Last Sunday's Homily
By Fr. Tom St. Pierre

Fr. St. Pierre is Co-Pastor, with Fr. Gerry Twomey, of St. Anne's Parish, Brentwood, Long Island, NY.

In last Sunday's very touching Gospel story, a leper, with frayed clothing and muffled face, kneels down before Jesus in the dirt and says, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Then, it says, Jesus, "moved with pity…stretched out his hand, touched him and said, 'I do will it. Be made clean…'" (Mark 1:41) Jesus is so touched by the suffering of the leper that he touches him.

Our English translation says that Jesus was "moved with pity," but, in the original Greek, the real wording was much stronger: Jesus' bowels were stirred. Where we might say to somebody who's hurting, "My heart goes out to you," a Jew of that time would say, "My bowels go out to you." I know, it sounds kind of gross, but it shows us that real, strong feelings come from deep down inside us. Love, Anger, Hate… these come from deep inside. Sometimes, we'll even say, "Don't get your bowels in an uproar!" Well, at least I say that; I like it more than, "Don't have a cow, Man!"

That strong language is used over and over again in the Gospels, over and over again, Jesus' bowels are stirred by the suffering of the sick who come to him, by the widow whose only son died in her arms, the father of an epileptic boy, the leper kneeling before him.

And, when Jesus is touched by their suffering, he touches them. When the bowels of his compassion are stirred, he reaches out his healing hand to the dead little girl, Tabitha (Mark 5:41), to Peter's Mother-in-law (Mark 1:31), to the epileptic boy (Mark 9:27). Many more times, too, Jesus reaches out his healing, compassionate hand to touch those who are suffering. This past week, I read the Suffolk D.A.'s 180-page report on Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Church here on Long Island. 180 pages of horror! I knew that Christ's bowels were stirred by the suffering of those poor, little victims. I knew that he wanted to reach out his healing, compassionate hand to touch them.

My bowels were stirred, too…stirred with anger, betrayal, sadness, pity, disgust, and disbelief. I knew almost all of those abusers; I went to school with some of them; some of them taught me. I admired them; I laughed and joked around with some of them. And, then I read Newsday and said, "They did that…to kids!!" I'm horrified! I didn't know!

But, those who did know, the Bishops and Monsignors who did know, hushed it up, covered it up as fast as possible, and moved the abuser to another parish (sometimes with therapy…sometimes without). He was moved to a place with fresh victims. And, those who knew congratulated themselves on saving the diocese money and bad publicity. They were proud of themselves; they were giving each other high-fives in the Chancery halls.

The old Intervention Team was made up of three priests, two of whom were lawyers but tried to hide the fact that they were lawyers. They'd rush to speak to the victims and their families, discouraging them from calling the police, from calling a lawyer. They'd set up the cheapest possible therapy for the victims, and then play games with them…setting up meetings, then canceling them. Not returning phone calls or letters. Lies and deception…stringing the victims and their families along…until they would just fade away.

And, the abusers were moved around. When I left St. Anne's in 1988, I followed one into St. Pius in Plainview…Priest G; he was sent to St. Martin's in Amityville…another parish with a school. They were moved around until the Boston Globe started breaking the story of priestly sex abuse in January 2002…until all the publicity began…just around the time Bishop Murphy came into our diocese. And, he acted; he started removing the abusive priests.

I've been watching News12, listening to WLIE-AM talk radio, reading Newsday this past week, and people are angry; people are horrified; they're sad and disgusted, too.

What do we do? I don't know, but we've got to make sure this never happens again! I needed to get some input, so I went to the Voice of the Faithful meeting that Thursday in North Babylon High School. I was there with 800 other good, Catholic people who were just as angry and confused as I was. (Father Gerry and Deacon Terry were there, along with Terry's wife, Pat.) We began with the song: "Christ, be our Light!" The first speaker got up and asked the question I was asking myself: "What are we going to do?" She said we must "hold our bishops accountable" and "demand more openness." Then, somebody shouted, "Pray the Rosary!" Praying the rosary is nice; praying the rosary is important; but praying the rosary is not going to stop one kid from being abused.

The Voice of the Faithful is a centrist organization: it's not liberal or conservative. It tries to reach out to both. Its motto is: "Keep the Faith. Change the Church." Its goals are to (1) support those who have been abused, (2) support priests of integrity, (3) shape structural change within the Church. That last one scares some people, but, unless you make some real changes, how are you going to stop the abuse? VOTF wants a Church that is more open, transparent, accountable, and participatory. And, from my point of view, the only bright light in this whole sorry mess has been the Voice of the Faithful. That's the only sign of hope I see. You're invited to the next VOTF meeting on March 13th, when Father Gerry will be the speaker.

Gerry and I, your Co-Pastors, try to be as open, transparent and accountable as possible. In last week's bulletin, you found our accountant's revenue/expenditure report for the previous month. After the Suffolk D.A.'s report came out, Bishop Murphy responded, but you know the deck was stacked against him. People have become so jaded, so skeptical, that few were going to believe him, few were going to be satisfied…whatever he said. He did remove the abusive priests; he did set up a new intervention team that is…better…but not good enough.

Let me read you the comments of a good friend of mine, a mother whose 14-year-old son was approached by a priest, a dear family friend, in a sexual way. She had been given the run-around by the old Intervention Team; now she met with the new one:

"My husband and I, along with our son, met with the new Intervention Team. I'm sorry to say it was not a good experience. The team consists of Fr. Batule, Sr. Sean Foley (a social worker) and Police Commissioner Donald Keane. Well, the day we met, Sister never showed up at the meeting and Donald Keane was in and out of the room most of the time. So the meeting took place with Fr. Batule, who I found to be unsympathetic. He at times challenged my son about what he said happened and once again we experienced the same situation, where I felt Fr. Batule was looking out for the abuser and not my son. It was not the Intervention Team we met with that day, just Fr. Batule. Changes need to be made. So far what is being done is not working…."

Even though there is a new Intervention Team, they must be watched and evaluated. D.A. Spota said in his report that, without the light of publicity, of the Boston Globe, Newsday and so many others, reforms would not have been made. We know that's true.

Are you angry? Good! You should be. Anger is not good or bad; it's neutral. Anger is energy, and we're going to need that energy.

Hold us accountable. Hold Gerry and me accountable. Hold our Bishops accountable. Hold the bureaucrats in the Chancery accountable, because there's a whole bunch of people who work in that Chancery building in Rockville Centre who are just waiting for this story to get off the front page…so they can get back to business as usual.

In the name of all those who've been abused…
In the name of all the good priests who don't abuse…
In the name of all the kids and teens who'll want to be a part of the Church in the future
and must be kept safe…stay angry! Keep your bowels in an uproar!

Make sure this never happens again!
Make sure wenever get back to business as usual!
Make sure this never happens again!