GLAD I DIDN'T MAKE IT

George Offerman

We just returned from a two week trip from my homeland in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan after visiting family and friends that was most interesting and informative.  I hadn’t been to the UP in wintertime since my father’s funeral almost 21 years ago, and forgot how cold and snowy it gets up there.  Besides celebrating on one of the greatest non-events December 21^st, I had an opportunity to get together with one of my old seminary classmates who happens to be a priest there.  It was in the midst of the conversation with him that I realized I would never had made it as a priest in the UP, or really anywhere in the American church due to the way I hold the church teachings and what I stand for.

This priest (who shall go nameless) looked worn out and frustrated, and it became clear as we talked that the problem of mediocrity is a church wide epidemic.  This priest had mentioned how the people up there had no interest in real church teachings, and even when laid out clearly (and this priest is very articulate) there was great resistance and complaints levied against him for doing this.  It also seems that his Bishop, like many around the country, respond to any form of criticism unfavorably for the priest,  and this serves to undermine both the credibility of the priest as well as the church in general.  So, many of the homilies given by this priest are rather on the unchallenging side and getting into the hard hitting issues is considered taboo.

It brought me back to my seminary days over a quarter of a century ago, when I spoke up against the homosexuals and how our church was being sold out.  I ignored the advice of fellow seminarians as well as some of the faculty when told to keep my thoughts and beliefs to myself.  It also brings home the point of Biblical truths that hidden sins would be ‘shouted from the roof tops’ and no amount of staying quiet would change that fact.  Yes, I was asked to get counseling for my ‘homophobia’ by the faculty as a condition of returning, but I knew my time was up when I left in the spring of 1986.  But I had also sensed at that time that telling the truth was going to result (most likely) in my not making it to ordination.  So I saw no point in continuing on, as I knew then I would not compromise on church teachings and sell the people out due to ‘feelings’ and horrible theology.

Many who made it into the priesthood knowingly sold out their belief systems in order to get ordained.  One of the main lines of thinking back then was “Tell them what they want to hear, and then after getting ordained, do what you want”.  I have only found that those who compromised their value systems in order to get ordained are still compromising their value systems today.  Now, some of the men I know did not compromise their values, but did stay quiet then and now seem to this day to be suffering in silence.  My fears for myself always had been if I could justify ‘playing the game’ to get ordained, how could I then come out of my shell and stand for the truth?  I didn’t see a way out, other than leaving the seminary and following what I believed outside of ordained ministry.  It turns out it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.

I’ve been blessed with a good family, children and a good career.  I am able to live the faith unencumbered by public criticism and can be as involved to whatever level in the pro-life movement and participate in civil disobedience.  I can write the truth and not have to worry about being censured, ‘suspended’ or sent to a monastery to’ rethink and contemplate my life’ by a bishop that doesn’t have the integrity or grit to stand up for the church or to the whiners and wimps who seem to be calling the shots.  And I don’t have to be beholden to the godless IRS and cursed 501 c 3 status and can call out by name those who are advocating evil and trying to destroy everything that is good and holy in our society.

I believe I am doing exactly as God called me to do, and that is to minister to my fellow man to the best of my ability and in the truth.  I am doing way more in a lay status than what I ever could have accomplished in the church as it currently is.  I am way freer than my former classmates, who as priests, are beholden to men and parishioners that believe they have a better theological background than the priests do.  And I am free to teach the faith, unencumbered by man-made shackles, and can debate with anyone at any level without worrying about losing my livelihood.  I never thought I could be a better priest outside of the priesthood, but it seems like it’s the case.  What a sad commentary.  Glad I didn’t make it.   

SAD TIMES

George Offerman

The bad news continues for the Catholic Church, as a new wave of scandals appears to be buffeting the church and rising up as high at the Pope. This is not so unpredictable if anyone has been paying the least bit of attention, and watching events unfold in a manner that is fit for feeding frenzy of the secular media. This is a time when we need to be praying for all involved, and demonstrating the faith the church has attempted to teach, but not necessarily living.

As wave after wave of scandals are exposed, it is going to be more difficult to discuss and enforce church teachings with any credibility. However, this is the time to do so, more than ever, as there seem to be many in the clerical ranks that are becoming more ‘renegade’ and undermining what little semblance of respectability remains. As a life long Catholic, and former Seminarian, this is a very painful process to watch, and I hope this situation starts to resolve itself, starting with those that have the authority to stand up and defend the faith as they should.

It is really time to begin to clean house. Yes, it needs to start with Rome, but there are plenty around that need to be shown the exits. This was discussed about the time I left Seminary in 1986, and back then, very few had the intestinal fortitude to even say anything, and even fewer wanted to act on what they knew. I know, I was one who stood up to this scandal, and ended up on the outside looking in. I told many, that this would be preached from the rooftops, and the lid would never stay on ‘this can of worms’. Not a hard prophesy to make, but a heartbreaking one at that.

My fears back then, and I expressed them to many of my friends who remained in the Seminary, and eventually were ordained, that to compromise in order to stay in and become ordained, seemed to me a betrayal of what I thought the faith was and how it should be lived. We see that now being lived out, by these same men now running from the difficult decisions that need to be made. Years of compromising beliefs to make it through the system, has trained these same men to continue the same behaviors after ordination, and in many cases, after being elevated to Bishop.

Why one would believe that they can compromise for years, then all of a sudden, grow a backbone when ‘matters of faith’ are compromised, are beyond me. Seminary is to be a place of formation, and to develop a spiritual backbone while one is in the process of becoming a cleric. Unfortunately, our society, and to a large extend the world wide church, has reaped what it has sown. This is why we have Bishops that will not enforce matters like Cannon 915 that would deny Communion to pro death politicians. This is why we have priests and Bishops who would rather keep the peace, and chastise those who challenge the sinful behaviors and wayward beliefs. Compromise and comfort are the desired outcomes of many of today’s clergy, and it has been indoctrinated into their formation for the last few decades.

It is time to clean house. It would be better to be down to a third of the Priests, and a quarter of the Bishops, if that’s what it takes to bring about clarity of the faith. For too long now, we laity have been sold out when it comes to compromise at the expense of the faith, and have been fed a poisonous form of pabulum that has been masquerading as faith for too long. Real love is doing the right thing even if it hurts, and the Church is neither teaching nor demonstrating real love at this time. Nothing good will be accomplished by hiding scandals and trying to pretend they do not exist. Nothing will be accomplished by failing to teach and preach the good news, in order to placate those who could really care less about what the Faith is or what it stands for. It is time to stop betraying those that want to know and live by the Faith, but especially those who are watching, and may be thinking of taking on the Faith as their own.

What poor examples we have become, when it becomes more important to ‘save face’ and cover up, and make excuses for the sinful behaviors than to take a tough stand and send these people packing. We are rapidly becoming a Faith that seems to compromise on all the core values when challenged, and where those even in a position of authority seem to break with the hierarchical authority on a whim. Yet many of these same clerics demand total allegiance to their positions and authority when they hand down a declaration or teaching. They see mandates of Cannon law as ‘suggestions’ and matters of debate versus clear instruction and non compromising positions. Often they see themselves as the final arbiter of the Faith, and will pride fully reject any guidance or mandates given by those who have the authority on such matters.

It is these who are ruining the Faith, and causing dissention amongst the brethren, not those who have the courage to speak up and defend the Faith. It is time for those who do not believe to get out. It does not matter how high of a position they are in, if they don’t live by the Faith and Teach the Faith, they need to be in a place where they can cause no more harm, and that is on the outside. There is no more need to protect these people, and it is they, that have the burden of proof to prove they are worthy to be in the positions they are in. It is time for a good house cleaning. It needs to start in Rome, and it needs to be thorough. And it needs to be soon, before we lose all semblances of sanity and authority in this church. It’s time to stop betraying the men who are solid, and living by the Faith. Let’s do something radical: let’s actually back up those that are faithful to the Church, and get rid of those who are not.