Those of You Stay With You

December 31, 2019

From today’s reading…

They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;

if they had been, they would have remained with us.

Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.”

When hard times hit you don’t lose friends, you merely find out who your true friends are.

In 1 John 2 today, we read what may be the source or inspiration of that statement.

People frequently ask me, in light of the sexual abuse among Catholic clergy, how I can remain a member of the Catholic faith, and I ask them if they’ve ever had mice or rats or termites or ants or spiders or all of the above in their home.

When they confirm they have dealt with one or more of those types of infestations, I ask them if they left the house and burned it to the ground or if they stayed and fought the vermin to protect the home they built and filled with love.

“But…but…but…Wes…The Catholic Church is just so…so…so…bad…so…old…so…set in its ways…so…slow to adapt to the modern world…so…dominated by old men who don’t have sex…so…dogmatic…so… liturgical…so…greedy…so…blah!”

No.

The Catholic Church is not bad, but it has had its fill of bad priests, bad bishops, bad Popes, and bad members to greater or lesser degrees because we all fall short of the glory of God.

Adam and Eve ignored God’s one instruction.

Cain killed his only brother out of envy.

Moses was a hot-head, a murderer, and doubted God.

David was an adulterer and murderer.

Zechariah doubted God’s messenger regarding his wife’s conception of John the Baptist.

Peter denied Jesus publicly three times in an evening.

Thomas doubted Jesus rose from the dead.

Even among the 12 that were hand-picked by Jesus, one of them was so filled with…fear? uncertainty? greed? pride? that he betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

If you can show me a perfect congregation with an unbroken line of ordination and blessing all the way back to Jesus himself, I’ll join you in that congregation tonight.

In the meantime, I’ll do all I can in the Catholic Church to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.