You have the words of eternal life

The last few weeks have not been easy as we have read many stories emerging from the United States about the Grand Jury report in Pennsylvania about abuse of children by clergy. The message of these reports runs so contrary to the Gospel that we wonder how it could develop in such a catastrophic and endemic way which touches not only the lives of those who have been abused but also their families, the whole Catholic community and the world to which we are called to witness. In many ways what has been revealed echoes much of what we have heard emerging from the Royal Commission in Australia.  Our faith is shaken and we wonder whether anything will help restore people's trust not only in the Church but more profoundly in the person of Jesus Christ on whom it is founded. Many commentaries have been written and will probably still be written. It is easy to see why people would walk away from the Church with disappointment, anger and rage. They seem to have expected so much and they seem to have received so little.

Yet in the midst of this catastrophe, we still believe that there are good people hanging on by their fingertips to the promise that Jesus provides the words of eternal life through our Eucharist. This should not just depend on wishful thinking or wringing of hands but a profound choice that we need to enter into our own dark places. This cannot be done alone and we start to realise that our Church needs to provide leadership which listens to the heart of Christ in our current age. I believe that there are three things that we need to develop in the life of the Church. 

We need to be a people who are serious about prayer and its transformative power. I believe that this is at the heart of Pope Francis' call to penance and fasting. We need to have hearts and minds that are open to God's saving grace which nourishes, restores and heals communities and individuals. This is mostly portrayed in our sacred liturgies where we seek to encounter the God who meets us in our weakness and ambiguity of life. There is a call to recognise that we need to have a common prayer which unites us with God and with each other. We cannot appear to be people who have made it just because we worship in Church. We are a broken people who seek healing and nourishment not by our own efforts but by our utter dependence and surrender to a God who shares our disappointments and failures. 

We need to be people who are serious about building resilient communities who recognise the call to grow in holiness and wholeness as intentional disciples. This means that we need to take seriously the call of being one in Christ Jesus. All people need to be engaged in the task of responding with love and compassion. This is not something that can be specifically reserved to clergy or even trained professionals, it needs to be at the heart of every community that we establish a culture which enables and empowers people to be formed in the Gospel and give expression to charisms present for the good of the community. There is a call for greater collaboration which is focussed on the mission of living the Gospel by seeing what builds up and restores people in hope, faith and love.

We need to be people who seek to live a sacramental life. This takes hard work and I believe it challenges us to look at who it is that we encounter in the sacraments. I think for too long we have trusted that if we prepare people well for the sacraments that they will be able to live an efficacious and affective Christian life. Yet we know this is not true in any other area of life. We do not train people for other walks of life hoping that they have enough knowledge and wisdom to engage with all the problems they will encounter. People need ongoing support, encouragement and training in how to respond to the challenges of our current age. I believe that if we put all our energies into focusing solely on how to provide this for clergy we may actually reinforce a sense of clericalism by placing the stress on their formation at the expense of how a whole community needs to be formed. This does not underplay the important role of leadership for which clergy are formed but it cannot be held or considered in isolation from the parish communities they are called to serve. We need to ensure that we are building a Church which is truly missionary.

In saying all this there is a recognition that clergy do need to ensure that they do not act as lone rangers riding into town believing it is only they who bring all the wisdom and knowledge to people in desperate need. There need to be support structures which are well established in every community which provide pastoral councils and finance committees which are fundamental to considering the good governance, sanctification and formation of parish life for the good of spreading the Good News. In this context, the priest is there not just to manage the good ordering of a parish in this work but to become a person who aids that formation of others. He is called into a life of service so that others may grow in faith. A priest does need this practical support but he also needs to ensure that he does not neglect what is important to his own calling, to grow in relationship with God, to grow to be a loving presence in the community in which he lives and to develop healthy relationships with others. This cannot happen by chance but by providing support in the way of spiritual direction, supervision and guidance which sustains him and the community of which he is a part.

In saying all this I hang on the words at the end of this week's Gospel when Jesus says, "What about you, do you want to go away to", and Simon Peter responds, " Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God."