Schooler's Sagacity and Senility: Homilies from Fr. Bill

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

26 AUGUST 2018

          For the past five weeks, we have been hearing the Bread of Life Discourse from Saint John’s Gospel.  The discourse began with Jesus feeding five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish.  It has continued every Sunday (actually as long as the Season of Lent) and concludes today.  Jesus has been trying to help people understand the true significance of his sign of that miraculous feeding.  He is the Bread come down from heaven.  He has taken on human flesh.  He will become the sacrificial lamb slain on the cross.  After his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, he will send the Holy Spirit to continue his real presence in the Eucharist.  He promises that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will live forever.

            It is good for us to hear the conclusion of this discourse as we celebrate our patronal feast.  It reminds us that the Eucharist is at the heart of everything we do as a parish.  The vitality of our parish comes from the Eucharist and draws us back again every Sunday.

            Unfortunately, we celebrate our patronal feast when the news of the Grand Jury report from Pennsylvania has rocked our Church.  It is sickening to know that over 7 decades, 300 priests have been guilty of abusing thousands of children.  Even worse, we have learned that too many bishops had turned a blind eye and failed to protect the innocent victims.  Just as many of the disciples of Jesus left his company in today’s Gospel, people are walking away from the Church today because of these new revelations.  At some level, their reaction is understandable.  But Jesus turns to us, as he turns to Peter, and asks, “Do you also want to leave?”  By our very presence here today, we have already responded with his words, “Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words to eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  I sincerely thank you for that response!

            At one level, there is not much we can do about those outright crimes and horrible abuses of power.  We can pray for the victims and support them in their healing.  That is why Bishop Rhoades is publishing the names of all credibly accused priests of our Diocese, whether living or dead.  We hope that other victims will come forward to be healed.  We continue to enforce the child protection procedures in place since the clergy abuse scandal broke in 2002.  They provide better safeguards for children under our care.  We expect that offending bishops will be punished or removed for their failure.  We trust that current bishops have learned from the failure of their predecessors and pay close attention to victims of abuse.  Because Bishop Rhoades was the Bishop of Harrisburg before coming here, his name has been implicated.  Please read his statement printed in the bulletin today.  He deserves our trust and support.

            No matter how many reforms have been introduced, we know that the humans of our Church, both clerical and lay, are sinners.  Jesus entrusted the care of the Church to Peter, whose sins are evident in the New Testament.  His worst sin was on the night of the Last Supper when he denied knowing Jesus.  He repented from his sins and worked with the Lord’s mercy to be a better shepherd.  The same is true of us.  We are all sinners.  If you don’t believe that I am a sinner, ask Fr. Eric or any member of the staff.  Those who were guilty of abuse committed crimes and abused their power in terrible ways.  In effect, they ignored Saint Paul’s advice.  Rather than making themselves subordinate to Christ and placing their lives in service to others, they made their innocent victims subordinate to their own darker urges.  We remain in the Church, not because of any human shepherds, but because we subordinate ourselves to Christ and trust that Christ will remain with us, forgive our sins, and feed us with his Body and Blood.  That is his promise.  That is at the heart of our celebration of our patronal feast today.