What's Taking The Catholic Church So Long?

So I just read this article about the Pope begging forgiveness for the child abuse problems with the priests in the Catholic Church.

As I read his statements and those of the organizations that advocate for the victims I couldn’t stop thinking one thing…

What’s taking so long?

Like seriously… what’s taking so long here? Why has the Pope not come with a clear resolution and plan of action? Maybe there is so much more under the surface that it would be too damaging for the church to reveal it. Maybe the Pope has some personal involvement here…

Who knows?

But what I find interesting here is that the Pope is asking for forgiveness when he really wants reconciliation.

Here’s what I mean.

Let’s say someone does you wrong and they ask for your forgiveness. Sure, you can forgive them; but, would you ever put your trust in them again?

Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. But it takes time to build trust, and that building of trust is reconciliation. It only occurs when you follow up your request for forgiveness with sustained and consistent action to demonstrate that the victim of your treatment can have faith in you again.

And that’s what these victims need. They need to see results. They need to see that the church has taken concrete actions to expose those who committed these crimes. They need to see that there are measures in place to prevent this from happening again and to deal with the offenders who do this in the future.

Every rational person knows that no single person or entity is perfect. The Catholic Church cannot reasonably promise that their priests will not do anything bad in the future.

And no one is asking for such a promise.

But good gracious… let’s get some transparency here! As people of faith, the folks in the Catholic Church should do what Jesus said.

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. Matthew 5: 23-26

They seem to have done neither. If they go and reconcile with the victims by demonstrating their remorse through meaningful action then this will eventually go away.

Otherwise, the victims will continue to drag them to the courts of law and public opinion…

These courts are not friendly to anyone.

We Be Grubbin'

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron and his sons: 'These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the LORD in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. – Leviticus 6:24-26

Man… Aaron and his peeps were eating WELL.

So far in Leviticus Moses has been talking about various rules and regulations. Now we are at the section governing how various sacrifices are to be made.

One of the common threads between these various offerings is that they are supposed to be eaten by Aaron and his sons.

Being of the priestly line had its perks.

Aaron was the first chief priest and God decided that all of the men in his line would have the role of being the chief priests of Israel. As a result they had to essentially dedicate their lives to directly serving God.

They had to handle the Ark, pitch the holy tent, and perform all of the sacrifices for thousands of people.

That is a lot of work.

When the people sinned or did something otherwise unsavory they had to give an offering.

God required the offerings to be without blemish and of proper value so one couldn’t slide in the crippled or old sheep as their offering.

When I think about myself and all of the times in my life that I have fallen short it’s surprising to me that folk didn’t go broke giving these offerings.

But this does make me thing about the church today. We actually have something similar.

Tithes and offerings.

This has become a controversial subject for many reasons of course. Many of us have seen ridiculously ornate churches, pastors with fancy Italian suits who live in mansions, and congregations who give them fancy cars.

But when we get back to the origins of this it becomes really basic. How is someone who dedicates their life to serving others going to provide for themselves?

The can’t, so we provide for them.

Non-profits work this way. We hope that the majority of the money that we donate goes toward whatever cause they are promoting ,but we also know that some of it must go to running the organization. Every organization needs employees and resources.

The church is no different.

It is funny to me though to think of the random Israelite who brings a dove because he can’t afford a sheep. I wonder what he was thinking when he saw Aaron’s progeny smackin’ their gums on some succulent lamb chops.

Can a brotha get some of that laaaaaamb?

Nope, sure can’t… cause with that benefit comes a WHOLE LOT of responsibility.

At the end of the day the priests have to answer directly to God. And God don’t take too kindly to folk who mess over his people

Today’s Reading: Leviticus 6-7; Matthew 25: 1-30