Hierarchical History

Seeing the behavior of bishops as human in the course of history

08/27/2018

Matthew 23:13-22 Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.

One of the more discouraging aspects of this clergy abuse scandal is the in-fighting among bishops and now even embroiling the pope. Last week the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, published an open letter, titled “Testimony,” calling for all bishops who knew about the cover-up of abusers, and even the pope, to resign immediately. He wrote: “Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them.” It breaks my heart to see bishops fighting and arguing among themselves, but while it saddens me, it should not surprise me. Indeed, the first pope (Peter) was corrected by the most prominent bishop (Paul) in the early church in another public letter. We read in Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:11, “And when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.” A bishop corrected a pope! My point is not to politicize this scandal but rather to humanize it. In other words, the hierarchy is human, too, no matter how much we may wish they would rise above their humanity frailties in this case.

Let me hit a few highlights of the history of the hierarchy – actually they are probably better described as “low lights” because they are not very flattering – in order to put the present problem in proper perspective. I’ll just bring up four cases in which the behavior of bishops was far less than becoming. First was the failure of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus upbraids them mincing no words, saying the gospel today: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.” Why was Jesus so merciless toward them? Well, you have to understand that the Jewish leaders should have been the first to follow Jesus, indeed, they should have become his first bishops. That was the point of the preparation provided by the whole Old Testament: to prepare a people ready to welcome the Messiah, especially those who assiduously studied the Old Testament. That was the first failure of the hierarchy, those would-be bishops: crucifying Christ.

The second occurred in the 5th century with the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bishop Nestorius. He held a heresy asserting that Jesus’ human nature and divine nature were separate. Another prominent bishop stood up to Nestorius, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and I’m sure he published open letters, too, and “opposed Nestorius to his face” like Paul had done with Peter.

A third instance was the tragic tale of St. Joan of Arc in the 15th century. By the way, Mark Twain wrote a lovely little biography of the “Maid of Orleans,” Joan’s moniker. Joan was put on trial by the bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon, who ultimately found her guilty only of wearing men’s clothing in prison, and ordered her burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. It would not be until 1920 that Joan of Arc was canonized a saint.

A fourth and final instance occurred in the 17th century with Bishop Jansenius of Ypres, France. Jansenius proposed a strict view of predestination, that God only desires some to be saved.  Jansenism was vigorously opposed by the Jesuits, who were preaching on God’s mercy and insisted that God desired that all be saved. We still see Jesuits preaching about mercy, namely, Pope Francis.

Why am I sharing with you this brief biography of bishops? Well, because even a hurried glance at the history of the hierarchy reveals they are only too human. Even among bishops, the successors of the apostles, who were themselves successors of the Jewish leaders, we find plenty of personalities and politics, prejudices and proclivities that are not very befitting of a bishop. I say none of this to excuse their immoral behavior. But I do bring it up so you will not be so surprised by what’s happening today. And also so that your prayers for the Church may be pronounced with l little more peace.

Let me conclude with a very insightful little excerpt from Romano Guardini’s book The Lord, where he describes the Church made of up a very human hierarchy. The good monsignor writes: “When we speak of the Church we cannot ignore the fact of Christ’s rejection (by Jewish leaders), which never should have been. We cannot ignore the terrible means by which we came to salvation (his crucifixion); the consequences have penetrated deep into existence….Nevertheless, she is and remains the mystery of the new creation, Mother constantly bearing and rebearing heavenly life. Between Christ and herself flows the mystery of love. She is his Bride.” Then he concludes: “All this exists, and with them the flaws and abuses, the rigors. We have no choice but to accept the whole as it is. The Church is a mystery of faith and can be experienced only in love.” When you pray for the Church today undergoing all her trials and tribulations, keep that in mind.

Praised be Jesus Christ!