A good work of the Church

As most of you know, I've been spending a great deal of time in the past few months traveling in Eastern Orthodox circles, and worshiping at St. Seraphim's Cathedral (of the Orthodox Church in America). It has not escaped my attention that the OCA is in the midst of a big financial scandal now involving the Metropolitan and his staff. Some Catholic friends have said, in effect, "See? You can't get away from scandal anywhere." The thing is, I have never denied that, and didn't think that entertaining the prospect of leaving Catholicism for Orthodoxy would preserve me from having to deal with scandal. Wherever there is humanity, there will be fallenness. That's a fact of life.

What I find encouraging, ironically, about the Orthodox scandal is that unlike in the US Catholic Church, the Metropolitan and the men who are implicated in the apparent wrongdoing are not going to get away with it. And a big reason they aren't is because of this fantastic website, OCA News, run by the lay-organized Orthodox Christians for Accountability. To a Catholic who has become jaded by the RC Church's response to the much more devastating sexual abuse scandals, to go on this site and to read priests and even bishops criticizing the hierarchy (with sobriety, it should be said) for its lack of accountability and integrity in this matter is an astonishing thing. This really is how it ought to be. The bishops aren't standing in unity and refusing to say boo about this very serious matter out of some misplaced sense of saving face, or twisted sense of piety. Priests aren't keeping mum about it living in fear of their bishops. Laypeople too are speaking out. And it's all bringing results. Slowly but surely, the Metropolitan is being forced to do the right thing. I tell my Orthodox friends in the OCA to please not do what too many Catholics have done and still do, and stay silent and keep their heads down out of a false piety. Speaking out for honesty and good church government is not a sign of weakness, but of strength and confidence and even holiness. Mark Stokoe, who runs the accountability website, is doing what looks to me like a heroic work of charity and fidelity by standing fast and insisting that the leadership of his Church acts like holy men of God, not penny-ante chiselers. It is a remarkable thing to witness as an outsider with my background, and God bless them for what they are doing here.

It really is a wonder how much the Internet has changed things. Though I have been frustrated and even despairing over the power of the Catholic hierarchy to avoid accountability, and the powerlessness of the laity to do much of anything to hold our fellow churchmen to account for their sins and failings, the power of the Internet at least to spread the news of what they've been up to, and to provide a place for Catholics to air our thoughts and disagreements over the scandal and related matters, has been a great thing. The good people at the Catholic project Bishop Accountability have done spectacular work in putting up documents related to the scandal on their site, where anybody who wants to find out what has happened can go and learn. Though the power of the Catholic laity to force good governance on the Church is virtually nil, at least the Internet gives folks like the Bishop Accountability people the opportunity to make sure the Catholic bishops' crimes and misdeeds do not slip down the memory hole. And having that power via the Internet is a very, very good thing, not only for the Catholic Church, but for all churches.