Jesus wept

Approach school board downsizing with caution
January 16, 2019
Lafourche School Board approves reduction
January 16, 2019
Approach school board downsizing with caution
January 16, 2019
Lafourche School Board approves reduction
January 16, 2019

An ancient affliction raises its head every now and then, with just enough fanfare to trouble those who know more than anyone how deep the pain can go, then disappears until the next scandal generates headlines anew.


This is the cycle relating to the sexual exploitation of children by men of God, wearing collars. These priests used their holy office to further feed their fantasies as well as to actually live them, at the expense of the most vulnerable, leaving invisible scars, that last lifetimes. It is true, as some people have said, that child molestation can be found within secular schools, at camps and in synagogues, and anywhere else potential victims and their victimizers may come into contact, and they question why there is such focus on the Roman Catholic Church. The simple answer is that the Catholic Church, with its entrenched patriarchal culture, has demonstrated time and again its propensity for self-protection and the protection of the men within its leadership than the prevention of further atrocities. This is an institution without whose bishops’ word the armies of kings would not move forward. It is an institution whose priests have terrorized victims into silence with threats of hellfire for the parents of those abused if they told. The terror was so effective that many remained silent well into adulthood. The bishops and the cardinals played their roles in conspiracies of silence, bent on protecting their priests and their church from the truth the victims held. Civil settlements were sealed, criminal cases were thwarted, and the guilty were moved like checkers from church to church, ever placing more children at risk.

To see how ingrained the culture of arrogance and privilege seeps, look no further than the Charter for Protection of Children and Young Adults, first released in 2003 by the U.S. Conference of Bishops, which states this: “Since 2002, the Church in the United States has experienced a crisis without precedent in our times … The sexual abuse of children and young people by some deacons, priests, and bishops, and the ways in which these crimes and sins were addressed, have caused enormous pain, anger, and confusion for victims, their families, and the entire Church.”

Victims, their families, friends and advocates know the sin of this statement, because the crisis did not begin in 2002.


The latest round of the church’s public relations problem did, further fueled by the miracle of the World Wide Web, duplicated and quadrupled by social media. The inability of people from different nations and cultures to compare notes enforced by the creation of the Tower of Babel no longer exists. And so enlightened leaders of the church, some of whom cringed at the knowledge of what elders had done to enable the offenders, find themselves in a position to make change. Bishop by bishop, diocese by diocese, the sins of the past are being revealed. This is the case right here in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, in whose offices I sat last week for a discussion with the Very Rev. Shelton Fabre on his release of the names. They are the names of men who violated decency and vows, right within the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

Seated across from me, willing to answer all questions on the record, this humble and soft-spoken servant of God demonstrated by example the difference between serving God and serving men. I can only speak to the impressions I had during the meeting. The facts are what they are.

What I witnessed, however, was a cleric who appeared visibly shaken and distressed by knowledge of what occurred in the past. His repeated statement that he was sorry for what had been done in the church for so many years, not only how miscreant priests had acted, but the official response that was less than friendly toward victims, were accompanied by expressions and what appeared to be a damp eye.


For one of the first times in covering this crisis — the one that began long before the publicity forced action — I felt I was dealing with a bishop who was being totally opened, unrestrained by the caveats of attorneys, mindful of how great the stakes are for victims and for the church, in a new age of transparency.

I was reminded of the shortest and to me most challenging and powerful verses in the New Testament.

“Jesus wept.”


As with those tears shed by the savior at the death of Lazarus, the bishop’s tears appeared heart-felt. And also necessary for resurrection of trust and new life for this age-old institution that has comforted many despite the shortcomings of men within its power structure.

This bishop appeared to be for real.