The Catholic Church is passing through a “terrible crisis” and a great number of people “seem to be calling for the abandonment of the Church”, according to the celebrated US Bishop Robert Barron.
Bishop Barron has released a new YouTube video titled "Why Remain Catholic? (With So Much Scandal)."
In the video he refers to the scandals of clerical abuse and ecclesiastical cover-up and says that he shares the “feelings of anger and frustration” which motivate such calls to abandon the Church, but argues “this is precisely the wrong strategy at this moment in the Church’s life”.
He makes a historical reference to Abraham Lincoln and by way of analogy describes how just as Lincoln wouldn’t abandon the ideals of American democracy but instead fought for them even against great opposition, so Catholics shouldn’t abandon Catholicism but instead should strive to uphold the ideals of Catholicism despite the iniquities of those clerics and Church leaders who betray them.
Barron says it is now the time for Catholics to fight “for the Church we believe in so powerfully. Seeing this blight, naming it clearly, unambiguously, but then fighting to set things right. It’s not the moment for cutting and running; it’s the moment for getting into the fight.”
Barron says: “You fight by writing a letter to your bishop. Write a letter to the Pope. You fight by your very presence at Mass. You fight by keeping people’s feet to the fire. You fight by organising your fellow Catholics. Fight any way you can.”
The reason for fighting, Barron says, is because “you believe in the Church, you love the Church, and you realise that despite this terrible blight it’s worth fighting for”.
Barron points out that he is not calling on Catholics “to save our institutions,” but rather to fight “for the victims of these terrible crimes”.
He says: “We’re fighting for people who were sexually assaulted, sexually abused. If we cut and run precisely at this challenging time, who will be the prophetic voice on behalf of these victims? So it’s my little 'cri de coeur', everybody, my cry from the heart: I get it. I get the frustration people feel. I share it. But this is not the moment to abandon the Church. This is the moment to fight for the Church.”
He says that everyone “who is baptised into Jesus Christ is a prophet” and that just as the Biblical prophets “spoke out” and “didn’t cut and run when Israel was in trouble” we should do the same. “That’s all of our responsibility, all of us who bear the prophetic charism,” he said.
He also asks the faithful to keep in mind “we are not Catholics because of the moral excellence of our leaders,” but “because of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead” and that even “as leaders in the Church fail morally the Catholic Church remains the mystical body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, and she’s worth fighting for.”
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