The Bishop of Knoxville has admitted to accusing the alleged victim in a rape case involving a seminarian, but continues to deny culpability for impeding an investigation.
This is both scandalous and pathetic, and heartbreaking for the victim, the priests of this diocese, and the faithful. Is there a general reason why Pillar reader Bishop Stika has not been made to resign (I recall it took much less than that - at least officially - to ask Mgr Aupetit to resign in Paris)?
In the timeline that has given us antipope Michael (may he rest in peace), the Arian controversy, and so much more in between, I am reminding myself that it is only by the grace of God that we have any non-deranged non-imbecile non-sede non-heretic bishops at all and we should remember to thank Him (but also ask Him what we could ourselves do to, you know, have more good shepherds and less head-scratching "how did this happen" or outright wolves)..
I've got Bishop Rhoades, so I am always grateful for my bishop, and before him John D'Arcy who was made bishop here for objecting to the Cardinal in Boston moving pedophile priests around. Needless to say, we were protected from the scandals by our bishops.
I think the most troubling detail for me is that the bishop continues to solicit funds for this ex-seminarian, despite the fact that every ounce of self-preservation would suggest just walking away. At best (and it is not /good/), the bishop believes himself to be this guy's savior against an unjust world arrayed against a suffering servant-like vicitim. But it definitely suggests that the personal relationship is irrational, in a deeply disturbing way that seems almost analogous to Stockholm syndrom or cult loyalty.
The most troubling detail for me—and there are several from which to choose—is why it appears no one cares about the priests’ suffering enough to acknowledge their request for help. And then there’s us, the laity, who matter not at all.
The failure of Rome to act on this matter is just more evidence that the upper levels of the hierarchy aren't interested in putting an end to clerical sex abuse and that Vos Estis is just for show.
The laity of the Church have no power, and little voice, to affect change within the hierarchy. The only control we have is over our own actions: to support the Church (financially and physically) or not. To continue to contribute financially, and even to attend Mass, is merely to enable the hierarchy to continue to abuse and cover up abuse. By doing so, we are complicit.
Therefore, the only principled course action is to walk away in protest. The vast majority of Catholics (at least in this country) have already done so. The Church is ever more dependent on the remaining "faithful" for financial support. If that dries up, the Church may be forced to change. The bottom line, folks, is this: you get the hierarchy you pay for. If you don't like the product, stop buying it.
With all respect, Father, this is why nothing will change. This is classic gaslighting. Do you really think God will send you to Hell for refusing to support a corrupt institution? Is salvation to be found simply by "pray, pay and obey"? Would reforms of Trent have occurred were it not for the massive upheaval of the Reformation? Simony and the sale of indulgences had been criticized by many churchman (Erasmus, among others), and there were many calls for reform. But they fell on deaf ears until the massive defections occurred, along with the loss of lands and wealth. The reforms of Trent occurred only because of the catalyst of the Protestant reformers. It may take something similar to that to bring about real reform in the face of intransigent resistance.
Gaslighting is convincing someone that their senses or experiences are not reliable and that reality is different than they experience it. The charge that would be better to make here is more akin to emotional or psychological abuse, wherein I am threatening you with dire consequences for doing the right thing. Like an abusive lover threatening to remove housing from a cohabitating partner. I would agree with this charge in the absence of the 3rd Commandment and "Do this in memory of me." But how can you respect those two commandments apart from Mass?
To your point: (1) Was the Reformation worth it? The millions of souls lost, countries given over to false worship, and wars in the name of Christ? Brad S. Gregory's "The Unintended Reformation" would even argue that we have the Reformation to blame for the massive loss of faith that marks Contemporary society. (2) Your entire argument rests on gaining wordly power through worldly means. But this world hates us, as the Lord clearly stated. True power is spiritual, meaning we need spiritual solutions.
Fr. ; As a survivor you can't ask us to ignore the pain and fear that comes with attending Mass or receiving the sacraments. Sometimes that pain and fear is overwhelming. There is no "asking people to walk into Hell to make a statement" as you put it... rather its asking for the very real recognition that the church is the point that caused and still is the cause of great amounts of pain. It is not my job to heal the church for what the church has done to me especially when the church continues to create harm - continuing to create that harm and allowing it with no action - tells me as a survivor that the church has no penitent heart for what has happened under her watch. Show me a truly penitent heart on this matter from the church... i have looked. It doesn't exist. Why? Because every time a Priest knows I am a survivor - I am a piranha instantly. That is how the VICTIMS are treated yet a lot of sympathy goes to the perpetrator... so we know where the support really is and where it goes. We are at the point that the words of the church on this matter mean nothing until the church shows us by action.
I am sorry that the priests you have asked to walk with you in your pain have failed to show you the heart of Jesus. I can only speak for myself, but when I walk with survivors of sexual abuse, perpetrated by the Church or someone else, I have never been tempted to treat them as a pariah. Jesus wants to heal the broken, and I hope anyone who comes to me in their brokenness also finds in me the desire to heal.
I am not asking you or anyone else to ignore the pain, but I am suggesting that healing will only be found by running towards God, not away from him.
When I preach about clergy sexual abuse, I try to emphasize that these were not sins /by/ the Church /against/ victims, these were sins /by/ priests /against/ the Church. The Church is all of the baptized, and even though it is the roll of the clergy to safeguard the tradition and the sacraments, the "Church" and the hierarchy are not and have never been coextensive. When these churchmen sinned against you, insodoing they sinned against the spotless Bride of Christ that had been entrusted to their care.
"1. Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
2. saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
3. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice."
Even Jesus did not deny the authority of the Pharisees despite their abuses and hypocrisy. Refusing to attend Mass is not an option. The episcopacy by itself is not the Church. All of the baptized are. I didn't become Catholic because of them, I'm sure not leaving because of them.
You're like the victim in an abusive marriage. "I can't leave him, even though he threatens to kill me. Where would I go?" The entire hierarchy of the Church is abusive. They only care about their power, prestige, and privilege. They will not change. So the only faithful response is to take it and suffer in silence? Good luck with that.
No. This is not the Romcath branch of ChurchCo that we can join a social media hashtag boycott against so we can stika it to The Man because we don't like management's latest fiasco.
We make the church holier by being holier.
Walking away does not make the church holier, it leaves the scoundrels inside to make her less holy.
I'm not going to abandon Holy Mother Church and leave Her in the clutches of wicked men to "make a statement".
Then there is no recourse for the suffering priests and people in Knoxville. Stika wins. He will exact retaliation on the priests who have spoken out, begging Rome for help. The people will suffer.
I'm so glad I've walked away from this abusive cult.
There is. Stika can still be removed from his diocese. And even if he isn't, there is one thing that definitely will even if it isn't ideal: death. Every single bishop will eventually die and will be replaced. It is a fate shared by good bishops and bad ones. The present bishops will one day be gone, but the Church will not. The Church has suffered far worse at the hands of men with far more malice, power, and influence than Bishop Stika, and was not undone by their abuse. I put my faith in the promise that God put in protecting His Church, and not that all of the bishops will act without fault. This too shall pass.
Another option, besides supporting The Pillar (haha), is this: keep going to Church, because Jesus founded it and we want to save our souls, BUT don't give to the parish/diocese that you know is bad. There's no obligation to support your parish/diocese financially. How to support "the Church" financially is a matter for prayer and discernment.
That said, attending Mass doesn't make us complicit any more than sending kids to school makes us complicit in nationwide child abuse. Mass is hearing the Word of God, and offering Jesus to God the Father and receiving Jesus in return. It is about faith in God, not faith in a bishop.
It's true, though: the only way to get rid of all the problems in the Church is to get rid of all the people. But, the same goes for every other group of people on the planet: families, schools, cities, states, countries...etc. There is no escaping problems when people are involved. This world is not our home. We want Heaven, of which we will only find glimpses here.
The Church has bound up entirely too much unaccountable power in the hierarchy, culminating with the absolute monarch that is the Roman Pontiff. Sure, the latter may cap a bishop here or there if he's not of the pontiff's party. But that's not reform, that's just score-settling gussied up in a moral cassock.
There is no mechanism by which the Catholic laity can force reform. In Orthodoxy, genuine synodality can get the attention of and even force the deposition or resignation of metropolitans, as has happened in the OCA. Obviously, there are limits, as Bloody Kirill's grip on the throne shows.
In any event, the sickly version being developed in Rome sure as God made little green apples won't allow the Stikas to be sent packing by mere layfolk. So, it appears that lay Catholics are reduced to praying for those who have the power to develop an inclination for real reform.
Shouldn't take more than a century or three of further decline and decay for that to happen.
Ha! The last sentence was a great way to end this article!
Very sad.
This is both scandalous and pathetic, and heartbreaking for the victim, the priests of this diocese, and the faithful. Is there a general reason why Pillar reader Bishop Stika has not been made to resign (I recall it took much less than that - at least officially - to ask Mgr Aupetit to resign in Paris)?
We will never get an answer, but I would love to know how deranged imbeciles like this prelate manage to become bishops in the first place.
That one we know... Bp Stila is close friends (and now roomie!) with Cdl Rigali. It's not what you know it's who you know.
In the timeline that has given us antipope Michael (may he rest in peace), the Arian controversy, and so much more in between, I am reminding myself that it is only by the grace of God that we have any non-deranged non-imbecile non-sede non-heretic bishops at all and we should remember to thank Him (but also ask Him what we could ourselves do to, you know, have more good shepherds and less head-scratching "how did this happen" or outright wolves)..
I've got Bishop Rhoades, so I am always grateful for my bishop, and before him John D'Arcy who was made bishop here for objecting to the Cardinal in Boston moving pedophile priests around. Needless to say, we were protected from the scandals by our bishops.
I think the most troubling detail for me is that the bishop continues to solicit funds for this ex-seminarian, despite the fact that every ounce of self-preservation would suggest just walking away. At best (and it is not /good/), the bishop believes himself to be this guy's savior against an unjust world arrayed against a suffering servant-like vicitim. But it definitely suggests that the personal relationship is irrational, in a deeply disturbing way that seems almost analogous to Stockholm syndrom or cult loyalty.
Or buying off a previous victim himself.
The most troubling detail for me—and there are several from which to choose—is why it appears no one cares about the priests’ suffering enough to acknowledge their request for help. And then there’s us, the laity, who matter not at all.
The failure of Rome to act on this matter is just more evidence that the upper levels of the hierarchy aren't interested in putting an end to clerical sex abuse and that Vos Estis is just for show.
The laity of the Church have no power, and little voice, to affect change within the hierarchy. The only control we have is over our own actions: to support the Church (financially and physically) or not. To continue to contribute financially, and even to attend Mass, is merely to enable the hierarchy to continue to abuse and cover up abuse. By doing so, we are complicit.
Therefore, the only principled course action is to walk away in protest. The vast majority of Catholics (at least in this country) have already done so. The Church is ever more dependent on the remaining "faithful" for financial support. If that dries up, the Church may be forced to change. The bottom line, folks, is this: you get the hierarchy you pay for. If you don't like the product, stop buying it.
This is tantamount to asking people to walk into Hell to make a statement. Or you do not believe that God cares about attending Mass.
Regardless, history has shown us that reform in the Church comes from people who seek greater holiness, not lesser.
With all respect, Father, this is why nothing will change. This is classic gaslighting. Do you really think God will send you to Hell for refusing to support a corrupt institution? Is salvation to be found simply by "pray, pay and obey"? Would reforms of Trent have occurred were it not for the massive upheaval of the Reformation? Simony and the sale of indulgences had been criticized by many churchman (Erasmus, among others), and there were many calls for reform. But they fell on deaf ears until the massive defections occurred, along with the loss of lands and wealth. The reforms of Trent occurred only because of the catalyst of the Protestant reformers. It may take something similar to that to bring about real reform in the face of intransigent resistance.
Dave,
Gaslighting is convincing someone that their senses or experiences are not reliable and that reality is different than they experience it. The charge that would be better to make here is more akin to emotional or psychological abuse, wherein I am threatening you with dire consequences for doing the right thing. Like an abusive lover threatening to remove housing from a cohabitating partner. I would agree with this charge in the absence of the 3rd Commandment and "Do this in memory of me." But how can you respect those two commandments apart from Mass?
To your point: (1) Was the Reformation worth it? The millions of souls lost, countries given over to false worship, and wars in the name of Christ? Brad S. Gregory's "The Unintended Reformation" would even argue that we have the Reformation to blame for the massive loss of faith that marks Contemporary society. (2) Your entire argument rests on gaining wordly power through worldly means. But this world hates us, as the Lord clearly stated. True power is spiritual, meaning we need spiritual solutions.
Fr. ; As a survivor you can't ask us to ignore the pain and fear that comes with attending Mass or receiving the sacraments. Sometimes that pain and fear is overwhelming. There is no "asking people to walk into Hell to make a statement" as you put it... rather its asking for the very real recognition that the church is the point that caused and still is the cause of great amounts of pain. It is not my job to heal the church for what the church has done to me especially when the church continues to create harm - continuing to create that harm and allowing it with no action - tells me as a survivor that the church has no penitent heart for what has happened under her watch. Show me a truly penitent heart on this matter from the church... i have looked. It doesn't exist. Why? Because every time a Priest knows I am a survivor - I am a piranha instantly. That is how the VICTIMS are treated yet a lot of sympathy goes to the perpetrator... so we know where the support really is and where it goes. We are at the point that the words of the church on this matter mean nothing until the church shows us by action.
Kat,
I am sorry that the priests you have asked to walk with you in your pain have failed to show you the heart of Jesus. I can only speak for myself, but when I walk with survivors of sexual abuse, perpetrated by the Church or someone else, I have never been tempted to treat them as a pariah. Jesus wants to heal the broken, and I hope anyone who comes to me in their brokenness also finds in me the desire to heal.
I am not asking you or anyone else to ignore the pain, but I am suggesting that healing will only be found by running towards God, not away from him.
When I preach about clergy sexual abuse, I try to emphasize that these were not sins /by/ the Church /against/ victims, these were sins /by/ priests /against/ the Church. The Church is all of the baptized, and even though it is the roll of the clergy to safeguard the tradition and the sacraments, the "Church" and the hierarchy are not and have never been coextensive. When these churchmen sinned against you, insodoing they sinned against the spotless Bride of Christ that had been entrusted to their care.
From Matthew 23:
"1. Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
2. saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
3. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice."
Even Jesus did not deny the authority of the Pharisees despite their abuses and hypocrisy. Refusing to attend Mass is not an option. The episcopacy by itself is not the Church. All of the baptized are. I didn't become Catholic because of them, I'm sure not leaving because of them.
You're like the victim in an abusive marriage. "I can't leave him, even though he threatens to kill me. Where would I go?" The entire hierarchy of the Church is abusive. They only care about their power, prestige, and privilege. They will not change. So the only faithful response is to take it and suffer in silence? Good luck with that.
From John 6:
"67. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
68. Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”"
I'm sorry you feel the way you do about the Church.
No. This is not the Romcath branch of ChurchCo that we can join a social media hashtag boycott against so we can stika it to The Man because we don't like management's latest fiasco.
We make the church holier by being holier.
Walking away does not make the church holier, it leaves the scoundrels inside to make her less holy.
I'm not going to abandon Holy Mother Church and leave Her in the clutches of wicked men to "make a statement".
Then there is no recourse for the suffering priests and people in Knoxville. Stika wins. He will exact retaliation on the priests who have spoken out, begging Rome for help. The people will suffer.
I'm so glad I've walked away from this abusive cult.
There is. Stika can still be removed from his diocese. And even if he isn't, there is one thing that definitely will even if it isn't ideal: death. Every single bishop will eventually die and will be replaced. It is a fate shared by good bishops and bad ones. The present bishops will one day be gone, but the Church will not. The Church has suffered far worse at the hands of men with far more malice, power, and influence than Bishop Stika, and was not undone by their abuse. I put my faith in the promise that God put in protecting His Church, and not that all of the bishops will act without fault. This too shall pass.
Another option, besides supporting The Pillar (haha), is this: keep going to Church, because Jesus founded it and we want to save our souls, BUT don't give to the parish/diocese that you know is bad. There's no obligation to support your parish/diocese financially. How to support "the Church" financially is a matter for prayer and discernment.
That said, attending Mass doesn't make us complicit any more than sending kids to school makes us complicit in nationwide child abuse. Mass is hearing the Word of God, and offering Jesus to God the Father and receiving Jesus in return. It is about faith in God, not faith in a bishop.
It's true, though: the only way to get rid of all the problems in the Church is to get rid of all the people. But, the same goes for every other group of people on the planet: families, schools, cities, states, countries...etc. There is no escaping problems when people are involved. This world is not our home. We want Heaven, of which we will only find glimpses here.
The Church has bound up entirely too much unaccountable power in the hierarchy, culminating with the absolute monarch that is the Roman Pontiff. Sure, the latter may cap a bishop here or there if he's not of the pontiff's party. But that's not reform, that's just score-settling gussied up in a moral cassock.
There is no mechanism by which the Catholic laity can force reform. In Orthodoxy, genuine synodality can get the attention of and even force the deposition or resignation of metropolitans, as has happened in the OCA. Obviously, there are limits, as Bloody Kirill's grip on the throne shows.
In any event, the sickly version being developed in Rome sure as God made little green apples won't allow the Stikas to be sent packing by mere layfolk. So, it appears that lay Catholics are reduced to praying for those who have the power to develop an inclination for real reform.
Shouldn't take more than a century or three of further decline and decay for that to happen.
No blaming of a victim is "in good faith"