The ruin of souls

.

Like millions of Catholics, the members of my parish recite the same prayer at the end of every Mass: “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,” the congregation says in unison. “Be our protection against the wickedness and the snares of the devil….”

Each Mass, this prayer brings to my mind whatever battle my church, my parish, or my family may be fighting. And currently, the battle where the Catholic Church needs St. Michael’s intercession is obvious.

When saying the concluding words, in which we pray for protection from “all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls,” it’s hard these days not to think of one man in particular.

Theodore McCarrick was the archbishop of Washington and a cardinal when I received my first communion and confirmation as an adult in 2004. In fact, he signed off of on my confirmation. It was by his authority that I was allowed to become Catholic.

At that time, in 2004, the church’s scandals were already front-page news. Priests who abused their power and molested and raped young boys and girls had been protected by the bishops of the church. Cardinal McCarrick was one of the spokesmen, apologizing for the church, explaining how we had righted our ship. I believed the apologies and the resolution by the church’s leaders not to commit this sin again.

I guess I shouldn’t have.

McCarrick appears to have spent much of his time as a priest and bishop seducing, exploiting, harassing, or molesting young men whom he had baptized or who were on the path to the priesthood. Church leaders, including his successor in the archdiocese of Newark, heard of McCarrick’s predations, which included bringing seminarians to debauched parties at a beach house he frequented in his earlier assignment in New Jersey’s Metuchen diocese. The two New Jersey dioceses in 2005 and 2007 paid out settlements to compensate his victims in New Jersey, but kept the settlements secret as their telegenic former archbishop had climbed the ladder and had become a face of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

And then, the church let him retire to a seminary, where more young priests were to be formed.

When a Catholic goes to confession, he can validly receive absolution only if he or she has a “firm purpose of amendment” — that is, a sincere intention and determination to reform. With what we know about McCarrick today — and what it seems many in the hierarchy knew — it’s hard to believe the American church had such a resolve during the last go around with sex scandals.

“The moral corruption is so deep and pervasive,” my friend and fellow Catholic Michael Brendan Dougherty wrote, “it becomes almost invisible by its omnipresence. It just flashes its icy look and smile on different faces” around the church.

This is the smile of “the evil spirits that prowl about the world….”

McCarrick has a winning smile and a soft, friendly, grandfatherly voice. That made him a favorite face for the American bishops, who sought better treatment from a media antagonistic toward religion in general, which smelled blood when the scandals erupted in the early 2000s. Maybe that same winsome smile made young men let down their guard around “Uncle Teddy.” The smile, and his power as a bishop, allowed McCarrick to prowl about the seminaries, seeking the ruin of those whom God was calling to serve him and the church.

He surely ruined many souls, and he undeniably harmed countless more. By failing to address this moral damage, the Catholic Church has failed its flock since the McCarrick news went public.

Many Catholics in recent weeks have received homilies, or letters in the church bulletin, with the important reminder to keep the faith. To keep our eyes on the center of our faith, which is Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen son of God and the savior of the world.

But when you’ve heard this plea — stay focused on the Cross in these tough times — a few times, it starts to sound defensive and diversionary.

It starts to sound like: Look away from this ugly scandal of the men who were supposed to care for your soul.

Of course, it is Jesus, not some cardinal, who redeems us. It’s God and not our pastor who forgives us. But follow this argument too obsessively, and you start to sound a bit un-Catholic. The Catholic Church has always maintained, in the face of opposition from within and without Christianity, that a hierarchy of priests, bishops, and popes is part of the essential and scriptural heritage of the church dating back to the Twelve Apostles. We’ve always argued that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light, the one good shepherd, but we also argue that fallen men need the apostles’ successors to act as day-to-day shepherds, to help keep us on that narrow path.

The church was right about this. We faithful need good shepherds. But we got McCarrick.

And he was a corrupter. He harmed the men he brought to his beach house. He harmed boys whom he had made Christians and who were trying to serve Jesus at the altar for Christmas.

McCarrick partially ruined these souls. He corrupted these men, many of whom became priests.

All men are damaged — that’s what the book of Genesis shows us. But McCarrick damaged some of them even more. These men then carried this damage into the priesthood. Thousands of the faithful ended up in flocks led by shepherds morally harmed by McCarrick. This means that all of us are worse, because the priests are worse, because of Cardinal McCarrick.

St. Michael the Archangel is not only a patron whom Catholics invoke to defend us from evil, but also one to whom we turn for courage in battle. As we continue to ask him to defend us from those who prowl the world seeking the ruin of souls, we also ask him to strengthen those who have the duty, as shepherds, to lay down their lives to defend Christ’s flock from the wolves. In future, may they have the courage to purge these predators from our midst.

Related Content

Related Content