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R e v i e w
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This Rock
Volume 15, Number 10
 December 2004 
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A Return to Fidelity
When I picked up The Courage to Be Catholic, I was hardly prepared to be emotionally plunged anew into the reality of the priest crisis that unfolded in 2002.
In chapter one, George Weigel begins a relentless accounting of newspaper press reports revealing the ugly head of a terrible truth. January 6, 2002: The Boston Globe reveals the alleged sexual abuse of over 130 young boys by former priest John Geoghan. January 29: We learn that the diocese of Tucson settled eleven civil lawsuits alleging sexual crimes perpetrated by four priests against sixteen plaintiffs. January 31: The Boston Globe reports more disturbing news from the archdiocese of Boston regarding "at least seventy priests" over the course of fifty years. Such stories continue to break—February 2, 15, March 3, 4, 6, 8, 17, 24, 26. . . . The pace quickens; the stories intensify. In April, there are sixteen new accounts, and more in May. Each story evokes intense feelings of repulsion, anger, embarrassment, sadness, and fear, feelings experienced before and quickly repressed. But they’re renewed, stronger than ever, and I’m reeling. Mercifully, although the press stories continue, Weigel stops. His point is made, lest we had dared to deny it. The Church is in crisis.
How did we get so deeply mired in such an unbecoming scandal? Who left the bride unattended, so the wicked could have their way with her? Or worse, why did those in charge of her purity look the other way, or did they not even know that purity is a virtue?
Up front, Weigel tells us what did not cause the crisis. It is not caused by celibacy, an authoritarian Church, a failure to implement Vatican II, a pedophilia crisis, a media-created crisis, or a failure of Catholic moral ethic. One by one he exposes those who advance these ideas. Then, in a way so intelligent, clear, and unbiased, Weigel summarizes the crisis as a crisis of fidelity. This crisis has played out further as a crisis of identity, leadership, and discipleship.
Weigel reminds us of past crises in the almost two-thousand-year history of the Church. It is a recurring story of fidelity, betrayal, and reform. The reform never involved watering down the faith but a return to fidelity. But ascertaining exactly what fidelity is takes education, especially for those in the Church who themselves have been betrayed through starvation, with little or no spiritual food and often poison.
Priests forgot (or never understood) that they are altus Christus (other Christs). Is this any wonder, when a young priest, now pastor, claims that he was never asked what he believed about anything in the six years of his seminary formation? And when a prominent bishop refers to priests as "independent contractors" in a legal deposition, or when John Geoghan’s spiritual assessment never probed his belief in God, his acceptance of the creeds, the Church’s teaching in regard to sexual matters, or even his thoughts about his own salvation, a loss of identity and a vagueness about fidelity is a logical outcome.
Bishops forgot (or never quite understood) their role as leaders and shepherds. Yet Weigel states of them, "No one should underestimate the gravity of the bishop’s task or the weight of the trust he assumes. He is responsible before God for the souls of those committed to his care, as well as his own soul. Indeed, his own salvation is intimately tied up with the salvation of his people. That is why bishops are given a ring at their ordination. The episcopal ring is not a medieval hangover suggesting a liege lord; the episcopal ring is a wedding ring, a sign of the bishop’s marriage to his people, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, even to the risk of his life" (94).
Religious and laity alike forgot (or never quite understood) the call to holiness. Yet Weigel reminds us that "the call to holiness must be lived more intensely by every member of the Church, in whatever state of life. Everyone. The crisis of 2002 is, in this respect, like every other crisis in the Church’s history. It is a crisis caused by an insufficiency of saints" (230).
Weigel lays out a plan for reform at all levels, implementing the "Iron Law" of a return to fidelity. "Christian communities that maintain their doctrinal identity and moral boundaries flourish in the modern world; Christian communities that fudge doctrine and morals decay." The dissenters of the post-Vatican II era are singing their swan song. They have been unable to recruit new blood, and they have entered their twilight years. The fruit of their labor made headlines in 2002.
Weigel is hopeful, as we too should be. The Church has been scourged and nailed to the cross, yet her glory will come. But we all must teach and live Catholic truths in their fullness, in season and out, with courage and enthusiasm, and demand that our shepherds do the same.
—Jan Wakelin
The Courage to Be Catholic
By George Weigel
Basic Books
260 pages
$14.00
ISBN: 0465092616
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