Well, it has been quite a week here in Kansas. The Wildcats, not the Jayhawks, are making March quite mad. K-Staters have already declared themselves, after a long, almost 30 year, hiatus from past basketball glory, to be the angriest fans in the world. If they make it to the Final Four with a win over Butler today, we might see that anger carried out in Aggieville. Let's pray that nothing gets burned, trashed or broken. KU, the most accomplished basketball program in the state, took a small hit after a dominant season in the Big XII, bowing out of the Big Dance early. Perhaps a small correction was necessary for an athletic program whose director, Lew Perkins, has made an empire out of KU Athletics, squeezed more blood out of the turnip that is Allen Fieldhouse than the Phog ever put in that building, and has pocketed $4.4 million this year personally in the process of 'professionalizing' athletics in a state as humble as Kansas. So much for the wine and cheese impression given at KU. With over $10 million a year being given to coaches and athletic directors, KU knows how to spend extravagantly. Looks like we are trying to be bigger than Texas. Good thing we beat them in basketball every year.
Please pray for all victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests. I hate what is happening in the Church around the world right now. I can tell you once again, that looking at things from the perspective of a new priest, it is quite beyond me how any of this could have happened. It is not the Church that I joined in becoming a priest. Of course, it is the Church that I joined, but I'm telling you that in my five years as a seminarian and six years as a priest, I have never been personally knowledgeable about a single incident of new sexual abuse, and if I were, I would get to the bottom of it, and report it to the authorities, immediately. I can not go back and find out what was happening in the Church when these abuses happened. It is obvious that horrendous mistakes were made. I do not know how to move forward except to apologize to victims sincerely, to correct past wrongs as much as possible, and to promise that no priests who have serious accusation of sexual abuse are currently serving, or will ever serve, in the Catholic Church again.
Please pray for our pope. His infallibility pertains to teaching our tradition on faith and morals. It seems that he delegated decisions while archbishop of Munich to men that he trusted. Those men have taken full responsibility for mistakes that were made. He did not personally assign any abusive priests to new parishes. As head of the CDF he only strengthened the Church's protection of children by policies that brought offending priests to justice. Pope Benedict is part of the solution, not part of the problem. That being said, he is committed to justice for both the victims and the accused. The Church is at the mercy of the media and how they want to report stories. We have to take our medicine, and use it as an incentive to continue to right the wrongs that we can, and to protect our children better than any other institution. This scandal might kill the Church, as some say, but that is ultimately not a worry for us who love Her and will never let Her die. She has been dead before. This is part of her ongoing conversion and purification, and Her participation in the suffering, death and rising of Jesus. Please do not feel sorry for the Church in all of this. It only makes us look defensive and unrepentant. Instead, offer prayers and suffering for the victims of this abuse, that they may join the Church constructively in assuring that never again will the Church lose her vigilance in the protection of Her children. Please pray for priests, that they will be purified by this embarrassment, especially those who are guilty only by association, and emerge as more credible and loving witnesses to the Gospel. Please pray for our seminarians, that this scandal may not discourage them but may purify their desire to be a blameless good shepherd after Christ's own sacred heart!
For Holy Week I will be at St. Lawrence with Fr. Beseau and Msgr. Krische. We are looking forward to placing our lives with those of our people within the time and space of the paschal mystery of Jesus. We are excited for our catechumens and candidates for full initiation into the Catholic faith!
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