Our Modern Dilemma of Public Trust

Irish American Catholics have loved their church and it certainly was hard to come to the realization that child abuse by the clergy was so wide spread. We've also seen Police skirt the law for their own benefit and politicians who were elected to look over our interests, abuse their power to make themselves and their friends rich. We've seen soldiers who were serving and protecting our country one year turn on innocent Americans the next. We've seen fireman set fires, pilots fly under the influence of drugs and judges make astonishing rulings that seem to go against common sense. Wherever public trust lives, we've seen abuse. Temptation is greatest at the intersection of duty and trust. And perhaps what has angered people more than anything else is the difficulty our institutions have in dealing with internal deceit and abuse. Most Catholic Church leaders from the Pope on down will admit to the shortcomings of the institutions' dealings with abuse.

Dealing with abuse of power and position takes a continuing effort, especially in a free society like ours. We must make every effort to improve oversight and plan our actions carefully. People must be trained to respond appropriately to these crimes and we must be proactive in fighting the problem. Blaming a victim is intolerable, just as blaming an innocent public servant is in fact a form of abuse of power itself.

The Catholic Church has been working hard to train many thousands of lay people to help watch over the innocent. In a sense it has been training its citizenry to become the eyes and ears of the church because it is often the laity who conduct the programs for children. Monasteries and other religious facilities have also reevaluated their operations to help insure the safety and security of visitors.

Abuse will not disappear in any of our institutions, but the goal must be zero tolerance. At the same time, we should expect our police to continue to serve and protect the public by enforcing the law. We should continue to support our troops. We should expect and support our politicians to pass laws and regulate our society. We should still have certified pilots flying our planes and trained firefighters fighting our fires. And as Catholics, we should expect our Priests to continue their mission -- we need them more today than ever.

The position that is taken by so many today, that all Catholic Priests and church officials should not be taken seriously because of the abuse scandal is ridiculous, illogical and hateful. With each institutional scandal should come reform and rebirth. It should be no different for the Catholic Church. There are many trials in our spiritual lives and we need to keep the faith. While our leaders may fail and we may falter, our faith must continue.