Bad Apples
You would think it shouldn't be too hard to cast out the bad and leave only the good.
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain', and, 'The laborer deserves to be paid.' Never accept any accusation against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest also may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I warn you to keep these instructions without prejudice, doing nothing on the basis of partiality. Do not ordain anyone hastily, and do not participate in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, but take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. The sins of some people are conspicuous and precede them to judgement, while the sins of others follow them there. So also good works are conspicuous; and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden. - 1 Timothy 5:17-22
In today's reading, Paul talks about being good leaders of the faithful, and how important it is to ordain the right people for the job.
I wonder if advice to accept only those accusations that are supported by two or more witnesses is why we have so much sexual abuse by clergy. Have they all made sure there were no other witnesses other than the victims?
He says the sins of some are conspicuous, yet so many abuses have gone unnoticed, so how do we weed out the bad and support the good?
More to the point, can the ones who know and do nothing be trusted to remain?
The Pope is finally tackling this problem of bad seeds in the Catholic Church, and all other denominations are concerned, as they should be. If we wait too long to weed out the bad, who will trust those who remain? Who will come to church?
Maybe we should have done as Paul says when we found people who did wrong, and rebuked them publicly, rather than quietly shuffle them off. He says this will have others stand in fear, but is that enough?
If we have no way of discerning who will abuse their position before we ordain them, then we had better pay closer attention to them after they put on their collars.
One bad apple does spoil the whole bunch.
More to come...