Keeping up the Good Fight

By Jack Chui

Another of the backlog of blog posts I was intending to write...

Over the last couple of months, the Catholic Church in Australia has been put on notice with the Federal Government declaring a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse by those in power in the Church. It applies to other Christian churches as well, but headlining the news has been the scandals in Catholic Church.

It pains me to see the reports as they were constantly in the news because I love the Church more than I thought I would. The Church has been a great stronghold and support for me, nurturing my faith, being visible in faith and standing up to a world which doesn't need God.

It is sad to see that some priests/brothers/leaders in the Church have done (allegedly) such horrid things to children when they preach and are supposed to uphold the high moral standards which God intended on this earth. It only takes a few bad apples to really tarnish the Church and make us look like hypocrites.

In times like this, it can be hard to be known as 'Catholic' when our Church has failed to live up to our high moral standards and also to police and prevent wrongdoing from continuing. But to me, it is also a test and a time to stand for our Church, like our father/mother/partner would stand by us when we are facing trials. It reminds me of St. Peter and when he said he wouldn't deny Jesus...

The priests and the Church needs our forgiveness. Just like us, the priests are human and the Church is made up of humans, and so we can fail, and sometimes fail often. While it would be ideal for our priests and Church to be 'perfect', if it were, there would be no need for God's grace to work in the Church and it would become a place for only the 'perfect'. I, like the Church and its priests would not like to be condemned, because God does not condemn me - because of what Jesus had done for me and everyone in the world.

Like the Church, I welcome the Royal Commission because it should help bring justice and improvement to our Church. The Church seems to struggle to resolve some big problems by itself and it is humbling to have outside help being forced on us, as humiliating as it might be. We are the biggest Church and visibly stands up for the highest morals so we would also be the easiest targets.

The bad actions of a few in the Church does not mean that the whole Church is bad - the Church is still and always will be the beautiful Bride of Christ. The Church has withstood larger scandals and threats in the past and is still alive and strong today - 2000 years - few if any organisations have stood for this long. And it will continue as such with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.