Imagine the scene at Sunday Mass. A child cries out “Mommy, there is an elephant in church!” And people are talking about this elephant. In today’s church, there are certainly many people talking about the elephant of clerical sexual abuse and coverup. But are we all talking about the same thing?
6 Blind Men “See” an Elephant
There is an ancient story that might help us see.
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.” They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.”All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.
“Hey, the elephant is a pillar,” said the first man who touched his leg.
“Oh, no! it is like a rope,” said the second man who touched the tail.
“Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree,” said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
“It is like a big hand fan” said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
“It is like a huge wall,” said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.
“It is like a solid pipe,” Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.They began to argue about the elephant and each insisted that he was right. A wise man was passing by asked them, “What is the matter?” With great certitude, each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like.
The wise man calmly explained to them, “All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually, the elephant has all those features what you all said.”
The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have different experiences. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, maybe we should say, “Maybe you have your reasons.” and try to understand what I have missed. I suspect it would give us a fuller picture.
The scandals of clergy sexual abuse and justice
It seems to me we must talk about the many scandals of clergy sexual abuse.
- There is the horror of what happened to the victims and how it affects the rest life of their life.
- There is the scandal of those who should have known or actually may have known and done little or nothing. Bystander guilt takes many forms.
- There is the scandal of judging every priest or bishop guilty by association. The majority of priests or bishops are just as horrified, if not more so than others.
There are many questions related to justice. The traditional questions are
- What laws have been broken?
- Who did it?
- What do the offender(s) deserve?
But justice also asks questions about
- Who has been hurt? The obvious and not so obvious victims.
- What are their needs?
- Whose obligations are these?
- What are the causes?
- Who has a stake in the situation?
- What is the appropriate process to involve stakeholders in an effort to address causes and put things right?
The Question of Focus
It is clear to me from what I have experienced and read so far that each of us has different experiences of the elephant in church. That experience seems to focus light on one or other of the questions.
As I have written elsewhere I have walked with victims and abusers, guilty bystanders and those whose only guilt is by association. At this point, my main question is “What would Jesus Do”?
He responded in a variety of ways to hypocrisy and other sins – overthrowing tables, writing in the sand, forgiving criminals on the cross, asking questions about who went away from the temple justified, waking with and eating with sinners, cursing the barren fig tree, figuratively hanging millstones around necks, etc. In more than one situation he rebuked his angry apostles even when they drew the sword to defend him. He challenged all to think not as humans do but as God does.
As the wise man implied he had his reasons for each situation. His message was that God loves each and every one of us sinners… even as he challenges and invites us to grow.
What Is Your Focus?
What part of the problem have I experienced most directly?
Have I listened to those who have experienced other aspects of the problem?
When I pray about this am I telling God what to do or listening for God to speak?
Hi Fr. Freund,
I love your analogy of the “elephant in church”. Your points are so well taken that I’m examining my conscience. Your article causes me to reflect on my responsibility for any sins of omission. Thus,I cannot afford to smugly rest on my laurels because I worked with troubled teen-agers for a quarter of a century without receiving any blemish on my personnel record.
Awful things have happened to innocent people and you have driven home how each one of us is either part of the solution or part of the problem. So,even as an octogenarian I’m asking God to help me get off the sidelines. Thanks,John!
Ed Ambrose,St. Joe’s,AA,1957
The statement from the national review board found in USCCB.org needs to be widely shared!!
I am a Counselor and Case Manager at Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Allentown. I studied at both St. Joe’s and Niagara, and, although I left the seminary both times, I still hold true to Catholic and Vincentian values. I have spent the past two weeks counseling a variety of Catholics with varying reactions to the events of the past several weeks as well as the decades of behaviors and actions brought to light by the PA Grand Jury Report as well as, sadly, much more recent events in my Diocese. Father Freund’s article above captures the extensive nature of all of this and does the best job I’ve seen to date of fully identifying the complexities of the crisis in which we find ourselves at this moment in history. I thank Father Freund for his insight, and will share this with others. These are difficult times for all of us on varying levels, and I believe that the dialog must continue and that we must remain steadfast in our Faith and what truly define us as Catholics. Peace to all who read this.