October in the Catholic Church is a hard month for me. I made it through another one, though, and I learned a thing or two.
October is Pro-Life Month in this church. Now I think I have a dandy and solid argument as to why, in fact, I am pro-life. However, I must concede, anti-abortion types don't agree with me. To them, a person who supports a woman's right to choose and Roe v. Wade can not, by definition, be pro-life. So, we're a bit at loggerheads and usually just ignore each other.
And, to make things tougher for me, pro-life month usually devolves into an anti-abortion "let's protect babies" love-fest. We don't have special Masses offered for the people on death row, although the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church are quite clear about capital punishment. We don't have prayers of the faithful even for the people (possibly) killed by the people on death row. We don't define "life issues" any more broadly, and discuss war or poverty or workers' rights... or any of the apparently infinite ways that humans design to truncate the experiences of other humans.
To be fair, most parishes do at least some of these things most of the time. It's just that they/we focus in a particular way in October -and that way gives me pause. I think it misses the mark most of the time.
And I figured out one thing that would help me.
This sex-abuse scandal, at least here in my parish, is the elephant under the rug. Membership in the Catholic Church is a tough sell on a good day, and priests who abuse children and bishops who protect those priests against all the evidence have made it way harder. And we're just not talking about it. It starts to feel like embattled priests want to divert attention from sins they commit back to sins we commit. It's even better if it's a sin only a woman can commit. (I'm not suggesting that's their explicit intention. I'm saying that's how it feels to me.)
All I want (well, all I want to start with) is one prayer, every once in a while... and here it is: "For those who have had their faith shattered by the current scandal in the church, that they find peace and reconciliation."
We pray to the Lord.
It's such a modest proposal, really. What do you bet it doesn't happen?
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