Samuel and Eli and our priests and bishops...

I read the following passage today from I Samuel 3:8-18, and we discussed it in a Bible study for young adults:

'The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, "Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

'The LORD said to Samuel: "I am about to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring. On that day I will carry out in full against Eli everything I threatened against his family. I announce to him that I am condemning his family once and for all, because of this crime: though he knew his sons were blaspheming God, he did not reprove them. Therefore, I swear to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever expiate its crime." Samuel then slept until morning, when he got up early and opened the doors of the temple of the LORD. He feared to tell Eli the vision, but Eli called to him, "Samuel, my son!" He replied, "Here I am."

'Then Eli asked, "What did he say to you? Hide nothing from me! May God do thus and so to you if you hide a single thing he told you."
So Samuel told him everything, and held nothing back. Eli answered, "He is the LORD. He will do what he judges best."'

Our purpose was to discuss vocation and how we discern God's call as we learn to listen to God's voice. Nonetheless, the passage illustrated the need to pray for our priests and bishops, who will one day be called to account, as Eli was, for how well they led their flocks to God and protected them from evil.

The current news is bad, and hyperbole is everywhere. If our bishops are persecuted because they are holy, then God will reward them. If our bishops committed mortal sins or failed to protect their flocks from priests they knew would commit mortal sins, then they need our prayers more than the chastisements of the press and civil actions from the victims. Causing scandal is a mortal sin. Leading astray God's "little ones" leads to damnation. Damnation is worse than any jury's verdict. Healing what has been broken will require prayer, fasting, and penance through love and sacrifice for those hurt.

I do wish the press knew more Church history. For centuries, bishops were largely selected by kings and were political appointees. The priests were often persecuted by less-than-holy bishops, so canon law developed to protect priests from false accusations by politically-oriented bishops. Likewise, the Church worked extremely hard, sometimes successfully, to keep its independence to discipline its priests outside the civil courts so to avoid persecution by anti-clerical prosecutors. Kings worked hard to distance their chosen bishops from papal authority. Therefore, it is very difficult legally to pin civil or criminal liability on a bishop, much less the Bishop of Rome, for the misdeeds of a priest.

As usual, Fr. Dwight Longenecker understands the big picture.