What Are Catholics to Do When Our Clergy Let Us Down? – Part 3

What are Catholics to do about pastors who are leading the faithful on the wrong path and putting souls in danger?

Poorly performing or outright disastrous priests and bishops have shown themselves to be cowards by their silence and passivity.  Even worse, some have revealed themselves as wolves in shepherd’s clothing through their vigorous deception of their flocks.

Parts 1 and 2 of “What Are Catholics to Do When Our Clergy Let Us Down?” looked at those men of the cloth who are ineffectual, shameful, or categorically evil. This final Part 3 offers advice and hope for the Catholics in the pews who want to know what can be done about the shepherds who are failing us.

What Scripture Says

Of the dozen men our Lord Himself selected to be His first bishops, one straight up betrayed him for money, and one three times denied knowing Him.  A third wouldn’t  believe that Christ rose from the dead unless he could stick his fingers in Jesus’s wounds. And only one, John, was brave enough, honorable enough, and faithful enough to stand at the foot of the cross alongside Christ’s mother.

Jesus warned against pastors and shepherds who purposely lead others to sin:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but underneath  are ravenous wolves” (Mathew 7:15).
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Mathew 18:6).

To go along with our Lord’s words, Scripture relates the incident of Paul opposing Peter (Galatians 2:11-14). We learn that one can indeed “to his face” oppose errors coming from a shepherd while still respecting his office.

What Two Doctors of the Church Say

Regarding this incident, Saint Augustine commented:

“By teaching that superiors should not refuse to be reprehended by inferiors, St. Peter gave posterity a rarer and holier example than that of St. Paul as he taught that, in the defense of truth and with charity, inferiors may have the audacity to resist superiors without fear.”

In his “Comments on the Sentences of Peter Lombard” the great Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that correcting a bishop or even a higher ranking member of the clergy who sins is actually a work of mercy:

“Some say that fraternal correction does not extend to the Prelates either because a man should not raise his voice against heaven, or because the Prelates are easily scandalized if corrected by their subjects. However, this does not happen, since when they sin, the Prelates do not represent heaven and, therefore, must be corrected. And those who correct them charitably do not raise their voices against them, but in their favor, since the admonishment is for their own sake. … For this reason, … the precept of fraternal correction extends also to the Prelates, so that they may be corrected by their subjects.”

When the Church’s hierarchical leader on Earth and some of the bishops directly underneath him are doing poor jobs, a Catholic lay person’s sentiment should not be to leave the faith. Instead, one should admonish the sinner and engage in prayer for these erroneous men of the cloth and for the purification of the Church. While the Catholic Church is immaculate, the individual leaders in the Church are not. But this in no way changes the flawlessness of the Church that Jesus founded.

Trust in the Lord

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings . . .  Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5-7).

Granted, it can be frustrating to endure poor Church leadership.  It is similarly frustrating  to suffer with cowardly and/or wolf-like priests and bishops in our own diocese or parish.  Too many priests are making Mass an entertainment and about themselves.  Here are just three recent examples:

• Priest rides a scooter down the aisle;
• Priest celebrates Mass wearing a football jersey;
• Priest gives his homily wearing a dog mask;

Such frustration causes defeated Catholics decide to leave the Church. But we must stick it out.

If we choose to leave the Church we are only putting our salvation in jeopardy. During the time of Noah, no one was saved who stayed outside the ark. Similarly, we put ourselves in peril if we think we can remain outside the religion Jesus started.  Simply being “spiritual” without ever attending Mass again or with no longer receiving Sacraments is not a good path.

The Church is Christ’s bride. We must have faith that He will save His bride. When a great storm arose on the sea (Mathew 8:23-27) and their boat was being swamped by the waves, the disciples were concerned and frightened. So they woke Jesus, shouting, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” Christ’s calm reply before rebuking the winds and calming the waters was, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”

Our Jobs

In a similar vein, it is not our job to save the Church being swamped by the waves of heresy and hypocrisy that are threatening to sink her. Our job is to both charitably call out inferior shepherds who silently cower or actively preach error and to pray.

Our first prayer should be of thanksgiving for God gifting us with the many good priests and bishops who shepherd us. The next prayers can be various prayers of petition, such as for:

• For the repentance and conversion of failing clergy;
• Asking for wisdom and prudence for our clerics so that they “stay in their lane,” focusing on saving souls and bringing people to Jesus instead of on saving whales and bringing in aliens illegally;
• Asking for humility and temperance for our parish priests when they say Mass so that they perform the sacrifice of the Mass in the one, high priesthood of Jesus Christ.

The bad news is we have both cowardly and wolf-like clergy who have led some Catholics into confusion and error. The good news is many Catholics recognize this faulty shepherding.  And it has inspired them to dig deeper into tradition and doctrine.

So while ineffectual or errant clerics have made a mess with their tainted leadership, at least it has produced a positive effect of awakening lay Catholics. This can only lead to a more faithful Church in the long run.

Some Encouragement

It is encouraging that there are recent reports that the era of politically liberal and theologically progressive priests is coming to an end. The younger cohort of more recently ordained men are more likely to be politically conservative, theologically orthodox.  They seem eager to transform their parishes back to honoring traditions and properly following doctrine.

In addition, it appears our most traditional dioceses are producing the most future priests.

May God continue to reveal the poorly performing clerics and inspire them to repent and convert. Pray that these erring men raise themselves up to the dignity Christ intended by being true shepherds with the courage to lead and save souls.

Part 1 in this series is here; Part 2 is here.