Even though I am saddened by what I read concerning the latest priest scandals, I am not surprised. The older I get, the more acquainted I become with the human heart and my own sinful heart. Sin is not shocking to me. I am more surprised by the goodness I find in people, particularly if I happen to know their background, and it is one filled with hardship and suffering sometimes caused by the sins of others.
But I am wondering, why was the May 5 story, "Priest wrote openly about sexual liaisons," even in the paper? There were no charges mentioned or even a crime. The story was just sordid details of a person's life -- details that could just as easily have been from the lives of any one of us. And who among us has not wept, remembering our sins? What was accomplished by publishing this story? Now that the past sins of a church leader are general knowledge, now that his name and reputation are destroyed, now that any good he may have done in his life is suddenly negated, are we happy? Do we rejoice in his pain? Are we happy in the pain it has caused so many in the Church and community? Are we in any way encouraged as a community to continue to strive for holiness in how we live?
It would seem the media has become the new Pharisees, inviting us to pick up rocks and stone our neighbors whose sins have been made public. Do we really want to do this to each other?
Confronted by sin, Jesus himself said, "If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone." And they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest.
Janette Gil de Lamadrid
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Superior
