The
disgusting story of Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick has left many Catholics baffled, confused, outraged, and yet not surprised. That a man, ordained thrice, could be so scandalously repulsive for so long, and even be promoted through the ranks of Church hierarchy, is a reality that should have died in the winter of 2002. It lives on of course. Just look at the mess in Chile. I'll give Pope Francis the benefit of the doubt in Chile and state that he was lied to by people close to him. Either way, we are not over this train wreck. Not by a long shot.
Nevertheless, it still merits asking how McCarrick, creepily self-referenced as "Uncle Ted", was able to carry on for so long.
Many have suggested that liberals didn't want to make an issue of McCarrick's homosexual escapades for fear of damage to the LGBT followers, whereas conservative Catholics feared damaging the reputation of the Church by "outing" (no pun intended) this Cardinal. And so he carried on. Don't ask. Don't tell. How American. Uncle Sam meet Uncle Ted.
I don't really believe in the oversimplification of the McCarrick explanation. That being both liberals and conservatives on the same page, seeking the supression of truth and justice, yet for different reasons. And let me be clear that though McCarrick is a liberal Cardinal, I could just as easily believe that this case could happen to a more tradition-minded churchman. No, the issue is deeper. And by that I mean worse than any simple explanation. McCarrick escaped reprimand and fraternal confrontation because our Church has become mercenary and deficient of real leaders.
Ours is a mercenary Church structure. Clergy are hirelings, meted out their due pay for services provided. It has to be. With the scarcity of true shepherds comes the necessity for hirelings. There are rules for governance, beyond Canon Law, which bishops must introduce within their diocese. Priests are paid a salary. They must work a certain amount of days, take such and such vacation time, receive set mileage rates, dutifully report their stipends on tax returns, and so on. In our diocese the rumour is the bishop is looking into mandatory hours at the church for priests. He has to. A nearby parish has a priest show up in the morning, then goes who knows where once the noon bell rings.
In some ways the mercenary/hireling structure does not go far enough. What about mandatory dress code for priests? Whereby priests dress like, well, priests? Perhaps the Canon law which strongly suggests Mass should be said everyday should just say, in a word, that Mass must be said everyday. Yet the fact that priests need to be told to say Mass daily is completely the point. We've come this far. There are faithful shepherds who would do anything for their, often ungrateful, parish. There are too many pastors who need to be told how to be a priest. Acedia? Comfort? To be commanded to say Mass everyday is like commanding a mother to cuddle her newborn child. "Do I have to?" said no mother ever.
When a Catholic hears of an important Churchmen failing scandalously in his call to holiness, the mercenary attitude is to hold rank, don't cause a fuss, and to do one's duty of position. "I will leave this Cardinal alone for he is powerful and, really, who would even listen to me? I would surely be reprimanded at some point, or removed all together." Is this true? I think, in many cases, it absolutely would be true. Why? Because our hierarchy is based on power, positioning, and employment of services. It is difficult to defy the setup because the setup is in defiance of love, with love including fraternal correction. The Church too often beats as a machine, and not a heart.
We fear a system. We fear backlash, politics, lawsuits, repercussions, and just about everything else more than the one thing we should fear: hell. It is mercenary. It is leadership of authority, which is good, but only when the authority has merited this leadership role to begin with. For instance, why is Cardinal Cupich still a high ranking Archbishop in Chicago? What on God's green earth has he done to merit such a powerful position? It baffles the mind how the system works. And because it works as such, I am not supposed to question why he is where he is. God's will. So I'll just shut up and understand my place. Just as one was not supposed to publicly ask why Uncle Teddy took seminarians to the beach house on Friday nights. Did these seminarians fear the man himself? Would not one, with complete moral justice, fight back on one of those Friday nights? "Your Eminence! Where did you get that black eye?" They feared the position of the man. Not with fear-and-trembling of the man’s consecration to God, but that the man wielded power and influence.
Rather than prolong these words, it is best to examine a solution. Clearly we cannot be rid of our current Church administrative-reliant structure. And sadly the hirelings will continue as such. But is there not a hope for real change?
So many Catholic quandaries can be alleviated if we but look to, and imitate, the lives of the saints. How does a bishop not treat his priests as employees? Has anyone ever actually read the life of St. Alphonsus Ligouri? He was not afraid to clean house. To choose between the hireling and the shepherd. Yet with the greatest of charity. There's a reason why Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange states a bishop must be in the unitive way in the spiritual life. Or the bishop St. Anthony Mary Claret? See zeal in action. He was a great administrator because he was first a great saint. An overseas trip on a boat was not a cruise, but rather an opportunity to lead his priests on a retreat. That's how you first treat, and love, your priests. They become not hirelings, but rather themselves good shepherds.
Uncle Teddy benefited from a Church structure which requires administrative savvy and not sanctity. The Church cries for saints. The Church requires saints in leadership. Not for those in the Church to be required to do what is right. But for those in the Church to be required to love doing what is right. Even to correct what is wrong. Holiness is a demand for all. But we learn from our shepherds.
"And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep" (John 10:13).
