29 August 2018 

The Tablet

Good priests need support

When the child abuse storm first broke in the Catholic Church about 20 years ago, a bishop encountered one of his priests who was almost too ashamed to leave the house. When he did so he walked with his head down, avoiding eye contact with passers-by. The bishop soon discovered this was a more general feeling among the clergy – guilt by association, depression as a result. He said later he realised the mental health and well-being of the clergy needed to be taken far more seriously than it had been.
This is still true. And it is not only bishops who have responsibility for seeing it and responding. Many priests live alone. Many of them dislike the trappings of “clericalism” that try to put them on a pedestal and isolate them from warm human relationships. If lay parishioners are to continue to be served by priests, they must look after them. Love has to flow both ways.

The sense of scandal in the Catholic Church rises and falls with media revelations and inquiry reports, and so does the morale of priests and people. There is a mutual dependence through which either side can raise or lower the mood by a careless word. So Pope Francis’s call for penance by the entire People of God runs the risk of blaming decent priests and people for crimes over which they had no control. They too are victims.
It would be healthier to focus on strengthening the bonds of communion at local level, so that a parish becomes a genuine community which cares for every member. Prayer is one way; frank discussion is another; and striving together to put the world to rights is a primary means of evangelising it. So the parish becomes a team and the priest, not necessarily the leader of it but who feels his humanity is accepted.
The priest as a model of perfection can be a psychological trap. Donatism is never far away. The Church is holy regardless of the holiness or unholiness of its members, and places the secret of eternal life in the hands of its sinful ministers – ex opere operato. It is that principle that answers the question: amidst terrible stories of misdeeds within the People of God, why remain one of them?
If there were no sinners in the Church there would be no Church.