleep because of disappointment.

Second, this scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong, with the excluded ones. When Jesus died on the cross he was crucified between two thieves. There wasn’t just one cross at Calvary, but three.

The onlookers weren’t looking at the scene and making distinctions, sizing Jesus up as innocent while judging the other two as guilty. Jesus was painted with the same brush as the others, seen as compromised and tainted.

Carrying this scandal biblically means precisely to accept that kind of judgement and humiliation without protest. Let me offer an example: A young priest that I know recently went into the pulpit and protested to his congregation: “This thing is very unfair to me! I’m not a Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 9

pedophile and now people are watching me and sizing me up! I’m scared to wear my collar in an airport, knowing that people will stare at me and wonder: Is he one too?’ I can’t hug your kids any more and can’t be spontaneous in relationships. This simply isn’t fair!”

He’s right, it’s not fair, but, on the cross, Jesus is not protesting his innocence, saying: “This isn’t fair to me!

I’m not guilty like the other two! Don’t get me mixed up with them!” Jesus helps carry their sin, the sin of the world.

The incarnation still goes on: Christ is always hanging, crucified, between two thieves. That’s true too for the young priest whose protest I just quoted and it’s meant to be true for us. The invitation to us as adult Christians is to help carry this scandal—and not, first of all, to protest our own innocence and distance from it. Carrying it also means that we don’t simplistically project it onto the hierarchy, shrugging and saying: “They have a real problem on their hands!” If we do that then we are doing exactly what that young priest did in his self-serving protest. But his was not really an adult response. What should be the response?

We are the church, all of us, and we need to carry this, all of us. We stand within a tradition that stretches back in time for nearly 4,000 years (of Judeo-Christian revelation and grace). We carry that tradition, but we need to carry all of it, not just the wonderful parts. Yes, we stand in the tradition of Jesus, Paul, the great martyrs, and all the grace that has entered history through the historical church. But, we also stand in a tradition that carries murder, slavery, the inquisition, popes who had mistresses, racism, sexism, infidelity of every sort, and pedophilia. We can’t claim the grace and then distance ourselves from the sin—“This is unfair to me!” We need to carry it all, as Jesus carried everything, grace and sin, good and bad, without protesting his innocence, even though he was innocent.

To carry this scandal biblically asks of us “a new song” Sing to the Lord a new song! We are invited to do that often in Scripture. Have you ever wondered what the old song is? If we are to sing a new song, what’s the old one and how is the new one to be different than the former one?

Jesus specifies this quite clearly: He tells us that unless our virtue goes deeper than that of the scribes and pharisees (the “old song”) we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. What was the virtue of the scribes and phari10 | HORIZON | Fall 2018

sees? Actually it was quite high. It was an ethic of justice and fairness: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, give back in kind to everyone. What’s wrong with the simple virtue of justice? Jesus, in his most important homily, one which lays down the central criterion for orthodoxy within our faith, points out the defect within an ethic of justice alone.

What’s wrong with the ethic of justice alone? It’s too easy! Anyone, he submits, can live the virtue of strict justice at a certain level. A paraphrase of Jesus might read like this: “Anyone can be nice to those who are nice to them, anyone can forgive those who forgive them, and anyone can love those who love them. But can you go further? Can you love those who hate you? Can you forgive those who won’t forgive you? Can you be gracious to those who curse you?” That’s the real test of Christian orthodoxy. And it’s what is being asked of us in this scandal: Can we love, forgive, reach out, and be empathic in a new way? Can we have compassion for both the victim and the perpetrator? Can we have compassion for our church leaders who made blunders? Can we give of our money when it seems we are paying for someone else’s sin? Can we help carry one of the darker sides of our history without protesting its unfairness and distancing ourselves from it? Can we carry a tension that’s unfair to us for the sake of a greater good? Can we help carry something that doesn’t make us feel good and clean?

We need to “ponder” as Mary did Inside of this, we must begin to “ponder” in the biblical sense. How do we do that?

To “ponder” in the biblical sense, as Mary did, does not mean what it means in the Greek sense (from which our common sense takes its notion), namely, that the unexamined life is not worth living and that we are, consequently, meant to be reflective and introspective.

When scripture says, “Mary pondered these things in her heart,” it doesn’t mean that she thought all kinds of deep thoughts about them. What does it mean?

Let’s begin with an image, Mary at the foot of the cross. What is Mary doing there? Overtly nothing. Notice that, at the foot of the cross, Mary doesn’t seem to be doing anything. She isn’t trying to stop the crucifixion, nor even protesting Jesus’ innocence. She isn’t saying anything and overtly doesn’t seem to be doing anything.

But scripture tells us that she “stood” there. For a Hebrew, that was a position of strength. Mary was strong under the cross. And what precisely was she doing? She was pondering in the biblical sense.

Rolheiser | Scripture Insights

To ponder in the biblical sense means to hold, carry, and transform tension so as not to give it back in kind.

We can be helped in our understanding of that by looking at its opposite in scripture. In the gospels, the opposite of “pondering” is “amazement,” to be amazed.

We see a number of instances in the gospels where Jesus does or says something that catches the crowds by surprise and the gospel writers say, “and they were amazed.”

Invariably Jesus responds by saying: “Don’t be amazed!”

To be amazed is to let energy, the energy of the crowd, simply flow through you, like an electrical wire conducting a current. An electrical wire simply lets energy flow through it and give it out exactly in kind—220 volts for 220 volts.

Being amazed and giving back in kind is wonderful at events like rock concerts or sporting matches, but it is also the root of all racism, gang rapes, and most other social sicknesses. Nobody holds, carries, and transforms the energy and everyone simply gives back in kind. That’s the flaw that Jesus points out in the virtue of the scribes and pharisees, they simply give back in kind, justice for justice, love for love, hate for hate.

In the gospels only two people aren’t amazed—Jesus and Mary. Mary ponders and Jesus sweats blood. They take in the energy, good and bad, hold it, carry it, transform it, and give it back as something else.

Jesus models this for us. He took in hatred, held it, transformed it, and gave back love; he took in bitterness, held it, transformed it, and gave back graciousness; he took in curses, held them, transformed them, and gave back blessing; he took in betrayal, held it, transformed it, and gave back forgiveness. That’s what it means to ponder and this is the opposite of amazement.

Two images can be useful in understanding this: To be amazed, biblically, is to be like an electrical wire, a simple conduit that conducts energy, taking in and giving back in kind. To ponder, biblically, is to be like a water purifier; it takes in all kinds of impurities with the water, but it holds the impurities inside of itself and gives back only the pure water.

That is what Mary did under the cross; she held, carried, and transformed the tension so as not to give it back in kind. And that is what we are called upon to do in helping to carry this scandal biblically, namely, to hold, carry, and transform this tension, so as not to give back in kind: hurt for hurt, bitterness for bitterness, accusation for accusation, anger for anger, blame for blame.

And this might mean that, like Mary under the cross, sometimes there is nothing to say, no protest to Rolheiser | Scripture Insights

be made. Rather all we can do is “to stand,” in strength, silent, holding and carrying the tension, waiting until we can transform it so that we can speak words of graciousness, forgiveness, and healing. That’s not easy. Luke, in his gospel, tells us that the price tag for that is “to sweat blood.” There are few phrases, I submit, more apt right now in terms of describing, biblically, what we are called to do in response to this scandal than that cryptic phrase from Luke’s gospel: “to sweat blood.” The author of Lamentations puts it this way: Sometimes all one can do is to put one’s mouth to the dust and wait!

We must re-affirm our faith in God This too will pass. There will be resurrection, even from this. God is still God and firmly in charge of this universe.

We need, in the midst of Our prayer in times of crisis must be a prayer this crisis, to affirm our that precisely affirms faith in the lordship of that God is still Lord of God. God is still firmly this world. When Jesus in charge, the center still prayed in the Garden of holds. The church isn’t Gethsemane, at his most dying. Crucifixions don’t anguished moment, he end life, they lead to began his prayer with the new, enriched life. words: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you!” In essence he is telling God, “You are still firmly in control of this world—even though, tonight, it doesn’t appear like that!”

We need, in the midst of this crisis, to affirm our faith in the lordship of God. God is still firmly in charge, the center still holds. The church isn’t dying. Crucifixions don’t end life, they lead to new, enriched life.

We must patiently stay with the pain This is a dark night of the soul which is meant, like every dark night of the soul, to stretch the heart. To be stretched is always painful and our normal impulse is always to do something to end the pain, to make it go away. But the pain won’t go away until we learn the lesson that it’s meant to teach us. Pain of the heart never leaves us until “we get it,” get what it is meant to teach us, and get stretched in the way it’s meant to stretch us. This pain will stay with the church until we learn what we are meant to learn from it. n Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 11

Vocation ministers can do much to prevent future sexual abuse by doing their jobs well. That begins with a strong professional foundation.

FAQs & 10 things to know about church sexual abuse What is the cause of pedophilia?

While no one really knows whether the cause of pedophilia is psychological, biological or a combination of the two, researcher David Finkelhor has suggested that four preconditions must be met for abuse to occur.

1. Motivation: This can come from either emotional congruence (a “fit” between the emotional needs and characteristics of the child and of the abuser), sexual arousal (especially if it has been fed through use of child pornography), and blockage, i.e., the adult abuser is in some way blocked in his ability to form relationships with adults, and thus the child becomes the object of relationship forming.

By HORIZON editors with contributions

by Father Raymond P. Carey from “Frequently asked questions about sexual misconduct by clergy and religious,” HORIZON, Summer 2002.

12 | HORIZON | Fall 2018

2. Overcoming internal inhibitions: Alcohol and drugs often are the means by which the abuser overcomes the internal inhibition against abusing a child.

3. Overcoming external impediments: One of the forces the FAQs

abuser must overcome is the supervision of the child. If the child’s caretaker is either physically or psychologically separated from the child, this gives the offender the opportunity to be alone with the child.

4. Overcoming the child’s resistance Planning seems to be a central part of the modus operandi of some child abusers.

How can religious orders and other Catholic institutions address sexual abuse in the form of more powerful adults coercing less powerful adults for sex?

That is a question the church and society are both wrestling with, but pastoral ethics do call attention to the power differential between ministers and those being ministered to, who often are in a vulnerable position.

Thus, vocation ministers (and other ministers) do well to review the professional ethics for their area of ministry and consider updating their own policies if need be. Find vocation ministry ethics at nrvc.net.

Is there a link between homosexuality and pedophilia?

Within the context of priesthood, the majority of sexual abuse offenses have been caused by priests who offended with underage boys. However, researchers agree there is no link whatsoever—no causality that is—between homosexuality and pedophilia or other types of sexual abuse.

Outside of the priesthood, sexual abuse of minors and of vulnerable adults is a society-wide problem, not caused by celibacy or homosexuality.

Is pedophilia always related to abuse of boys, or are girls sometimes the victims?

Some pedophiles prefer boys and others girls, while still others are aroused by both sexes. A distinction needs to be made between an exclusive type of pedophile, who is sexually attracted to children only, and the non-exclusive type of pedophile who can also be sexually active with adults.

Are women pedophiles?

Pedophilia seems to be rather exclusively a male probFAQs

lem. While women can and do sexually abuse children, they do not seem to fit the clinical criteria for pedophilia.

There is widespread agreement in the literature that 95 percent of sexual abusers are male. Some sociobiologists have proposed that natural selection breeds into males an instinctive desire to inseminate as many partners as possible and that this instinct makes men more responsive to a greater variety of sexual stimuli. Others suggest that the differences may be due to male-female differences in brain structure. If so, this may help explain the early onset of pedophilia. About half of paraphilic adults (that is, adults with inappropriate sexual fantasies, urgings, and actions) report that their pattern developed before age 18.

What is the prognosis for someone who is a pedophile?

“One does not speak of trying to change or ‘cure’ their sexual attraction to minors,” Father Stephen Rossetti has written in America. “While some pedophiles can be helped to control their sexual desires, many cannot.

Since these persons pose an ongoing threat to society, after serving an appropriate prison term, they ought to live in a kind of lifelong parole setting with absolutely no unsupervised contact with minors.”

Is there a particular age when pedophilia becomes manifest in a person?

The short answer is no. However, pedophilia is a paraphilia, and about half of paraphilic adults report that their patterns developed before age 18. The median age for priest offenders in the John Jay report was 30s.

Were all pedophiles abused as children themselves, or is there another cause?

Child sexual victimization appears to be neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for becoming a child sexual abuser. A 1996 study reported that about half of pedophiles in the study were themselves molested as children.

Other studies suggest that males sexually victimized as children are at somewhat increased risk to abuse a child.

The risk may be greatest for those abused multiple times.

As important, some men not abused in childhood do offend. A history of sexual abuse does not presuppose the offending behavior. In fact, most victimized males do not grow up to offend.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 13

RESOURCES Tools and articles by NRVC In-depth articles and written tools for doing assessments, understanding candidate mental health, etc. are available at nrvc.net under “Membership/Vocation Director’s Manual” and “Resources/NRVC periodicals/HORIZON Library.”

Treatment programs There are organizations with programs tailored for priests and religious struggling with addiction, mental health, and more. Learn more at: St. John Vianney Center: sjvc.org Guest House: guesthouse.org St. Luke Institute: sli.org Southdown Institute, southdown.on.ca

Code of ethics for vocation ministry Go to nrvc.net / Resources / Documents for use in vocation ministry.

USCCB Dallas Charter The processes and procedures set up in 2002 to prevent child sexual abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church: usccb.org

Praesidium This organization assists men’s communities and other organizations that work with children to remain safe for children: praesidiuminc.com

Self care during stressful times The Catholic Apostolate Center has developed a webpage with resources to help ministers deal with stress. catholicapostolatecenter.org/self-care

Resources for increasing collaboration

Does celibate priesthood attract pedophiles and those who wish to avoid accepting their sexuality?

“This is a complex question that demands a complex answer,” Father Stephen Rossetti has written. “Some people with sexual problems seek out a celibate lifestyle in an unconscious attempt to escape their own sexuality.

However, it is dangerous to summarize from the particular to the general.”

Father Richard Rohr, O.F.M. has written: “Our own Catholic theology says that celibacy is a ‘charism’ which means a free and empowered gift. In my experience, only someone who has an alive and warm inner experience of God is capable of celibacy at all…. It is a contradiction in terms for the Catholic Church to think it can mandate a free gift, which of course, has no precedent in Jesus.”

What should you do if you notice someone has crossed personal or professional boundaries that may lead to abuse?

If you become aware of an abusive situation involving professionals, church ministers, or family members, take immediate action by speaking forthrightly to the appropriate civil and church authorities and keep talking until the abuse (or grooming behavior) stops and is unable to be repeated.

What tools are available to screen against people who might become abusers?

NRVC regularly offers workshops on ethics, assessment, and sexuality. All are important, alongside other workshops that prepare people to become competent, confident vocation ministers. In addition NRVC offers information online to members so they can begin or continue their own education on screening, conducting a sexual inventory, understanding psychological health and illness, sexuality, the vows, etc. See the HORIZON library and the Vocation Directors Manual at nrvc.net.

with laity

The Catholic Apostolate Center offers resources for ministries that want to harness the talents of lay Catholics to further their missions. catholicapostolatecenter.org/collaboration-in-ministry

What can I do to help keep the church honest and accountable and to help prevent sexual abuse or harassment?

Ministers can act at several levels. At a more immediate level, they can encourage parents to be vigilant with their

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FAQs

children and never put them in a situation in which the child is at risk. For example, who transports children is crucially important, as many sexual offenses against children have taken place in the context of transportation. In short, there is no profession that is automatically trustworthy—not priests, doctors, teachers, or coaches. Insist on regularly and consistently teaching children about safety issues and that no one should touch them inappropriately. It’s critical to believe children.

At an institutional level, press for the ongoing refinement and awareness of ethical codes to provide clear and articulated guidelines for anyone in ministry. Support the ongoing training of all ministers in ethical principles for pastoral ministry. Encourage the refinement of and full enforcement of truly independent review boards at every level of the church. As HORIZON went to press, the Vatican had not yet implemented the recommendations of its own Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, an advisory board; this has prompted more than one commission member to resign. Likewise, the Vatican has not yet fully responded to allegations from an internal source that authority figures up through the pope knowingly allowed abuse to continue.

Within church culture, many are calling for changes.

The National Review Board for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had this to say in August 2018: What needs to happen is a genuine change in the church’s culture, specifically among the bishops themselves. This evil has resulted from a loss of moral leadership and an abuse of power that led to a culture of silence that enabled these incidents to occur.

Intimidation, fear, and the misuse of authority created an environment that was taken advantage of by clerics, including bishops, causing harm to minors, seminarians, and those most vulnerable….

The episcopacy needs to be held accountable for these past actions, and in the future, for being complicit, either directly or indirectly, in the sexual abuse of the vulnerable. Holding bishops accountable will require an independent review into the actions of the bishop when an allegation comes to light. The only way to ensure the independence of such a review is to entrust this to the laity, as recently suggested

by Cardinal DiNardo. The National Review Board, composed exclusively of lay members, would be the logical group to be involved in this task.

In terms of sexual misconduct between adults, inquirers and discerners are included in the category of vulnerable adults because of the power differential while FAQs

NRVC workshops and resources are available to ensure that vocation ministers operate with not just good will but a strong foundation in ethics, safe environment, assessment, etc.

they are discerning a vocation. It is essential for vocation directors to take the Safe Environment Training offered in their diocese or obtain Praesidium accreditation before meeting with discerners. It is not acceptable to be complacent in best practices regarding the ethics of vocation ministry. As important as they are, strong faith and good will are not enough to conduct vocation ministry competently. Vocation ministry requires education, professional development, and a commitment to ethical and professional standards.

For instance, vocation ministers, like other ministers, are encouraged by NRVC to adhere to meeting with inquirers and discerners in public spaces or in a professional office with a window on the door or to keep the door open. Full frontal hugs and hugs with both arms are inappropriate gestures with inquirers and discerners. The complete set of ethics for vocation ministers is available at nrvc.net. Ministers can also model appropriate transparency and accountability in their own organizations and promote healthy sexuality in their own lives.

Finally, Pope Francis has repeatedly insisted that clericalism is a contributing factor in abuse. Thus each minister, male and female, and each community— whether or not they include clerics—can ask itself, “What can I or we do to promote and model an atmosphere free of privilege and entitlement because of my/ our church ministry status? Do laity elevate me because of my status and how shall I respond?” n Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 15

Ten things everyone should know about creating safe environments for children 1. Sexual molestation is about the victim Many people are affected when a priest abuses a minor, but the individual most impacted is the victim who has suffered a violation of trust that can affect his or her entire life. The abuser, the family of the abused, and the parish community are all affected by this sin and crime, but the primary person of concern must be the victim.

2. No one has a right to access to children If people wish to volunteer for the church, for example, in a parish or school, they must follow diocesan guidelines on background checks, safe environment training, policies and procedures, and codes of conduct. No one, no matter who they are, has an automatic right to be around children or young people who are in the care of the church without proper screening and without following the rules.

3. Common sense is not all that common It is naive to presume that people automatically know boundaries, so organizations and families have to spell them out. For example, no youth minister, cleric or other adult leader should be in a child’s bedroom, alone with the child.

4. Child sexual abuse can be prevented Awareness that child sexual abuse exists and can exist anywhere is a start. It is then critical to build safety barriers around children and young people to keep them from harm.

These barriers come in the form of protective guardians, codes of conduct, background evaluations, policies and procedures, and safety training programs.

5. The residual effects of having been abused can last a lifetime Those who have been abused seldom just get over it. The sense of violation goes deep into a person’s psyche and feelings of anger, shame, hurt, and betrayal can build long after the abuse has taken place. Some have even described the feeling as if it has scarred their soul.

6. Feeling heard leads toward healing Relief from hurt and anger often comes when one feels heard, when ones pain and concerns are taken seriously, and a victim/survivors appropriate sense of rage and indignation are acknowledged. Not being acknowledged contributes to a victim’s sense of being invisible, unimportant and unworthy; they are in some way revictimized.

7. You cannot always predict who will be an abuser Experience shows that most abuse is at the hands of someone who has gained the trust of a victim/survivor and his/her family. Most abuse also occurs in the family setting. Sometimes the nicest person in the world is an abuser, and this niceness enables a false sense of trust to be created between abuser and abused.

8. There are behavioral warning signs of child abusers Training and education help adults recognize grooming techniques that are precursors to abuse. Some abusers isolate a potential victim by giving him or her undue attention or lavish gifts. Another common grooming technique is to allow young people to participate in activities which their parents or guardians would not approve, such as watching pornography, drinking alcohol, using drugs, and excessive touching, which includes wrestling and tickling. It is also critical to be wary of age-inappropriate relationships, seen, for example, in the adult who is more comfortable with children than fellow adults.

Parishes can set up rules to guide interaction between adults and children.

9. People can be taught to identify grooming behavior These are the actions which abusers take to project the image that they are kind, generous, caring people, while their intent is to lure a minor into an inappropriate relationship. An abuser may develop a relationship with the family to increase his credibility. Abusers might show attention to the child by talking to him/her, being friendly, sharing alcohol with a minor, and giving the child status by insinuating that the child is their favorite or special person. Offenders can be patient and may groom their victim, his or her family, or community for years.

10. Background checks work Background checks in churches, schools, and other organizations keep predators away from children both because they scare off some predators and because they uncover past actions which should ban an adult from working or volunteering with children. If an adult has had difficulty with some boundaries that society sets, such as not driving while intoxicated or not disturbing the public peace, he or she may have difficulties with other boundaries, such as not hurting a child. Never forget that offenders lie.

—From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, usccb.org

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FAQs

What does a healthy church culture look like?

C

ATHOLICS OF EVERY STRIPE have been discussing what needs to happen in the U.S. and global church to create a healthy Catholic culture, where sexual abuse and harassment are prevented and, if present, immediately stopped, where cover-up and secrecy are not the response to misdeeds, where authorities are held accountable. This is not a “vocation culture” as it is usually envisioned; rather these basics are simply a starting point for a more authentic church, which is the only type of church that can foster genuine vocations. Current conditions in the church make it hard for people to desire a public role within the institution.

To answer the question of what makes a healthy church culture, it’s important to identify what has gone wrong, and therein lies the rub: the analysis is different depending on where one stands. HORIZON begins this discussion with the supposition that no one faction or group in the church necessarily has the corner on truth; there may well be simultaneously valid concerns from groups that are seemingly at odds. With that in mind, HORIZON here presents a small cross-section of voices, all of them weighing in Healthy Church Culture

HORIZON presents thoughts from Catholics with varied backgrounds and perspectives.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 17

on the question of how to rebuild what many are calling “a broken church.” It is impossible to capture the full extent of the discussion in these pages, but we hope these remarks contribute to a discussion marked by charity.

The following commentaries are all excerpts from longer essays.

istries in these very challenging times and as they too struggle to understand the complexity of factors that led to this deplorable situation.

—Dominican Sisters of Peace, Sisters of Loretto, Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth

Deconstruction of intolerable culture

Acknowledge change; lift the veil of secrecy

We call upon the church leadership to implement plans immediately to support more fully the healing of all victims of clergy abuse, hold abusers accountable, and work to uncover and address the root causes of the sexual abuse crisis. It is clear that more serious action needs to be taken to ensure that the culture of secrecy and coverup ends.

We also call upon church leaders to speak with honesty and humility about how this intolerable culture developed and how that culture will now be deconstructed, and to create places where church members can express our anger and heartbreak. We are committed to collaborate in the essential work of healing and transformation that our church so desperately needs.

Finally, we recognize that the vast majority of priests have not committed abuse and are suffering greatly because of the actions of some of their brothers. We offer them our prayer and support as they continue their min-

New abuse allegations have not disappeared. In the last three years, 22 allegations of abuse occurring during 2015-2017 have been made. This is an average of about seven per year nationwide in the church. That is far too many. Nothing is acceptable other than zero. At the same time, to put those reports in some context, 42 teachers in the state of Pennsylvania, where the [August 2018] grand jury reported from, lost their licenses to educate for sexual misconduct in 2017. As recently as 2015, 65 teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) were in “teacher jail” for accusations of sexual abuse or harassment in that county alone.

The current wave of “educator sexual misconduct” has yet to receive the same aggregation and attention that clergy sexual abuse has by the media (although The Washington Post has rung a warning bell and Carol Shakeshaft has written extensively on it in academic work). As the John Jay researchers note, “No other in-

Number of alleged offenses reported since 2004 “occurring or beginning” during each 5-year period 1600 1400

1367

1200 1000

1025

800

1343

1202 1002

600

591

400 200

518

510

5

217

0 1954 or 1955- 1960earlier 59 64

196569

197074

197579

198084

198589

199094

129 199599

80

99

2000- 20052004 2009

101 20102014

22 20152017

Data from Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate

18 | HORIZON | Fall 2018

Healthy Church Culture

stitution has undertaken a public study of sexual abuse and, as a result, there are no comparable data to those collected and reported by the Catholic Church.”

“It is happening in other institutions” is by no means any sort of excuse and that is not what is intended by referring to these realities. Instead, these other cases provide a context. As the [Pennsylvania] grand jury report authors note, the church has changed in the last 15 years.

But you cannot “fix” the past nor can it be erased. This won’t all fade away. It’s nothing that can ever be outrun.

You have to deal with it. The church did not sufficiently do so in 2002 and the years that followed. Creating new policies to prevent future abuse is not a sufficient response to the legacy of what happened. Now, in 2018, it is time to lift the veil of any secrecy that remains. If not, the same cases will emerge again and again as if these were a wound that scabs but never heals. Every time that scab is removed it will bleed again and again. As painful as it is now, it is the time to deal with this great injury the church brought upon itself. If anything, the re-emergence of these cases again and again should reveal that this wound has potentially deadly consequences if it is not dealt with completely once and for all.

—Mark Gray, blog “Nineteen Sixty-four,” Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate,

Incarnate a father’s love This crisis is about the recovery or death of the image of the priest as father. Where the priesthood ceases to model human fatherhood, when its members do not credibly incarnate a father’s love in their dealings with everyone, especially the most vulnerable, then how can the priesthood minister effective supernatural fatherhood in the Person of Jesus, who says, “To have seen me is to have seen the Father?” It morphs into a corrupt, impotent, self-serving caste.

—Father Dominic Allain in National Catholic Register

No to clericalism It is impossible to think of a conversion of our activity as a church that does not include the active participation of all the members of God’s people. Indeed, whenever we have tried to replace, or silence, or ignore, or reduce the people of God to small elites, we end up creating communities, projects, theological approaches, spiritualities and structures without roots, without memory, without faces, without bodies and ultimately, without lives. This is clearly seen in a peculiar way of understanding the Healthy Church Culture

church’s authority, one common in many communities where sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience have occurred. Such is the case with clericalism, an approach that “not only nullifies the character of Christians, but also tends to diminish and undervalue the baptismal grace that the Holy Spirit has placed in the heart of our people.” Clericalism, whether fostered by priests themselves or by lay persons, leads to an excision in the ecclesial body that supports and helps to perpetuate many of the evils that we are condemning today. To say “no” to abuse is to say an emphatic “no” to all forms of clericalism.

—Pope Francis: Letter to the People of God, August 20, 2018

Pursue the truth There are some church leaders who are reminding us that our emphasis right now should be on the victims of clergy sexual abuse. This is undoubtedly correct, and the church should always strive to minister to victims in a way that can bring about healing and reconciliation. Cardinal DiNardo, in his statement, addressed them directly: “To the survivors of abuse and the families who have lost a loved one to abuse, I am sorry. You are no longer alone.” But in order to provide true justice to the victims, we need to make sure we understand the full failure of the structures and the individuals that enabled them to be victimized in the first place.... The truth sometimes leads to uncomfortable situations. As Jesus also shows us, it sometimes leads to the cross.

We should not be afraid, though, to pursue the truth.

For in pursuing the truth, we are pursuing Jesus Christ himself.

—Our Sunday Visitor Editorial Board: Don Clemmer, Gretchen R. Crowe, Scott Richert, York Young

This is a crisis in church structure I am reminded of a verse in our Franciscan Rule of Life: “Let all be carefully attentive not to become angry or upset because of another’s sin. For anger and disturbance impede love in themselves and in others” (TOR Rule 24).

In pondering the wisdom of St. Francis of Assisi, I am realizing what his message is really saying to us today.

Anger is not a bad thing—if we use its energy in a positive way. This takes time, thought, prayer, and sincere dialogue. Anger causes us to wrestle with the tough questions and requires that each one of us find our voice.

It can be our positive energy source.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 19

It’s time to sincerely look at our current church structures and take note of who is not permitted around the altar. We are living in a world and a time like no other. Women have found their voice, and the laity are no longer uneducated. Family units are broken down, and there is a spiritual hunger in our world that needs to be fed from the pews and the various stark paths people find themselves on.

It’s so important that we begin to talk about the impact this crisis is having upon each individual and our beloved church. We cannot lose sight of the fact that this is a crisis of the Catholic Church structure, and should not be that of our Catholic faith in which we have been immersed through Baptism. Our faith is in God! Not in buildings, or structures of power, or fine gold or rich materials or human beings. The church belongs to the faithful!

Personally, I don’t believe the solution to this global crisis of the Catholic Church is simply about creating better policies or providing monetary compensations to victims. It’s much bigger and deeper than that. As a people of faith, we have a responsibility to bring this crisis into our daily prayer and thoughtful conversations. It is crucial that we reverence the rightful place of anger in our hearts and allow its energy to stir our voices and advocate for change and rebuilding of our church. “Prayer changes people and people change things!” (Burton Hillis).

—Sister Julie Myers, O.S.F. “The other side of anger,” in Sisters of St. Francis blog

The church penitent Institutional custodians naturally want to defend against attack; they want their houses to look clean and clear, above reproach. And the church is an especially grand and beautiful house. The bishops who hid the horrendous crimes in Pennsylvania wanted to protect an image of perfection, even as they confessed—as a matter of doctrine—their own sinfulness and that of every clergyman, every human, and every institution. The doctrine is correct. The cowardly, callous denials and cover-ups were lies, motivated by self-preservation and clubbish tribal pride. Whitewashed sepulchers, strutting a clean, shallow prettiness.

If, in 1947, the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania had rent its garments over the first case of priestly abuse, parading its ugliness in front of the world, the next 70 years in that church would have been different. There are a thousand practical reforms that can and should be

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undertaken to prevent future abuses—many have already been put in place. But first the concomitant sin of pride needs to be addressed, embroidered vestments traded for sackcloth and ashes—perhaps literally. Spiritual and moral leadership from the American Catholic Church in the foreseeable future will need to be of a radical kind—a Christian kind, you might say. The church will need to become an institution sui generis in American society, humbly open about the human filth ringing its central spiritual and moral treasures. The Church Penitent. Keeping up the appearance of holiness will no longer work.

This change would be beautiful in a dark, illuminating way. Our society is drowning in self-acquittal, even—especially—in this age of perpetual, disingenuous, PR-composed apologies. Could the Catholic Church be the first institution to present itself as containing simple, undeniable wickedness, and swathed to the point of immersion in the ugliest fluids of our condition? Could it present itself as sibling to sinners, pining for a grace it in no way deserves, wounded but pointing toward the light?

This would be a new kind of church, and also very old. If this is indeed where the American church is headed, all people of good will should hope that she succeeds and comes back from this self-inflicted wound stronger, because openly, unabashedly, and beautifully weak.

—Ian Marcus Corbin in “The Church’s Future Beauty” in First Things, September 3, 2018

Science and the changes we need The church is a closed system. Rules, fixed order, dogmatic formulas, unyielding laws, patriarchy, authority and obedience under pain of judgment and death, all have rendered the church impervious to evolution and to the radical interconnectivity that marks all levels of nature. A closed institutional system in an evolutionary world is bound to die out unless new energy can be put into the system or the system itself undergoes radical transformation to an open system.

Incorporating science into seminary education will not preclude abusers, but over time the formation of new structural systems that are more consonant with nature as cooperative interdependent systems might allow for greater transparency, interdependency, and accountability. To accept modern science as part of theological education and development of church doctrine is to recognize the full inclusion of women in the community of biological life.

—Sister Ilia Delio “Is new life ahead in the church?” in Global Sisters Report Healthy Church Culture

Accountability, transparency We must hold our leaders accountable. We must advocate for transparency. We must never stop dreaming of a future where dignity is restored.

If we desire to take up the cause to #RebuildMyChurch, then we must do so within our own hearts first.

The church is more than leaders who have failed us. Each one of us makes up the church—we are its living stones.

As a community, we are invited to manifest the kingdom of God right here and now.

The church calls us to transform our world, both inside and outside our church buildings. We must call out abuse wherever we see it, and we should strive to build a world where people are cherished and valued.

—Sarah Yaklic, “Moving from Hurt to Action in Today’s Sex Abuse Crisis” in grottonetwork.com.

Culture, attitude, theology must shift My point has always been that the law alone does not solve problems. Yes, we need standards and strategy.

But culture eats strategy for breakfast, and law does not change culture on its own. Yes, we need laws, and therefore I have suggested to canon lawyers that they consider clearly defining what is punishable and how will it be punished and not leaving all the space for discrimination and decision making to the senior judge, as it is now. But we need also a change of culture and attitude in the sense of “I am prepared to do whatever can be done and to pay a high cost, a cost that may be as high as my removal from office, to do all I can so young people are safe.” ...

How do we understand being a church in the world today? What do we need to learn in relationship to modern society, modern science, modern administration?

There is a model of theology that is disconnected from all this, and people may say theology is a completely different cup of tea, but do we not need to reflect within the context of the day-to-day life in which we live? For example in an era of mass communications, of social media, of transparency, of authenticity, etc., don’t we need to reflect on its impact on our faith life, the relationships among us, our relationships to God? —Father Hans Zollner, S.J., president of the Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, in an interview on amerciamagazine.org.

Vulnerable adults and structural change I think you could eliminate a lot of this abuse [of vulnerHealthy Church Culture

YOUR THOUGHTS, PLEASE HORIZON editors would like to probe your thoughts on two questions: 1. What does a healthy church culture look like?

2). What prayers, practices, or perspectives give you hope?

We ask the first question because the problems in church culture that have led to abuses of power are in open discussion right now, and where that discussion takes us will affect vocation ministry. The second question has always been important and we hope HORIZON continues be a place where vocation ministers share the ways they are sustained in ministry.

Unless you specifically ask us to NOT print your name and/or response, the editors will consider using your submission in whole or part in future editions. Not all responses will be used; those used will be edited for length and editorial style.

Please send your responses to cscheiber@nrvc.net Thank you for being part of these important discussions.

able adults] by changing things structurally within the church. When I look at these cases, and I look at them all the time, I see many people who are lonely, I see people who are not mature sexually, or they are experimenting; but by and large, they are just seeking contact with other people in a very natural and intimate way.

Maintaining a celibate lifestyle is easy for some men, challenging for others and impossible for some. Does that mean the man cannot be a good priest? This is a question that needs to be discussed within the framework of how to prevent future misconduct. This is not to say that eliminating the celibacy mandate will prevent all future [adult-on-adult] abuse. But for many of these priests, their human needs are not being met. And that leaves them to fill the loneliness with stupid behavior that I see so often.

—Kathleen McChesney, who established and led the Office of Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. bishops, in an interview on americamagazine.org Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 21

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Courtesy of the Augustinian friars

Friars greet guests after an ordination. A hallmark of the Vocation Culture Project has been its effort to animate lay employees, students, parents, and others who know the Augustinians. They were part of the vocation prayer network and served as informal ambassadors to invite young men to consider life as an Augustinian.

Our “Vocation Culture Project�

I

T ALL STARTED AS A RELAXING EVENING sitting in the courtyard of the St. Rita Monastery in Chicago in the spring of 2008. I was visiting with two friars, Brother Gary and Father Bernie, and the three of us, ages 40, 43 and 43, were in the group of the youngest five friars in the province of Our Mother of Good Counsel (Chicago) of the Order of St. Augustine. We were discussing the fact that we were not getting vocations to the province and were coming up with reasons why we thought this was happening. These three hours in the courtyard were the beginning of a transformation in our province that none of us ever dreamed imaginable. Here is our story.

We love our life as Augustinian friars. We are fulfilled in our religious lives and ministries. The people we serve love us and support us. Why then, is nobody joining us? This was the question we pondered that night in the courtyard. We had two men in formation. One man was in the process of discerning out of the community and the other man, if he persevered with us, would be the first ordination in our province in 16 years.

The three of us decided we had two choices: do nothing and ultimately die McCarthy | Vocation Culture Project

By Father Thomas McCarthy, O.S.A. Father Thomas McCarthy, O.S.A. is prior of Marylake Monastery and director of Our Lady of Grace Shrine where he also serves as parish mission and retreat director. Marylake is in King City, Ontario, Canada. In addition he is a papal Missionary of Mercy.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 23

as a province or do something. We decided to do something. We requested a meeting with the prior provincial and told him we were willing to work as a team and try something different. He agreed, and the transformational journey had begun.

The three of us knew we did not want to leave our present ministries to focus solely on vocation work.

In our province, the norm was that a friar, usually not willingly, was moved from a ministry he loved to vocation ministry which he dreaded. We decided that Sister Ardis would we would stay in our minfollow up with second istries and hire a full-time and third emails, person who would run the and we have men in vocation office and do all formation today who that was needed behind the scenes while we became responded after a third the public face of the office. email. If we gave up It was also decided that I after one email with would become the official no response, where vocation director of the would they be today? province while maintaining my ministry as president of St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago because somebody must be in charge. If everyone is in charge, no one is in charge. We hired a good friend of ours, Sister Ardis Cloutier, O.S.F., as office manager of the vocation office. Hiring Sister Ardis was the smartest decision we made in this journey!

We were not looking for or expecting to change the vocation situation in our province overnight. We understood that nationally, about half who enter seminary or religious life end up discerning out of formation. Our goal was two men a year, understanding that one would leave, but in five years we could see five new members – an unbelievable change of thinking! It was our hope and dream. We had no idea if it would work or not, but we moved ahead with faith and trust. We decided to brand our experiment as the “Vocation Culture Project.” We needed to change the culture of the province, and so off we went!

Prayer, invitation, journeying-with What did we concretely do to begin this journey? We shared our ideas, dreams, and plans with all the friars of the province. We asked that each local community and individual friar make praying for vocations a priority.

24 | HORIZON | Fall 2018

We asked that they encourage, invite, and challenge the people to whom they minister to also pray. I see now that none of this would have been successful if we did not root our efforts in prayer. Having our foundation in prayer, we now needed to act upon that prayer and invite young men into our communities so they could get to know us, our communal life and our ministries. This was easier for some friars than others. But ultimately it did bear much fruit.

We were invited by our Eastern province of St. Thomas of Villanova to join them in the Discernment Weekends they hosted twice a year. We decided to accept their invitation, and it was one of the best decisions we made. We have had 18 Discernment Weekends and they continue to attract anywhere from 3-14 participants per weekend. Our weekends are not retreats but have a lot of retreat elements. We strive to give a discerner a realistic look into our lifestyle and to meet as many friars as possible. We also visit several of our ministry sites to show what works we do as Augustinians and let them see our heritage.

These three elements of prayer, invitation, and journeying-with became the cornerstone of our vocation efforts. We started visiting our communities and ministries to invite friars and our lay friends to do the same. We asked communities to open their doors and invite young men in for prayer and dinner. We asked, and people came! We had some very “interesting” visitors, but we also were getting some solid young men who were very serious about discernment and discovering what the Augustinian way of life was all about.

An absolute key ingredient was the establishment of a vocation office with a full-time office assistant who was responsible for all the behind-the-scenes work of the office and the who was the keeper of the contacts we received via email and phone calls. Office manager Sister Ardis developed a plan of communicating with every single person who contacted us—viable and not viable candidates alike. Sister Ardis prepared form letters for every imaginable inquirer from the serious and desirable to the mentally ill and non-U.S. citizen inquirers whom we were not able to accept and everyone in between.

She personalized each email response and treated each inquirer with great dignity and respect. People we said no to were thanking us for responding and being so nice about it.

Sister Ardis would follow up with second and third emails, and we have men in formation today who responded after a third email. If we gave up after one email with no response, where would they be today? We must McCarthy | Vocation Culture Project

Courtesy of the Augustinian friars

meet young people where they are and enter their worldview. Patience is a virtue here, but believe me, we were frustrated at times too—especially with people who just stopped communicating with us. We are supposed to understand that if they stop communicating, they are no longer interested. A plain text or email “not interested anymore” would be nice, but was not always was the case. I used to joke that if they could break up with their girlfriend over a text, they can break up with me over a text too!

Major attention to web communication A very important aspect of this transformation for us was the total overhaul of our website and social media outlets. I was not social media savvy, but I knew we needed someone who was. We hired, on a part-time basis, a young man who served as our social media person.

Our website was redesigned and updated regularly. Our presence on Facebook, Twitter and other venues was initiated and maintained. We also started advertising through such venues as Google and Twitter. These ads have brought increased traffic to our vocation website.

This is where people, young and old, are getting their information. As one of our young friars told me, “we know how get our information, and we get it when we want it.”

The Internet and social media are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we need to be on it consistently and with up to date and relevant information. Nothing turns off young people more than dated, irrelevant and unattractive websites. One young man who is discerning with us right now said he chose ten communities who he was interested in and started looking at their websites. If he liked a website, the community stayed on his list. If he did not, the community was taken off the list. “Fr. Tom, you guys have a great website! That’s why I’m here.” We must use the resources God gives us to reach this generation.

When we started the Vocation Culture Project, we had nine men in formation for the three provinces of the United States. Four years into the project, we had 32, so we decided to create a poster with their pictures, names, age, city of birth, and level of formation. When the friars received the poster, they were dumbfounded because they were filled with pride and hope that we had that many men in formation. Seeing their pictures enabled us to concretely see the fruits of our work and ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit. We distributed them far and wide to our communities and ministries in a very unique way. We produced a CD with a homily in McCarthy | Vocation Culture Project

Augustinian friars celebrate an ordination.

English and Spanish, which we asked all our Augustinian parishes to use on a particular Sunday. We asked each person present to take home a poster. We asked them to put the poster up on their refrigerators or bulletin boards at home for all to see and do three things: pray for the 32 men in formation, pray for themselves and pray for all young people in their family and parish. This poster became a prayer tool for the Vocation Culture Project. We had bigger posters made for church vestibules and foyers but to be honest, who looks at them? By making them a size suitable to be brought home and maybe posted on a refrigerator, the poster took on a whole new life of its own. We did the same in our high schools and colleges.

We printed 25,000 and they were all distributed. We have done this annually for six years now.

Looking back on the Vocation Culture Project, I think the most important thing we did was to acknowledge that we had a problem, and then choose to tackle the problem. We did not turn things around overnight. It took time, and it is proving to be fruitful, but the important thing was that we started on the journey.

The journey continues! I have, after nine years, stepped down as vocation director and have proudly been succeeded by Father Richie Mercado, the first young man I worked with who was ordained through our Vocation Culture Project.

God is the center of our Vocation Culture Project.

Jesus is our inspiration and the Holy Spirit moves us to get it done. My final thought is simple: If we could address our problems with new membership head on, anyone can! n Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 25

Feed your spirit

In peace you shall be brought home

Y

es, in joy you shall go forth, in peace you shall be brought home;

Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you, all trees of the field shall clap their hands.

In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow, instead of nettle, the myrtle.

This shall be to the Lord’s renown, as an everlasting sign that shall not fail. —Isaiah 55:12-13

: Chris Barbalis|UFall nsplash2018 26Photo | HORIZON

Book notes

Once you’ve taken the plunge

N

OW WHAT? YOU’VE SAID YES to married life, parenthood, or to a religious vocation, but what happens after the wedding, the birth of a child, or upon entering a religious community? Countless books and films examine the highs and lows of marriage and child-rearing. Television has all sorts of programming that turns those subjects inside out. But what’s it like after following a call from God into a religious institute? Scripture gives us a sense of what Peter and Andrew, James, and John went through after leaving their nets at the seashore to follow Christ, but what’s it like to make a committed choice as a religious in the 21st century?

Friar Casey Cole, O.F.M. explores this dynamic in a very personal and revealing way in his book, Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God (Franciscan Media, 2018). While the work is most beneficial for men and women discerning consecrated life, either as aspirants or in initial formation, it speaks to all religious and committed disciples.

The book is a reflection on various blog entries Cole posted over the first six years of his formation as a religious. Having allowed these posts to ferment over time leads him to make more nuanced insights and affirmations, and to consider other points of view. This is a refreshing approach. The six chapters cover diverse themes through the experiences he’s had as a young Franciscan friar. He hopes to “shed light on what can happen after we are ready to say yes to God” and to “offer insights into how even struggles and frustra-

Kent | Book Notes

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By Father Jim Kent, O.F.M. Conv.

Father Jim Kent, O.F.M. Conv. is a Conventual Franciscan Friar. He served his province as vocation director from 1994-2007 and then as minister provincial from 2007-2018. He is currently on sabbatical.

Fall 2018 | HORIZON | 27

tions of this life can be seen as joy when God is our guide and mission is our focus.”

He begins with a chapter entitled “Discernment Never Ends,” where he states an obvious yet indispensable truth for any Christian vocation: discernment is lifelong. Discernment begins by following one’s desire to pursue consecrated life, but really gathers traction by actually living it—and living it daily. For Cole, his discernment upon entering the Friars Minor was, first, whether to be a Franciscan and, second, whether he is called to be priest. These were separate questions, to be discerned in proper order. More than seekAs a Millennial ing mere happiness, he he needed to sought what brought him learn to embrace joy. This was a gut-level silence. It is his feeling but also something relationship with much more. Discernment God that becomes was not merely analyzing foundational to aspects of religious life and how they affected him, integrating the ups but prayerfully entering and downs, ebbs into the moment—past, and flows, of present, future—and exvowed life. periencing God in that moment.

Like many people in the 21st century Cole notes—especially as a Millennial—he needed to learn to embrace silence. As a young man who had created and animated many projects and who was always “doing something,” he needed to sit in stillness and silence. This was key in developing his prayer life, in moving beyond petitionary prayer to simply being present with God. It is his relationship with God that becomes foundational to integrating the ups and downs, the ebbs and flows, of vowed life.

“Celibacy can be a bit of a deal breaker,” begins one blog post. He doesn’t dodge or soften the celibacy requirement. Those discerning a vocation to religious life have to honestly and openly wrestle it with the vigor of Jacob and the angel. Cole notes while being celibate means not getting married nor having sexual activity, at its core celibacy requires a mature desire for intimacy.

This intimacy is not only with God but with other people as well. Love of God must be enfleshed in the form of close friends and most certainly with the members of one’s community. It’s incarnational, which is particularly 28 | HORIZON | Fall 2018

but certainly not exclusively Franciscan. Choosing to be celibate doesn’t mean one is escaping love and marriage but is acknowledging celibacy is the most profound way for that person to love. Making such a choice and commitment will not keep one from falling in love. After more than five years with the friars, Cole had such an experience of falling hard for someone. So much so he felt, “This is the one I am supposed to marry.” Understanding his call, choice, and commitment, all couched in a life with God and community, helped him work through this romantic attraction. He professed his final vows in August of 2017, and is now completing his studies for priesthood.

Cole, who minored in poverty studies at Furman University prior to entering the Franciscans, puts poverty in the context of “Seeking Insecurity,” another chapter title. He readily admits how difficult it is to claim to have “nothing of his own.” No matter how simply he lives, his blessings are bountiful: food, shelter, education, citizenship, a driver’s license, good health, health insurance, etc. While Franciscans have argued for 800 years over poverty, poverty is not the goal. Cole writes, “…poverty helps us get to Jesus and be in communion with those whom he deemed important … but it is ultimately Jesus who we seek and the poor that we need to be with.” We do this by letting go of our own self-sufficiency and embracing—even seeking—insecurity, so to be with those with so little.

Religious habit or not? Cole reflects upon the pros and cons of wearing distinctive garb and finds value in both, depending on the context and motivations behind the choice. What’s most important is being joyful disciples of Jesus Christ and being committed to mission.

He observes in living as a religious there are times of utter failure, and this is true whether one is in initial formation or in full-time ministry. Some failures, he learns, can have silver linings, but one always needs to take up the cross and continue on the journey of faith.

Strength can only be found in God, who is the source of all strength and the source of all calls to consecrated life.

Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God covers many pertinent areas and offers reflections on topics relevant for those in and around religious life. Vocation ministers and those in discernment will find the content enlightening, particularly coming from a 20-something religious who’s still in initial formation. Even longtime members of religious institutes will benefit from Cole’s book, as he speaks to the aspects of consecrated life that often lead to the perpetual question: Now what? n Kent | Book Notes

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