Mea Maxima Culpa

"'Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again'.
'I wish it need not have happened in my time' said Frodo.
'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not up to them to decide. All we have  to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.'"
(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)

In the midst of all the confusing feelings (fear, anger, helplessness, frustration) that have marked for me the outcome of last night's Presidential election, one clear thought continues to force its way to the surface of my consciousness. That one thought is not the sense of bitter frustration that all recent efforts seem to have dissipated in failure like a breath of wind in the night. (That thought would be a lie.) It is not anger towards those whom I deem as blind to facts, or else too self-centered to see any future past their own desires. (Such a thought would lay a road of blame that leads to vengeance.) Nor is it the thought of fear and despair in the face of the coming storm of government control, religious intolerance, and persecution of conscience. (Despair is sin against the Greatness of God, and excessive fear is weakness of Faith.) No, that one clear thought is none of these. That one clear thought is this: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
"Through my fault,
Through my fault,
Through my most grievous fault."
(Here strike the breast three times.)

We must in this time come to grips, as Catholics, that by and large the American Catholic Church has long failed the American people. And more precisely, it has failed Catholics. We have failed ourselves. It will do us no good at all now to point fingers and lay blame. It will benefit us nothing to wring our hands and say, "How could they? How could this have happened?" It has not happened through ignorance, bad candidate image, or poor campaign strategy. Backlash against Bush had nothing to do with it. The economy had nothing to do with it. Hurricane Sandy and the media cannot be our scapegoats now. It has happened because our culture is ill, and all too little of the true Light has entered its darkness. And were we not the ones charged with the task of changing the cultures in which we live? Were we not supposed to be light and salt and witness for all the world? Must we not now shoulder some measure of the burden and responsibility?

Mea culpa.

When I say that the American Church has failed the American people, I do not principally mean now. We have many marvelous priests, and numerous courageous bishops (Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop Charles Chaput, etc.). There are growing tides of converts, there are young and conservative families, there is a change in the wind. But for far too long now the Church has failed her own children. For nearly fifty years (or more) the seminaries have fostered liberalism, agnosticism, and rebellion. Liberal priests and bishops, eagerly misapplying Vatican II have condoned birth control, spurned the importance of confession, made a mockery of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, discouraged traditional prayers such as the Rosary, and rebelled against our Holy Father. Good catechesis  nearly disappeared, homosexual priests continued in their clerical duties, pedophiles were hidden, and increasing numbers of Catholics  became cultural Catholics with no understanding of the great Faith of their fathers. Self-declared Catholic politicians have supported abortion policies. "Good" Catholics have pushed for the ordination of women priests. Fr. Matthew Fox performed his New Age techno masses. And a majority (52%) of American Catholics just voted President Barack Obama into a second term in office. This is man who has divisively and arrogantly given the middle finger to Catholic Church for over a year now in the matter of the HHS mandate. And we voted him back in.

Mea culpa.

If we fail ourselves, we fail the world. All of our recent efforts have not been in vain, but they have not brought about the result which we desired. We have finally stood up to fight, and knelt down to pray; but it has been a little too little, a little too late. We could not even carry half the vote of our own people. Until prayer and repentance take more root, we will not convert the minds and hearts of others. Until our catechesis is strengthened, and our seminaries are purified we will not be able to change our culture. Until our shepherds lead us once more in strength and holiness, we will not be able to lead the world in which we live to light. Until we become salt, we will season nothing. Yes, the American Catholic Church has failed America, but first it has failed American Catholics. Until we are healed of our own sickness, we will not be able to bring healing to the United States. Let us not be surprised to find that the world around us is in shambles, when we are in shambles, too. Let us, with great humility, recognize at last the lessons of history, accept our own responsibility, and begin the long, slow path to rebuilding. Let us not point the finger, but let us admit our own fault. To whom much has been given, much shall be required.

Mea maxima culpa.

So at the close of this election, I pray the we do not give up the fight or fall into despair. This is not the end. The time to start is now. We know now where we stand and what it is that we are up against. We may not have chosen this, but we know now the work we have to do. And it begins at home. It starts in our Church and in our families. The first dread passes now, and I find my mind not so much despairing as clarified and focused. Here we are, let us begin. May we be purified and purged. May we be lowly and lifted up. May we hunger for holiness and find our fill. May we become once more the pillar and ground of truth, the salt of the earth, a city set on a hill, and a kingdom of peace and righteousness to whom all the nations of the earth come streaming. May the Holy Spirit descend upon us as at Pentecost and give fire to our tongues.

"And I ask Blessed Mary, Ever-Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God."
"And may Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and lead us to light everlasting."
In Nomine Patri, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen.