A Wall Street Journal column described Catholic priesthood as a heroic vocation. Other heroes have emerged whose vocation is to work for the good of the priesthood.
I recently received a letter from a 25-year-old reader in Washington, D.C. who wrote that since discovering These Stone Walls he has been reading intensely. “At times,” he wrote, “it has brought me to tears.” This was followed by the unexpected and ironic statement: “It makes me want to be a priest.”
The writer went on to describe his decision to continue reading past and future posts, and to explore more deeply his growing awareness of a summons toward a priestly vocation. The irony was that on the same day I received his letter, we posted “Saint Maximilian Kolbe and the Gift of Noble Defiance.”
The latter half of that post was about a priest of my diocese, the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, who was accused, tried, imprisoned, laicized without due process, and abandoned by our bishop and successors. He is now dying of cancer out of sight and out of mind of our bishop and brother priests.
I hope you will read that post if you missed it, but I found myself wishing that the letter writer would not read it. I do not want to discourage him, but if what he has read thus far on These Stone Walls has not already done that, then I should not underestimate his own heroic witness.
This was not the first time that I have received mail from readers who felt called to priesthood and found that reading TSW pushed them closer to a response. And the response has never once been to flee in the opposite direction.
What could possibly be found in the writings of a falsely accused and wrongly imprisoned priest that would spark life into a dormant priestly vocation? I know priests my age and older who say that they would not foster a young man’s inclination toward priesthood given all that has happened over the last two decades. They assume that I must share that sentiment. I do not.
In “Thoughts Upon My 35th Anniversary of Priesthood Ordination” recently, I wrote of what I imagined my sister to be thinking as I lay prostrate on the floor during the Litany of the Saints at my 1982 ordination:
“I could only imagine her thoughts then: ‘Get up, you fool! Flee!’ Years later, my sister confirmed for me what I had suspected. I asked her if she recalls that moment. Her response: ‘I was thinking that they took my brother from me, and now look at what they’ve done to him!’ But such thoughts could not have swayed me then. They do not even sway me now.”
ORDINARY HEROES MAKE EXTRAORDINARY PRIESTS
I find much hope in young men like Michael, the author of the recent letter I received. There is hope for the priesthood in the strength of the Holy Spirit’s divine summons when men like Michael can look at where priesthood has taken me, and yet find in These Stone Walls something that fosters their own vocation. Not a lot makes me happy these days, but that does.
I found another sign of hope that same week when I opened a copy of The Wall Street Journal after it arrived in the mail. This is by far America’s finest newspaper. It’s pricey for a prisoner, but friends chipped in for a subscription. I never find in its pages even a hint of the contempt for the Church and priesthood that has become daily fare in The New York Times, USA Today, and, sadly, even the National Catholic Reporter.
But even my high regard for the Journal did not prepare me for the counter-cultural shock of this headline on its Editorial Page on August 11, 2017: “The Priesthood Is a Heroic Vocation” by Matthew Hennessey, an associate editorial features editor at the Journal. Here is an excerpt:
“Catholics around the world will celebrate the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe on Monday. [August 14]. His story is one of the Church’s finest, though too few people – Christian or not – have heard it… One thing hasn’t changed. Young men still want lives of heroic virtue and the priesthood offers that in abundance.”
It came for me as a sign of much hope. At a time when most of the secular news media views the Catholic priesthood as little more than a source of lurid headlines, The Wall Street Journal published this outstanding tribute, not only to a Patron Saint of both priests and prisoners but to priesthood itself. It is remarkable to read this in the nation’s largest newspaper.
Matthew Hennessey did not overlook the priesthood’s recent darker days. His op-ed pointed out that vocations to the priesthood have suffered at a time when “the sexual abuse scandal dealt a considerable blow to the priesthood’s once-sterling reputation.” With help, I was able to post a comment on the column at WSJ.com. It was comment number 100, posted amid some virulent anti-Catholic rhetoric.
But the wound on the priesthood’s reputation has only deepened through the one remedy – amputation – employed by the Church’s leaders in their time of crisis. Amputation of the accused has not appeased lawyers and insurers, but it has only deepened the wounds. Its legacy is a legion of stories like that of the priest whose plight I described in “Saint Maximilian Kolbe and the Gift of Noble Defiance”:
“I was with him early in the morning as he left prison a few days ago, and went home to his sister to die. I like to think that [Pornchai Moontri and I] managed to fill in some of the cold abyss in which our Church let him wander alone in exile these twenty years. I cannot imagine, even in my most vengeful thoughts, that such alienation and abandonment are what Christ summons forth from the Apostolic witness of His Church.”
I was very proud of the readers of These Stone Walls for their responses to that post. Readers focused – as Saint Maximilian would; as Christ would – not just on the wounds of the innocent, but on the spiritual wounds of one whose sin had caused him to be cast out, alienated, ostracized as a leper.
With no path to redemption, the Prodigal Son stands at a door bolted from within. Readers rejoiced with me over one simple sentence in that post as we stood waiting to enter the prison chapel for Mass after his 16-year absence: “He was reconciled, and we sat with him.”
OPUS BONO SACERDOTII
Our readers should then rejoice all the more at the presence of some real heroism and spiritual leadership in our Church. It emerged at a time of crisis in the priesthood, not from the chancery offices, but from the pews. It is described on the “History” page at the website of Opus Bono Sacerdotii.
“In April 2002, when the Detroit police arrested one of his parish priests on rape charges, Joe Maher did not think twice. Along with his business partner, Pete Ferrara, he drove out to the county jail and paid the bail…”
I wonder how many people, having read that far, would form a spontaneous judgment. It’s easy to do so. It is human nature and the printed word lends itself to that. But accusations are not evidence, and the Church must stop treating them as such.
When he involved himself in the case in Detroit, Joe Maher and his business partner and others obtained competent legal counsel for the priest, assuring an adequate defense. Truth prevailed and the priest was acquitted of the false charges.
After this, recognizing the absence of advocacy for the rights of priests in 2002, Joe Maher and Pete Ferrera founded Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a non-profit corporation whose mission is:
“To find solutions to the problems confronting priests in accordance with the authentic teachings of the Church and the Holy Father and his predecessors. In fulfilling our mission, the priests and staff of Opus Bono Sacerdotii facilitate care for Catholic priests who are experiencing difficulties in their personal life and priestly ministry.”
Opus Bono did not exist before my trial and imprisonment. I do not write that in a spirit of dismay, but rather of urgency for the Church and priesthood going forward.
At the time of my arrest and trial in 1994 – for false charges that were then almost a dozen years old – my bishop and diocese sought only my immediate amputation They embraced in a panic the advice of lawyers who assisted them in drafting a pretrial statement that condemned me as guilty before a trial even began.
With no other evidence in the case, there was little left for a jury to do. I was condemned after just ninety minutes of jury deliberation. Had an organization like Opus Bono existed then, such knee-jerk reaction might have been prevented. This travesty of justice must not be allowed to happen to other priests.
That has been my primary purpose in writing. But I can tell you that since then, this voice in the wilderness called These Stone Walls could not exist without the moral and spiritual support of Opus Bono Sacerdotii. And as my efforts at appeal grew, Opus Bono assisted financially with a fundraising effort.
WHEN THE CHURCH DEFAMES HER PRIESTS
Seven years elapsed between the time Opus Bono came into being and the time in which we launched These Stone Walls. In the interim, I was contacted by individuals, organizations, and even media outlets offering to take up my cause, but with an implied expectation that I would in turn cast the Church, the bishops, and the priesthood in the worst possible light.
Even representatives of the legal profession came to me in 2002 with a suggestion that all might go better for me if I would join other accused priests in throwing priests and bishops into the fires of a witch hunt. Whether true or not never seemed to matter to some of the serpents ready to take my side.
In all that time, I was aware of and inspired by the faithful witness of Joe Maher, Pete Ferrara, and Opus Bono Sacerdotii. But the strongest influence Opus Bono has had on me and on These Stone Walls is the powerful witness of fidelity to the Church while working for the good of the priesthood. Their work very much shaped the tone and substance of These Stone Walls.
The loyalty and fidelity of the founders and staff of Opus Bono are at the heart of its mandate to support, enlighten, and even challenge our Church in regard to the problems of the priesthood in recent decades. To its great credit, Opus Bono does not confuse fidelity with blind compliance.
As a result, Opus Bono has been the source of some sharp – but ever faithful – witness in the public square. Some of that witness comes as a challenge to bishops, priests, and laity to live up to the spirit and truth of the Gospel. I am very proud of Opus Bono for this.
The most recent example of challenge with unwavering fidelity came in the form of an important article. “When the Church Defames Her Priests” was written and recently published in Homiletic & Pastoral Review by Opus Bono founder and president, Joe Maher, and David A. Shaneyfelt, an attorney in private practice in California and an Opus Bono adviser.
The article addresses a destructive and ill-advised practice adopted by some two dozen dioceses and archdioceses in the United States to create and publish lists of priests who have been merely accused. The Opus Bono authors wrote:
“We take special issue with those dioceses who think that publishing a list of names of clerics who have been ‘credibly’ accused of sexual misconduct is warranted. We disagree for many reasons – canonical, theological, pastoral, and legal. It is this latter reason we wish to address here.”
The article goes on to present a brilliant, even stunning and chilling, explanation of what “credible” means in this context. Joe Maher and David Shaneyfelt present a clear and compelling case for protecting the due process rights of priests who are merely accused. After reading, I could not help but agree with its urgency. The article captured the flagrant injustice here:
“How ironic that a bishop, who aims to demonstrate his concern for one victim of abuse, will thereby create another victim of abuse – and end up paying large amounts of damages to each in the process. How doubly ironic that a bishop who initiates such a policy may someday find himself on the list.”
With this practice, some bishops have created their own private version of “Megan’s Law,” but without the law’s built-in respect for basic civil rights. In American courts, only those convicted in a court of law can end up on such a published list.
But some two dozen U.S. bishops and dioceses have published these lists with no legal entity requiring them, and little recourse on the part of the priests, many of whom are innocent, who have been victimized by them. These published lists replace justice with capitulation to a lynch mob and a scandal-hungry media.
I urge the readers of These Stone Walls to support Opus Bono Sacerdotii, to subscribe to its content, and especially to read and share “When the Church Defames Her Priests.” I have been one of them.
I have also been an eyewitness to the fidelity and courage by which Opus Bono, in its work for the good of the priesthood, has held a mirror of justice before the face of our Church.
Alan Catelli says
It has been a while since I’ve read, or posted some comments. I tried to send a book via amazon (limbo system, robert cook) I don’t know if it arrived.
In reading this several things occurred to me. First men, especially men of the west, want to live for something. I was told by a Monastic priest years ago that in the ‘old days’ (say 1960’s or earlier) they monastery was advertised as ‘3 hot and a cot’ or maybe it was 2. But the point was you were taken care off “now (about 1990) it is ‘This is tough young man you have to really want it'” as the advert for joining a monastery. Total different approach. Because men are looking for something to LIVE for, and to live, it must be hard. We must ‘step into the arena’ to quote Teddy Roosevelt.
Thus your trials, do not scare men off, but only enlighten them to the possibility of being so tried. Like the Christians in Acts of the Apostles who rejoiced in being beaten for the sake of being Christian.
Second, because the accusations of the priests was left to stand, they now go after young college men. If your other correspondents look, they can provide many cases where young men are accused of rape by college women and have their lives destroyed. For some it comes out later that the accusations were false – headline cases are the Duke lacross team of about a decade back, and a Rolling Stone article about University of Virginia fraternity about 4 years ago. but there are others less well covered that end up with young men whose futures are less bight. While these young men don’t end up in jail, they often end up removed from school. The similarity is the lack of honesty on the part of accusers, and the willingness of the bystanders to side with the accuser, in absence of the traditions of justice that we have as a country – that is a presumption of innocence and a requirement to present evidence.
Which leads up to my third thought – that this is a vast spiritual battle. To destroy our ability to trust one another, to trust our fathers (both natural and spiritual), and to trust God. In a way, the priest is no longer the ‘great men’ that they were in the middle ages. The voice that would command authority. But they are still very important. To go where my brain went with this one, is a view of militaries. The Priest in this spiritual battles are critical. I’m not sure if they are a commando, or an officer, or given that armies run on supplies – the supply officer. Or communications specialists. But they are key to the spiritual battle, so destroying them is a goal of the Screwtapes. Destroying by any means possible. But once they are damaged as a group, there is an attack on other members by destroying the trust between members.
Sorry this thought isn’t fully developed from the last, and I’m not rambling.
God be with you and those with you.
Tim says
What has happened to the Catholic Church – her teachings, sacraments, reputation, and her priesthood in particular – is like some sort of preternatural nightmare. I hope and wait for things to improve, for a divine intervention, but it gets only worse. It’s hard not to turn to an end times mentality, considering what has been prophesied about a great apostasy.
Father, perhaps you have been chosen to be a victim-soul for the priesthood. Yes, Christ alone is our Atonement and Redemption, but – as I’m sure you’ve preached and written many times – He does allow certain members of His Church to uniquely and extraordinarily share in that suffering as a vocation. Perhaps you should offer your sufferings specifically for the rescue of the priesthood in the modern Church. Probably you already do.
Dee Susan says
Father Gordon,
God bless you. I pray that He will strengthen and protect you every day until the time that you are released.
I can understand why young men would be inspired by your story. Your decision to obey the eighth commandment and damn the consequences, is the most inspiring lesson I have ever seen.. (besides Jesus’ passion of course) Remember that saying, “actions speak louder than words’ ? You have proved it is true.
Peter haas says
WOW! Fr. MacRae – your faith strengthens me! I continue to pray for you and for the priesthood. I pray there will be more vocations like Michael’s. I will also begin to pray for and support Opus Bono Sacerdotii.
Peter H.
Jane says
I’ve been reading a biography of St. Jean Marie Vianney, the Cure of Ars, so he’s very much on my mind and heart now. I pray that he be with you, Father Gordon, and with all of our precious priests, especially those wrongfully accused. He, also,was wrongfully accused at times in his life and I know he is with you. Thank you for all the good you do – and a thank you to the folks at Opus Bono for the major amount of good they are doing.
Carla Twigg says
Hi Fr. McCrea;
Thank you for bringing this organization out a little further into the light. Opus Bono is a wonderful organization. If someone does not know where to donate their hard-earned money, this is the place to start. I donate to them monthly and they are on my amazonsmile account. I figured that somehow they must have known about you Fr. G, but it’s nice to get this confirmation.
I love it that your posts are bringing good men to the priesthood, we need them; but they need to know that they will have an extremely difficult time in seminary…
Father Jim says
Please pray for us priests who have been falsely accused and have been denied our just and lawful rights in the Church and society. God grant us the courage and willingness to embrace the Cross even more firmly out of unconditional love for the Church to whom we have dedicated our lives and to many faithful Catholics have deemed to simlply have abandoned us.
Joanne says
Praying Father Jim, praying every day, every Mass for priests! The Lord was falsely accused so you are sharing in that suffering with HIM. I’m sorry that you have been abandoned by Catholics. Praying for you, remembering you and Fr. MacRae !
Maria Stella says
Dear Fr. Jim,
I believe it was you who wrote a guest post on TSW in 2014 entitled “The Fatherhood of Bishops with Disposable Priests”. I have been praying for you, and other falsely accused priests at my weekly Adoration hour since you wrote that post. It is a most compelling and heart-rending post. Thank you for writing it.
I sent your post “verbatim”as an appendix to the Holy See and the various other Vatican organizations when we TSW readers wrote to the Vatican in 2015 on behalf of Father MacRae. More recently, in March of this year, I sent your post – again verbatim – as an appendix to the USCCB, to urge the US Bishops to rescind the Dallas Charter of 2002. I made this request in light of the lawsuits against the directors of SNAP -lawsuits alleging kickbacks from the lawyers of alleged victims. I also referenced the post that Fr. G wrote about SNAP earlier this year on that topic.
Maria Stella says
Please be assured of my prayers for you, Fr. Jim. I ask Our Lady to cover you and her other priestly sons with her mantle of protection and to comfort you as she longed to comfort her Son.
Helen says
God bless you Fr. Jim. I am so empathetic to your suffering. Please be comforted to know in your heart that I will have Mass prayed for you as I do for Fr. Gordon. May the Father of all fathers grant you the peace and joy in your heart to know that His love grows in you and thru you because of your great suffering. Also, I will pray, asking Mama Mary, with the love that She showers upon Her Son, our Lord, to bring you to rest and strength in Her.
Father Jim, I can NEVER feel the agony and the Calvary you are going thru. Father Gordon gives us some light to see but we can never feel it the way you do. With this in mind., please be assured of the hearts you are touching by your post, here.
God bless, comfort, strengthen and build you up in His eternal love for you… a love He ONLY can give YOU, personally.
A friend,
Helen
Liz says
I love love love Opus Bono and what these men do for the church. They are so often in our prayers and offerings. I light many candles for them. The word that comes when I think of Opus Bono is courage. They are just plain courageous in the face of evil. They stand up to evil and won’t back down. (The only “bad” thing about them is that they make me weep often by sharing stories of suffering priests. Sometimes I cannot bear to read how these other Christs are treated so deplorably! It’s heart-wrenching! However, if I struggle to simply READ about these priests how can the priests LIVE it? Lord have mercy. On the other hand, these stories must be shared and, Opus Bono, fills these suffering priests with hope when often nobody else does.)
God bless Michael! We will keep him in our prayers. I was thinking that very thing recently when I was attending Vespers at a local seminary. I was praying for you, Fr. G and Pornchai a great deal as it was Labor Day weekend and I knew you prisoners were very restricted. I also had on my mind a few other priests who are truly afflicted in one way or another, and I began to shed tears at the sight of these many many young men bravely marching into the priesthood. Do they know what lies ahead? Do they know how they will suffer? Perhaps not the extent because we never really know that, but like Michael it seems like they must have an idea of what could happen and they valiantly carry on anyway. It really moved me.
Maria Stella says
Dear Fr G, thank you for this great post. This past Monday I was talking to a young man who is aspiring to be a diocesean priest. He told me that he is aware that he might end up in jail accused of hate crimes ( by standing for the truth in the face of “homosexual marriage”) and even due to false allegations. I admire these young men who want to serve Our Lord in what is a heroic vocation: the priesthood.
Your fellow prisoner priest who has cancer & who has been liacised may have been forgotten by the hierarchy, but has not been forgotten by this virtual parishioner of yours. I keep him in my daily prayer, asking Our Lady to bring him safely home to her.
Thank you for posting about Opus Bono Sacradotii and its founders. I will subscribe to its content as per your recommendation.
I put a letter in the mail to you this past weekend. I hope you will receive it.
Prayers continue for your release….
God bless you.
Helen says
Opus Bono Sacerdotii: “Work for the Good of the Priesthood”. YES!! This exactly what is needed!!
It is late, but not the end of the parade, to come to the aid of our holy sons of God, Himself. When other sons of God are too anxious to sweep under the carpet, the innocence and false accusations of unholy actions by priests of the Holy Catholic Church, for certain, they are opening themselves up for the same treatment. As we continue, as a church, to hurry and place bandages on the cancer of lies and scandal, how else can the result be any different than more and more cancer? Cancer must be carved out, medicated, treated and healed. It will NOT go away until it’s treated with the correct solutions, not covered up.
Father Gordon, it is quite evident, in my own estimation, to see how easy it is that young men are so attracted to the priesthood thru your words. Why not? They (your words) are filled with courage, love, honesty, etc., they are filled with the HOLY SPIRIT, Who is TRUTH Himself. Truth ALWAYS attracts. It has a feel of smooth silk, easy to digest, freeing of spirit. That is not to say that often the Truth hurts. Ah, yes. But it surely heals when applied. Often the cure is more painful than the disease. Surgery does hurt but it heals.
So there ‘it’ is. God Himself, Who IS Truth, is using YOU to voice His Truth. So, why wouldn’t any young person be attracted to the priesthood when the Author of such great virtue is being spilled out from your words?
Shall we continue to pray for the Hierarchy in the Church that they may come to accept the forgiveness and strength, gain boldness and love for their fellow priests, and admit that it was and is a great mistake to try and hide the scandal going on? Our bishops would do well to come to honest grips with what has been going on, and rectify it. God knows that we are ALL sinners. Admitting that, in some rare cases, some priests have defiled their vows doesn’t mean that we are no longer the Church of Jesus. I believe the fear of bishops, who hide, cover up, pay off, were applying a mere attempt to save the Church’s reputation. But we all know; that doesn’t work. And who is having to pay for such horrific cowardice? THE INNOCENT SONS OF GOD…and His people.
Lord Jesus, You are the Savior of the world…. Save us from ourselves…we are our own worst enemy.
Thank you for this awe-inspiring writing, Fr. Gordon. Hopefully; prayerfully, it will inspire those in power, to come to the aid of our priests.
Penny piper says
What an eye opening article! I never knew about Opus Bono until now.
God bless their noble work. I sincerely hope that soon Father Gordon will again breathe the air of freedom again. His Via Dolorosa has been a long one indeed, but it has inspired countless readers of TSW. And beyond.
His suffering and that of priests in a similar predicament has not been in vain, of that I am certain!