In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, I naturally turned to the church for solace. But on the following Sunday, to my surprise, none of the church leaders at Mass acknowledged what had just happened. I was deflated and left feeling empty. Soon after, the sexual abuse scandal erupted.
In a long piece written by a Catholic who is now a ‘done’ thanks to the sexual abuse scandals (do go read the whole thing), this is the passage that leapt out at me — I suppose because I had a similar experience the Sunday after 9/11.
I was a reluctant churchgoer even as a kid, and never went as an adult until my wife insisted upon dragging me there. It was supposed to have something to do with a wholesome environment for our son, and good playmates, et cetera, et cetera. It’s a good example of how even garish lies can be perpetuated by marketing that’s embedded in the culture itself.
The day of the attack, I called the local church we attended and asked whether the SBC was mounting any sort of relief assistance — maybe a blood drive, at least? A clothing bank? Housing assistance? No.
And even though the parking lot was fuller the next Sunday than it had even been before, or has ever been since, the pastor noted merely in passing that he was certain the attackers would face judgment in the afterlife — and that was it. I don’t recall what the sermon was otherwise about, but it was definitely from notes he prepared before the attack, or downloaded from some Web site somewhere.
I was born skeptical and have never for an instant been a believer, but the inadequacy of that pastor’s response is when I began to realize how much of the work of the clergy is mere rote, and how utterly incompetent so many of them are when summoned to respond to the unfamiliar.