October 5, 2018

Letters to the Editor

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When it comes to Church division, truth has power to unify, reader says

In the Sept. 21 edition of The Criterion, several commentators argued that Catholics should “come together” to solve the current clergy sex-abuse crisis and that the issue should not be framed in terms of “we” or “them.”

The question I would ask, though, is this: How is it even possible to find unity in the present circumstances?

Whether we like it or not, there is a culture war going on in the Catholic Church. One side believes that sodomy is a sin that “cries to heaven for vengeance” while the other side—almost 70 percent—believes that the gay lifestyle is morally acceptable. How is it possible for these two sides to come together?

This same drama is being played out at the highest levels of the Church’s hierarchy. Some bishops and cardinals are pushing for transparency and speak publicly about a powerful homosexual network among their peers; others of the same rank avoid the topic altogether and say that we should pray and remain silent.

Clearly, unity is possible among Catholics only insofar as they accept the Church’s teachings on sexual morality, including the teaching that homosexual behavior is disordered. This is true for all Catholics, regardless of authority or rank: to accept the Church’s teachings is to promote unity; to reject them is to promote division.

The broader point is that truth has the power to unify. Catholics can come together on that basis by asking the appropriate questions about Church leaders and their response to the sex crisis: Who wants the facts, and who is stonewalling? Who blames the perpetrators, and who blames the whistleblowers? Who worries about the Church’s integrity, and who worries only about appearances? Who defines the problem as “homosexualism,” and who defines it as “clericalism?”

Lay Catholics can play a role in ending this crisis by holding Church leaders accountable for accepting moral truth, conducting a thorough investigation, following the evidence wherever it leads, and acting on that evidence.

- Stephen L. Bussell | Indianapolis

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