Once Bitten, Twice Shy

"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." -- 1 Peter 3:9

If this weren't so incredibly awful, it would be almost comical.

In fact, when I first read this:

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-23202937.apds.m0224.bc-ct--priemay23,0,6069504.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire

I almost had to laugh. Because I feel like I'm in a movie. Or a romance novel. Or some other form of non-real life.

This really can't be happening.

Oh, but it is.

Fr. Mike -- the parochial vicar of St. John's, the only other full-time priest at my parish -- and Beth, the secretary/bookkeeper, hired the private investigator who uncovered the fact that Fr. Jude has been stealing from parishoners and having a sexual relationship with another man.

Yup. That's the latest from my scandal-ravaged town.

I don't know the whole story, but I have to believe, knowing Fr. Mike, that he felt like this was the only way out of this situation, which must have been incredibly difficult for him. The politics of the Catholic Church mean that a priest new to a parish cannot question the 15-year veteran pastor. Not when money is disappearing. Not when men are spending the night in the rectory. It just isn't done. They talk about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military ... it's probably worse in the Catholic Church.

I don't doubt that Fr. Mike felt like he would get nowhere going to the Bishop and the diocese with his concerns. I don't doubt that if he did go to them, the Bishop and the diocese stonewalled him, told him not to make trouble and sent him back to what he described as "four years of living hell." So, I'm sure in his own mind, this was the only solution to an incredibly difficult and taboo problem.

So, Fr. Mike resigned as acting head of St. John's -- from what the article says, he'll remain a priest in residence there.

I hope that's true. I think Fr. Mike is one of the good guys. I think he was in an incredibly difficult situation. I don't necessarily agree with how he handled this last week. When this all came out, he should have come clean then and there about being the one to hire the investigator. He shouldn't have accepted the responsibility of acting administrator of the parish. He shouldn't have let a week go by -- a week where people and parishoners who were shaken and upset by the developments about Fr. Jude turned to him for comfort and reassurance. That kind of makes him a hypocrite too.

But I've always liked Fr. Mike. Ironically, I mailed him a card this morning to let him know I was praying for him during this difficult time and that I found some solace in the knowledge that he was in charge of the parish.

I've got to stop sending people notes.

The day the news broke about Fr. Jude, I had just sent him a note telling him about my new job and thanking him for helping me in that process.

I don't think I'm SO naive -- I don't think I should have to question everyone who has ever been important to me and my life.

But who knows ... after this week, nothing will surprise me anymore.

Maybe it's not fair that we hold priests -- human beings too -- to a higher standard. Maybe elevating humans to some level of divinity is only setting ourselves up to be disappointed.

This has certainly been a week of disappointments. Keep praying, guys.

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." -- Romans 4:7-8