The Turbulent and the Quiet

The secular media had been focusing on the numerous scandals that had been haunting the church in the past years, and that had brought to fore the fact that much of what had been happening in our Churches had been carpeted, in order to safeguard the good name and popularity that the errant clergy had been enjoying.

We cannot deny that Church is a human organization, which is guided by the Spirit, and it would be wrong to imagine that the Holy Spirit is the prerogative of only the Church and not any other human organization. The Spirit does speak to us, or let us say whispers to us, through the events which make up our days. The moot question is: Are we listening to the Spirit, or are we just listening to our own troubled and disturbed (and therefore prejudiced) selves?

Often we come across cases where the laity had sat on seats of judgement to accuse prists involved with public scandals; there are also cases where these incidents have been taken up by local courts, and justice is being provided to the victims. It would be wrong to think or imagine that the whole of the Church is in dolladrums, that nothing good is happening in the Church today, that every priest we come across is but a phidophile, that the Spiritual nature of the Church is taking back seat due to these scandals in the past years.

What we see and hear these months or years is the turbulent waves which show human folly at its peak, but that is not the entire story. We are so much taken up by the 'bad news' projected by every secular and even Catholic media. For every priest involved with scandals, I can guarantee there are over fifty priests who have been faithful to their commitments. My estimate of this ratio may be questionable, but no one can deny the fact that we come across priests who present to us the compassionate face of God the Father. I believe it is because of these priests and religious, whose silent works of mercy and charity, that the Church is able to be of relevance in our troubled times.

Perhaps the best comparison that I can think of for the state of affairs in the Church today is the ocean; what we see is the turbulent waves, the dirt and the murk that they bring to the shore. We do not see or feel the absolute calmness as we go deeper. If one wants to know what is happening in the Church, one needs to go to the far flung villages, where technology or development have not reached, to encounter priests and nuns living frugal lives, standing by the people of God, sharing the lot of the people, be it rain or shine.

Most of us have come across at least some priests or nuns who reflected to us God's abounding mercy and love. I remember one of the Jesuit priests, Father Augustine Cordeiro in the eighties; anyone who looked at him could feel that here is a man of God; his calm and serene demenour was enough to feel the aura of sanctity and holiness. Many of these men and women were providing to the Church, the much needed spiritual strength and support to withstand the mischiefs of some others. They were atoning for the sins of a handful of men and women who were tarnishing the image of the Church.

But how do we look at these problems and issues, shaking the very roots of the Church as an institution? We cannot deny that there is something amiss in the state of things with the clergy and the religious, but it would be wrong to conclude that this is a problem which is fruit of our own times. Perhaps these scandals have not popped up all of a sudden.