In recent weeks, the Church has once again “been brought to our knees” as we have become aware of the allegations against the retired Theodore Cardinal McCarrick of Washington D.C. and the exposure of the clergy sexual abuse in the six Dioceses of the State of Pennsylvania.

As we look back to view our weaknesses and our sinfulness, and as we move forward to transparency and new life for our future, we realize that this process will take a painfully long time, happening in a variety of places at a variety of times.

We are a Universal Church. The institutional Church will slowly and completely be examined by a variety of sources in which they will find some Church leaders cooperating more readily than others.

The last intense legal and media exposure of clergy sexual abuse happened in 2010. At that time, I ran a series of seven Pastor’s Columns that I hoped would help all of us to better understand this reality and to find some peace as we moved forward.

I am now posting these columns over seven weeks, again in the hope they will provide better understanding and peace at this time.

Pastor’s Column #3 is an article, The Catholic Church’s Catastrophe, written by Peggy Noonan, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal and best-selling author of seven books on American politics, history, and culture. This article is an insert in today’s bulletin.

One of her recent books, John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father, was published in 2005.

If you would like to read Pastor’s Column #1 in this series, What Does It Mean to Be Catholic, by Deacon Greg Kendra, or Pastor’s Column #2 in this series, Why I Remain a Catholic, by Elizabeth Scalia, please go to www.stmoside.org; then click Menu, then News, and then Pastor’s Column.

The Catholic Church’s Catastrophe

There is an interesting and very modern thing that often happens when individuals join and rise within mighty and venerable institutions. They come to think of the institution as invulnerable—to think that there is nothing they can do to really damage it, that the big, strong, proud establishment they’re part of can take any amount of abuse, that it doesn’t require from its members an attitude of protectiveness because it’s so strong, and has lasted so long.

To read the rest of the article, Google:

The Catholic Church’s Catastrophe by Peggy Noonan

—The Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2010