In the past few days, Catholic priests and bishops have been delivering a chorus of condemnation against the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony. The response to the Last Supper/Feast of Dionysus debacle has highlighted a significant trend I’ve observed in recent years regarding the Catholic Church and its clergy: the erosion of their moral authority in the public sphere.
On social media, almost every Catholic cleric’s response to the controversy that I saw was met with reminders of the Church’s sex abuse scandal which were either ignored, sheepishly fumbled, or dismissed as irrelevant in the current discussion.
Clergy feel at ease in theological debates — whether defending the faith on paper, engaging Protestants on scripture, or arguing with Hitchens-type atheists about proofs of intelligent design. However, when clergy attempt to address broad moral or cultural issues, they are met with ruthless backlash and seem almost surprised by the fact that the widespread sex abuse cover-up has decimated their moral authority in the cultural realm. Their responses typically include statements like, “Well yes, and that’s terrible, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t address this!”
The issue is that most priests avoid addressing the sex abuse scandal head-on in an honest and transparent manner. They rarely discuss it on social media or in public forums. When they do, it is almost always an obvious attempt at addressing an issue they feel forced to confront, but don’t want to, often ending in a call to action to remain with the Church while shifting the blame onto Satan or demonic forces. They might mention it in private or during the occasional homily — both are relatively safe spaces. In my own family’s experience, only two priests publicly supported us as we sought to bring their brother priest to justice.
It appears almost absurd for the Church and its clergy to vehemently denounce what they perceive as mockery in the Paris performance while news of sex abuse, cover-ups, financial crimes, child pornography, and drug-filled gay Vatican orgies dominate the headlines. You’d be better off watching the Paris Olympics’ opener on repeat than reading headlines on the Church’s various extracurricular activities.
Defending Christ is noble, but when the Church fails to protect the most vulnerable in its own dioceses, perhaps it’s best to refrain from such grandiose public denunciations.
A bigger mockery of Christ occurs every time the Church — claiming to be the One, True Church and representative of Him on Earth — downplays, covers up, and actively participates in the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable individuals. Can you imagine the brazenness of Catholic clergy to be so offended by the idea of being mocked in a country where a report found that over 330,000 children were abused by Catholic clergy?
This may be why the sex abuse scandal is often downplayed. It is the single biggest ecclesiastical issue of this century, severely undermining the Catholic Church’s moral authority on a global scale. It renders them effectively useless or worse — a liability — in cultural wars.
The world has changed, and the coherence of logical structures on paper no longer holds the weight it once did. What truly matters now are the actions of individuals in real time, the tangible experiences of pain and suffering, and real-life criminality. Theoretical defenses and well-structured arguments become meaningless when they are not reflected in the behavior of those who espouse them. People need to see these ideals lived out authentically by the individuals who draft these logical constructs. Without a lived authenticity, the words on paper are rendered hollow and irrelevant. This results in a paper religion, and a paper religion is worthless.
If the Catholic Church and its clergy want to engage effectively beyond their rectories with the rest of us, they must humbly accept that the average mother and father care very little about the moral posturing of aloof priests who have absolutely no skin in the game.
Scott “Alex” Peyton is married to Meredith Peyton, and they have three wonderful children: Lucy, Perpetua, and Anastasia. After spending a few years in New Orleans, Alex moved his family back to Lebeau, Louisiana, where he was raised, to enjoy the peace of rural St. Landry Parish.
Alex is the Senior Advisor at Actus Wealth Strategies, where he assists clients with their investment decisions and portfolio creation.
His dedication to justice and advocacy emerged after discovering that his brother had been abused by a Catholic priest. Alex fought alongside his parents to secure justice, first defeating the abuser in criminal court and then the Diocese of Lafayette in civil court.
Following these victories, Alex transitioned into part-time advocacy work. He hosts the Resilience in the Shadows podcast with his mother, as part of their family’s nonprofit organization, Tentmakers. Tentmakers is dedicated to assisting survivors of sexual abuse in finding healing, justice, and hope.
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