Last year, while we were visiting
churches in California, I contacted an old school friend about the possibility
of joining her for church. From her Facebook posts I figured she was still
interested in spiritual things.
She replied that she and her husband
no longer attended church, and it was because of
the scandals. She was
Catholic, so I knew she meant the incidents of pedophilia that
came to light in the last fifteen years. She was far from the only person I've
heard mention those truly horrible episodes as the reason they quit attending
church. In the face of such evil and hypocrisy, how could anyone continue to
support such an institution?
This last week, Mindy and I spent
time with friends who were quite aware -- in fact, were witnesses to many
abuses of authority by the Catholic clergy back in the day -- and yet continue
to support and love the church. I greatly appreciated hearing their story.
Julie Buchanan was a good friend of
my brother's but also a friend of mine back at Piner High School. Her husband,
Dan, was the brother of classmates of ours. They graciously hosted us for our
stay in
Dripping Springs, near
Austin, Texas. At a local hangout,
The Barber Shop, Dan shared with me his experience with the Church, the Lord, and
forgiveness.
Dan grew up in a family committed to
the Catholic Church. His drill sergeant father, a man of great faith, made sure
that they were there every Sunday, but Dan hadn't internalized that faith
growing up. When Dan was eighteen, he went to a Catholic charismatic renewal
meeting at a church in Santa Rosa where he heard the Word and felt changed by
God's grace. There was an altar call and he was the first to go forward.
The change in his life was dramatic,
and he sold all that he had to join the priest leading the meeting to go and
minister in Wisconsin. Dan helped lead
worship, playing the guitar at the meetings on the trip. He had a wonderful
time. Returning to California, Dan stayed with the priest. One night the priest
asked Dan to join him on his bed. The priest didn't make an explicit proposition,
but... Dan didn't join him and returned to Santa Rosa.
The priests in Dan's local parish
thought Dan was destined for the priesthood himself, and they encouraged him to
pursue the calling. But Dan continued to see things that just weren't right. He
lived in a house with another priest who brought a series of young women to his
room. The door was closed, so he never knew what went on, but...
Dan's parents had always put the
clergy on a pedestal, but for Dan the pedestal had been kicked away. He began
to feel that perhaps his faith was a farce. He went through a dark time of
questioning.
After Dan married Julie, obviously
the becoming a priest option for Danny was gone, but Dan and Julie remained
active in the church. Sadly, episodes of clerical misconduct conduct continued
as well. The most severe blow was when Dan learned that someone very close to
him had been sexually abused by a priest. They raised their family, changing
parishes, and continued to seek God's truth in scriptures and the Church.
Many years later, Dan again
experienced great spiritual darkness and considered chucking it all. He went
off on a retreat, where a spiritual mentor suggested meditating on a prayer,
the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, focusing on Christ's sacrifice. As Dan prayed he
asked God, "Where are you now?"
It was then Dan felt God's grace
fall upon Him. He heard the words, "I'm still here." He felt God take
from him the hurt that had built up through the years. He felt God tell him to
go home and love his family.
Dan said he's come to realized that
in God's eyes the clergy are no more sacred than garbage collectors and just as
susceptible to sin. Jesus called the religious leaders of His time "
whitewashed tombs" but the sins of those men didn't invalidate the teaching of the Law
and the Prophets. Dan still accepts the teaching of the church as true, even if
many of the teachers are flawed.
The morning we attended Mass with
them, Julie was reading the Scripture for the service. The church conducts six
masses every weekend with a different reader for each. Those readers meet every
week to study the Scripture they will read in the upcoming weekend.
Dan and Julie spoke fondly of their
parish priest, Father Pat, and his assistant, Father Ray. But Father Ray was
home visiting family in India, and parish policy doesn't allow a priest to lead
more than three masses on a weekend, so we heard a homily by Father Charlie, a
priest in his eighties, who has been quite active in prison ministries.
Father Charlie has the cadence of a
Southern Baptist radio preacher and a love of acronyms (LOVE - Live On
Victoriously Eternally, GOD - Good Orderly Direction, JOY - Jesus, Others,
Yourself, etc.) Though Julie and Dan admitted they had heard Father Charlie
preach many of the same things before, they expressed admiration for the man's
love and faithfulness.
I asked Dan what he would say to
those who have quit going to church because they can't forgive the actions of
the Catholic clergy, particularly the incidents of abuse of children. He said
he would tell them to repeat the "
Our Father," meditating on every
word, and have them concentrate on the passage on forgiveness. "We can't
hold a grudge or pass judgment on others. When we do, we put a wall up between
ourselves and God."
It was a pleasure and honor to see
Dan and Julie's faithfulness in serving at St. Catherine's and even more of a
privilege to see their devotion to the God of children, fallen priests and
garbage collectors.
Post Script: Due to the nature of Dan's story, we ask Dan and Julie to look this over before we put it up. We used their input to make a couple of deletions and clarifications, and I'll let Dan wrap things up with an excerpt from his recent e-mail. "We forgive others even when they do not deserve our forgiveness. That is being Christ's presence in this world and prepares us for eternity."
Statistics:
Service Length: 1 hour 10 minutes
Sermon Length: 12 minutes
Visitor Treatment: There was a greeting time after the choir sang a prelude as well as the passing of the peace later in the service. Although there was mention of a visitor's form on the website or in back of the church, we didn't see it
Followup by Tuesday Morning: none
Our Rough Count: 386
Probable Ushers' Count: 420
Snacks: none
Musicians: choir of 9 women, 4 men (including choir director) with piano accompaniment. There was also a male cantor
Songs: Lord, Make me an Instrument of Thy Peace (choir)
Lift up your Hearts
Glory to God in the Highest
Alleluia (response)
Lord, when You Came/Pescador de Hombres
The Lord be with you (chant)
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts
Five-fold Amen (response)
Lamb of God
Be Still my Heart (choir)
We are Many Parts/Muchos Miembres
Miles to church: 10
Miles from start: 2,028
Total 2016 Miles: 3,983
Church website: http://stcatherine-austin.org/
Dan and Julie are, in fact, quite
active at Saint Catherine of Siena in Austin. They are sponsors in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), a program in the church that teaches
Catholic doctrine and practice to adults and brings them into the Body.
Post Script: Due to the nature of Dan's story, we ask Dan and Julie to look this over before we put it up. We used their input to make a couple of deletions and clarifications, and I'll let Dan wrap things up with an excerpt from his recent e-mail. "We forgive others even when they do not deserve our forgiveness. That is being Christ's presence in this world and prepares us for eternity." 
