Over the past week you might have heard news stories about a study just released by The John Jay College of Criminal Justice regarding the clerical abuse crisis in this country. And over the past week, you have almost certainly heard news stories about Harold Camping and his Biblical predictions that the world was going to end yesterday at 6 pm.
Now these two news stories might appear to be absolutely without connection, but I would propose that they both have something to teach us about the Church – and it so happens, that’s precisely what all of our readings on this Fifth Sunday of Easter are all about.
The Greek word for the Church is “Ecclesia,” which means “the ones called-out” … and today’s second reading, from the First Letter of St. Peter reminds us that we are the “chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation … called out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
So our readings today are definitely speaking to us about “Ecclesia,” the Church – about those whom God has called together, out of the darkness of sin and death and into His light and life.
But what do the John Jay Report, and Harold Camping’s failed predictions have to say to us about the Church?
Well first, the negative: The John Jay Report. St. Peter who gives us our Second Reading, was the rock upon which Christ built His Church. But “we have grown accustomed to making a clear distinction between Peter the rock and Peter the denier of Christ … The denier of Christ: that is Peter as he was before Easter; the Rock: that is Peter as he was after Pentecost … But in reality, he was at the same time both of these: a firm foundation, and in the words of Peter in today’s second reading, “a stone that will make people stumble and a rock that will make them fall.”
Pope Benedict himself has noted that it has always been this way throughout the history of the Church “that the Pope, the successor of Peter, has been … both the rock of God and a stumbling-block.” By extension, we might say that because the Church is made of weak human beings like you and me, the Church itself can be, from time to time, a cause of contradiction and scandal. And certainly, the reports this week of the sad instances of sexual abuse committed by priests is a reminder of how even the Church can fail and become a stumbling block.
But there is also the positive. Throughout the Easter season, our first reading at Mass is taken from the Acts of the Apostles and the stories it contains of the earliest days of the Church. In today’s reading the Apostles realize that the community of believers has become so large that they need assistance in serving the people’s needs.
Knowing that their primary mission would always be to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to celebrate the Sacraments, the Apostles selected Stephen and six other men to serve as the first deacons. These deacons were responsible for assisting the Apostles in their ministry by caring for the physical needs of the community and serving the poor at table. They are instituted into their ministry, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, when the Apostles lay hands on them.
In our first reading we are therefore given a glimpse into two central characteristics of the Church: works of charity and apostolic succession. From its earliest days the Church has always understood that its mission to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely inseparable from works of charity that serve others in love – and especially those who are most neglected and in need. Even to this day, the Catholic Church is the largest provider of education and health care services around the world, serving more people than the Red Cross or the United Nations! There are millions of people around the world who desperately need the Church to survive each day.
The first reading also shows us that the Church is marked by historical continuity – an unbroken succession – that comes down from the Apostles, who where themselves chosen by Christ, all the way down to today’s bishops, priests, and deacons. The mission of teaching and sanctifying the Church, and of preserving the authenticity of the faith has been passed down through the laying on of hands: the ancient sign still used to this day for ordination.
Quite frankly, this week Harold Camping has helped to show us what can happen when this line of succession is broken – when people separate themselves from the authentic faith of the Apostles as preserved by the teaching of their successors, the bishops. Christ has given us, and we need, the Church to ensure that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is authentically taught and preached, to ensure that we are not deceived by false teachings and splintered into factions, and to ensure that we have the nourishment of the Sacraments to sustain us.
These two news stories, and our readings today, remind us that the Church has never been, is not, and never will be perfect. But they also show us that Christ gave us the Church as a gift, and that we need the Church in order to know Him, and to serve Him, and to live with Him forever.
How can we deal with this seeming contradiction? Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled – you have faith in God, have faith also in me.” Let us have faith in Christ who has given us the Church as a means of our salvation – and in the words of St. Peter, let us be like living stones “built into a spiritual house.” Let us pursue holiness for our lives, and allow ourselves to be built up into the Church, the dwelling place of God in the Spirit – that we might offer up the “spiritual sacrifices” of our lives, and that others might see in us – in the Church – Jesus, who is “the way, the truth, and the life.”
(Given at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Staten Island, NY)
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