Addressing Clergy Moral Failure

I had a conversation with a Presbyterian who is in the process of entering the Catholic Church. He pointed out to me that many, if not most, Protestant/Reformed Christians (he is aware of) wont even consider the claims of "Rome" being the one, true church founded by Christ because of the Priest Sex abuse scandal...how it occurred and how the abusers were handled in the investigation afterward. Good point, I thought.

Where the conversation resulted, became a proposal from him that "Catholics must ask Protestants for forgiveness for the sin of misrepresenting to the world the loving authority of God."

I paused a bit on that and replied, "let me think about that and get back to you."

Trying extremely hard to not let my ego/identity drive an unnecessary defensive posture, I began to sincerely contemplate that position. Example: Whenever a Reformed Clergy of Notable name (Baker, Swaggart, Haggard, etc...) commits personal moral failure, is the entirety of Protestantism held accountable?...personally? Of course not, I thought.

I wanted to dig further on the subject and found this among the facts from a Focus on the Family Poll: • 1500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches. • 50% of pastors’ marriages will end in divorce. • 50% of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living. • 51% of all ministers admit to having at least occasionally looked at pornography on the net, and some 37% admit to having a problem with this matter. • Almost 40% polled said they have had an extramarital affair since beginning their ministries.

Whats the real comparison on the Catholic side of "Moral Failure":According to Fox News in 2005 - The mainstream media has all but ignored the recent Associated Press report that the three major insurance companies for Protestant Churches in America say they typically receive 260 reports each year of minors being sexually abused by Protestant clergy, staff, or other church-related relationships.

In light of the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church beginning five years ago, religious and victims’ rights organizations have been seeking this type of data for years. It has been hard to come by since Protestant Churches are more de-centralized than the Catholic Church. Responding to heavy media scrutiny, the Catholic Church has reported that since 1950, 13,000 “credible accusations” have been brought against Catholic clerics (about 228 per year.) The fact that this number includes all credible accusations, not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of cases in Protestant churches reported by just three insurance companies, should be making front page of The New York Times and the network evening news. It’s not.

While this is honest and relevant information, it is not where I should go in answering the question, as a Catholic, should I ask for forgiveness for the Churches "sin of misrepresenting to the world the loving authority of God", the answer is yes, I should. Do I hold personal accountability for that sin? No. But by trying to defend it against relative numbers not only pushes a perception that I, Dave, am ok with it, but also that I can tolerate it given the numbers and comparison. That would be simple hypocracy on my part. The Catholic Church practices General repentance for many issues, even those not of their doing. Realizing this, if on a personal basis, any non-Catholic is burdened by the clergy sex abuse issue then my advocacy of general repentance would assist their view that “we Catholics” cannot find the issue acceptable. Such a position is what has been called identificational repentance, (or in this specific case identificational confession to Protestant) whether for the general, corporate or sins of a nation.

While I cannot find, on a quick search, anything doctrinal regarding this form… it is certainly a form of what the last 2 Popes practiced heartily. I also agree on 2 other levels, 1) Both Old and New Testament contain examples of it and 2) It emulates Christs sacrifice for the sins of us all, none of which Christ committed. I would summarize there is nothing to lose and plenty to gain from specifically targeted identificational repentance in this context, and I plan to practice it as soon as the opportunity avails.