PURE GOLD: Catholics & Priests

The root of the Vatican problem is the concept by the hierarchy that the Vatican is a sovereign state, not subject to civil law, and that one of its most important functions is to protect its erring priests from facing the secular world. In the process, the children who were victims  of the abuse were essentially ignored.

 

Without getting into all the particulars of the scandal, two reactions by Vatican defenders deserve comment. One was the contention by a Vatican bishop that the attack on the Vatican was similar to anti-Semitism, suggesting that the criticism of the church somehow equated with the Holocaust. The other was the rantings of Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights who blamed the scandal coverage on the NY Times and, during a TV interview asked how come similar coverage wasn’t given to sexual excesses by rabbis and teachers!

 

But the Times’ Nicholas D. Kristof calls for more perspective: The action of the Vatican   does not condemn all priests, many of whom are dedicated to their calling and helping people, particularly those most in need.

 

My own experiences with priests are very mixed. When I was a young reporter many years ago in New Mexico I came to know two priests. One was a modest man who taught music and drama at the local Catholic high school. One season, he produced a minstrel show that included some unattractive racial references, which I mentioned in the review I wrote for our local paper. Days later he invited me over for coffee, apologized for not editing the script and removed the objectionable racial material. He then confided in me that he had a secret collection of Paul Robeson recordings.

 

Then there was the principal a local Catholic high school, a mean-spirited fellow who once put me in a very awkward situation. His Catholic school basketball team had played a Saturday night game in a small Mormon town just to the north of us and did not return until the next morning. Driven by alumni through mostly Navajo country, one of the cars failed to stop for Sunday mass on the way home. During the next four home games, all members of the team suited up and participated in the warm-up. But when the games started, the principal refused to let any of the boys who had missed Sunday mass from playing.

 

This galled the school’s alumni prompting a delegation to come to my office and ask me to write a column criticizing the principal. But I wasn’t going to tussle with the church so I told them the issue was religious and not subject to sports coverage. I needed the job.

 

In New York, I have fond memories of two priests whom I befriended. One was Fr. Bob Lott of St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village. A very independent soul, he at one time had a gay man play the church organ. He was a leader in the community who helped save the Village Nursing Home, served for several years as chair of Community Board Two, and fought for years for more low cost housing for the poor. Sadly, it must be reported that he did not win favor with the church hierarchy.

 

The second was Fr. George Ford whom I met during my college days at Columbia, then advisor to Catholic students. He too irked the church hierarchy and was sent back to his mid-Manhattan parish in the '40's.  But he returned to campus frequently to address inter-religious gatherings, which I generally covered for the college newspaper. At one of his Columbia talks he dwelt on civil rights. He and a number of open-shirted priests had gone to a Manhattan restaurant for lunch. The waiter informed them that he could not serve them since one of the priests was black.  Ford called for the manager. "If you don’t serve us, we'll be back tomorrow with our collars on and picket your restaurant,” he told the manager who then relented.

 

For some reason Ford decided I must be Catholic. He approached me after one address and asked for my assistance.

 

"I'm speaking before a Protestant and Jewish group at one of the dorms,'' he said. And with a smile, "Would you introduce me to the heathen?" 

 

I chimed in, "I'm afraid one of them."

 

He roared. "Well, maybe you’ll learn something too."

 

He spent many years fighting for human rights, at one time as a leader of Freedom House in Manhattan. The last time I saw him he lectured before a Columbia alumni group, noting: "I thank God for letting me live long enough to see my pope," a reference to the progressive Pope John XX111.

 

So while the Vatican behavior has been reprehensible, I like to think there are many priests out there performing nobly.