Augustine had to deal with scandals in the North African Church and with bishops who refused to discipline evil clerics. Irish Catholics are suffering both from abusers and stony-hearted bishops.
But that grief which arises in the hearts of the pious, who are persecuted by the manners of bad or false Christians, is profitable to the sufferers, because it proceeds from the charity in which they do not wish them either to perish or hinder the salvation of others (The City of God 51)
God does not desire the death of sinners but that they be converted and live – even abusers and bishops. But God also does not want them to hinder the salvation of others, and that is what they are definitely doing in Ireland.
It was refreshing to hear the Holy Father say he shared “the outrage” of the Irish people over the abuses and cover-ups revealed by the Murphy Report. Let’s hope his actions will match the strong words.
God’s judgement begins with His own household. God seems to be shining a painfully bright and terrible ( but ultimately healing) light on the darkest corners of the Church. As scripture says “Be sure your sins will find you out” and “What you whisper in secret will be shouted from the housetops”.
Although I dread to think what else may surface in Ireland and elsewhere, I believe we’ll come out of this a better and more obviously Christ-centered Church.
Well said. Who knows how long it will take the church in Ireland to recover from this.