We should not settle for anything but the truth.
Fr. Steve notes that most of the readings of recent weeks are relevant to the current clergy abuse crisis. He quotes from an article by Jesuit Father Paul Shaughnessy, entitled The Gay Priest Problem, published in 2000, which talks about the ubiquity of corruption in organizations, including the Church, asking the question: are there enough good priests and bishops in the Church to keep the moral turpitude under control. The article speaks about how no one should become a bishop without having a record of rooting out sexual immorality among seminaries and among the clergy. Homosexuals should not be admitted as candidates for the priesthood and homosexual priests should receive psychological treatment or be retrained into another job. He encourages the laity to challenge priests and bishops about fidelity to their vocations.
Fr. Steve says that there have been times when bishops have turned a blind eye to immorality, thus perpetuating it and worsening it. He quotes Jer 6:11-16:
But I am full of the wrath of the Lord,
and I cannot hold it in.
“Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
and the old, those weighed down with years.
Their houses will be turned over to others,
together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
against those who live in the land,”
declares the Lord.
“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Now is the time for the laity. What is happening is the prophetic work of Our Lord and Our Lady.
