Went to Mass yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. The priest at this particular church occasionally weaves current events into his homilies and delivered a well worded oratory after September 11th justifying U.S. actions to defend itself against further attacks.
Yesterday he spoke of the reason that Jesus had to die on the cross instead of just being able to perform miracles to convince people that he was the Son of God. He mentioned that the severity of certain sins required the ultimate sacrifice by Jesus to redeem the sinner and gave an example that hit close to home for him.
A friend of his who was also a priest had problems with abusing young boys and had asked for his help in his "recovery". After getting over his initial shock and disgust with his friend's activities the priest agreed to assist him.
At a counseling session the associate with the problem described how one of the boys had "victimized" him. At this point the priest was outraged and told us that his first inclination was to strangle his friend but that priests aren't allowed to kill other priests and so he restrained himself, told the group that "forty year olds are not victimized by twelve year olds" and left the meeting never to return or speak to his former friend again. He explained how this other priest was blind to the damage he had caused the victims, their families, and the reputation of the priesthood tying this into the day's Gospel and giving a relevant example of serious sin.
To hear a priest speak on this delicate topic was refreshing given the new stories coming out on what seems like a weekly basis dealing with allegations of abuse. The only way for the Church to deal with this problem is to acknowledge it, be willing to talk about, and as our priest did yesterday to make no excuses for it.
