by Bro. Gregory-David Jones, O.S.B.

     It is all over the newspapers, on television and the internet – the terrible crimes committed against children by members of the Catholic clergy.  The terrible offence of  pedophilia has been present in practically every profession imaginable victimizing the most vulnerable of our population.  When it comes to this being exposed in the Church, there really is no standard by which we can react.  This is especially true when it has been proven that in the past some of the highest ranking members of the clergy in the United States have tried to cover-up many of these crimes or simply transferred priests to other areas where they victimized more children.  The public has become justifiably outraged about the grave scandal and the media reaction is one that is expected (but for the most part, the coverage has been fair and well balanced).  During these trying times the most important factor is the reaction within the Church – the Church’s survival depends on it.

     At this point the bishops with their public apologies, new policies and litigation with victims is the beginnings of this process, but what should the laity do?  Among the laity, the idea seems to be developing that it is appropriate to reduce, completely withhold or divert money usually offered during the Sunday collections at Mass.  After all, as the argument goes, “Why should my money be going to pay off the cover-ups of the unspeakable of clergy members?”  At first glance this attitude may seem to be a justifiable reaction.  If this were a secular institution, investors would completely try to rid themselves of their stockholdings in an institution that is receiving such bad publicity.  Even a charitable organization should be expecting a down-turn in donations if it was revealed that a large amount of their funding was being used to pay off lawsuits.  But can this comparison be made with the Church?  Not really!  Parish donations, for the most part are used directly for the benefit of the parish as an institution (e.g. for service programs, education, maintenance of the building, etc.).  Only a small percentage of collection funds actually is transferred to the Archdiocese, which in most cases handles the litigation that involves local clergy.  By holding back funds, a person is only hurting his or her own parish rather than any other institution within the diocese.
 
 

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