The Church, humility, and an upcoming war for relevance

One of the problems with the ongoing scandals within the Catholic Church (my old church, see past posts, etc., etc.) is the ongoing part; as much as certain professional inquisitors might deny it, the Church can hardly claim that The Troubles are behind it even as each new year brings to light new instances in which the hierarchy, as an institution, did their level best to cover up pedophilia, to obstruct investigations into offending priests, and even to slander the victims. Retired cardinal Roger Mahony'a longtime, very visible presence in this neck of the woods, and a face any Los Angeles resident, Catholic or not, would have seen a great many times on the news for a great many reasons during his long tenure'was recently stripped of all remaining duties by the person who took over his post. It was as a result of yet another document dump showing that yet another of the Church's most prominent American voices was considerably more concerned with the perpetrators of the crimes than the victims; a new name, but the same story.

Via Americablog, the good cardinal still has things to say on humility and humiliation, however:

Given all of the storms that have surrounded me and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles recently, God's grace finally helped me to understand:  I am not being called to serve Jesus in humility.  Rather, I am being called to something deeper--to be humiliated, disgraced, and rebuffed by many.

I was not ready for this challenge.  Ash Wednesday changed all of that, and I see Lent 2013 as a special time to reflect deeply upon this special call by Jesus.

To be honest with you, I have not reached the point where I can actually pray for more humiliation.  I'm only at the stage of asking for the grace to endure the level of humiliation at the moment.

In the past several days, I have experienced many examples of being humiliated.  In recent days, I have been confronted in various places by very unhappy people.  I could understand the depth of their anger and outrage--at me, at the Church, at about injustices that swirl around us.

Thanks to God's special grace, I simply stood there, asking God to bless and forgive them.

Sigh. Humility or no humility, this is one of those situations where maybe a vow of silence would have been the better part of valor. Why all this still matters, below the fold: