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	Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C' Father Lasch [United States] June 17, 2007 http://fatherlasch.com/ There's a lot more to the story. In order to get the gist of Nathan's words to David, we need to read the entire story of David's misdeed and subsequent cover-up in the Second Book of Samuel, chapters eleven and twelve. It's a sordid tale of David's lust after Bathsheba and his sinister conspiracy to do away with Uriah her faithful husband and heroic commander of David's army. The first reading hardly does justice to David's sin and in effect almost sweeps his crime under the rug. Not so fast, Nathan. Tell us the whole story. Actually, Nathan's encounter with David climaxed with a parable about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers. But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children. She was like a daughter to him. Now, the rich man received a visitor, but he took the poor man's ewe lamb instead of his own and made a meal of it for his visitor.'" David exclaimed to Nathan: "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this merits death! He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this and has had no pity." But Nathan said to David: "You're are the man!" and continued with the harsh sentence of retribution. "You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down." The story continues this morning with David's deep remorse and confession of guilt followed by Nathan's absolution on behalf of God. It's a dramatic narrative of how even the greatest can succumb to the most heinous of sins. Those in the highest places are not exempt from the greatest falls. But Jesus was born in the line of David and it was Jesus' willingness to dine and die with the greatest sinners that resulted in the justification and redemption of all from the least to the greatest. It is five years this week since the bishops of the United States met in Dallas to hear the heartrending stories of a lifetime and more—the stories of young and old, victims of abuse by men and women of the cloth, victims whose only weakness was their innocence. Equal to the sin was the spin of the cover-up of the guilty and the moral assassination of those who stood with victims against their perpetrators. Now five years later and the expenditure of over 1.5 billion dollars some in high places would convince us that David's sin is past and that wrongs have been righted and there is no need for remorse. However, the spin continues in many quarters and those who stand with David have yet to confess that they have not told the whole truth and nothing but the truth." I suppose 'spin' is the sin of our age that has afflicted almost every institution—political, economic and yes, even ecclesiastical—that we have held in high esteem. Its victims are of every rank and age who pursue integrity no matter what the cost. Just prior to the Dallas conference, I addressed an open letter to our bishops with a plea for openness and the hope for healing not only of those wounded by abuse but also of those who inflicted the wounds. Here are some brief excerpts. As you listen to the stories of victims and reflect on the insights of experts of every persuasion, please do not limit your deliberations to a political, legal and yes, even morally correct measures to prevent sexual abuse. Assure us that you are courageous enough to accept responsibility for the failures of the past. Please view this issue as only a door-opener to other issues that we Catholics have been pondering for years, issues that touch the hearts of people who love their faith tradition. I'm thinking about sincere people 'in the pew' who are not always 'in the pew' because they feel excluded by canonical barriers that keep them from the Eucharist table: divorced Catholics unable to secure a canonical annulment, priests whose vocation to marriage forbidden to serve in any capacity in active ministry and gay people still attempting to find acceptance for their orientation. These are only a few of the categories of those for whom our Catholic discipline has become an obstacle to grace. There are other Catholics for whom these issues are volatile. In their opinion, your laxity toward and lack of clarity about these issues as well as your failure to take a stronger stand against irregularities in these areas of pastoral concern are the very reasons for the current scandal. Let them speak and listen to their stories too. Many of their criticisms about the hypocrisy that has crept into Catholic attitudes and pastoral practices are justified. Please do not treat us like children. Open your hearts as well as your minds to our concerns. Was it not St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, who said, 'In addition to the fact that I am a Christian and must give God an account of my life, as a leader, I must give God an account of my stewardship as well.' Part of your stewardship is to listen to the faithful—and to the unfaithful, too, I might add. Accept this unique moment in the life of the Catholic Church in America. I offer this revision of your preamble to the draft document on prevention which you circulated earlier this week: Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, We stand naked before you and before the world. Never in our lifetime, have we been so conscious of what it must have been like to be crucified with Christ as one of the thieves. We are saddened that it has taken a crisis as grave as this to awaken us to the fact that, in the words of our young parishioners, 'we have not been there for you!' In the course of time, we have assumed the role of administrators and fiscal managers instead of shepherds. We are ashamed that we have listened to those who tried to exempt us of the responsibility to care for those who were so brutally exposed to wolves in sheep's clothing. We accept this crisis as an opportunity, indeed, as a most serious challenge to open the door of our hearts to you, especially to those who have been wounded by the sins of our brothers in ministry. Beyond this, we want to confess our negligence in turning a deaf ear to so many other areas of concern to you and promise that we will put aside our preoccupation with structures and institutions so that we may concentrate on the pure work of the gospel. We know that it is only a first step in a series of overtures that must lead to concrete actions and activities that will assure you that we are sincere in our determination to lead as servants, not as masters. Please accept our words as they are offered—with humble and contrite hearts. The entire text of the letter may be found on my website link, "Open Letter". The letter was 'hand delivered by a victim of sexual abuse from St. Joseph Parish in Mendham to Bishop Harry Flynn, then head of the bishops' committee dealing with the bishops' response. Harry and I were former colleagues in vocation ministry many years ago. I never received a response from him or from any other bishop for that matter.] Catholics are among the most resilient of believers and when 'David' is remorseful and asks forgiveness, Catholics are quick to forgive. But there can be no healing and forgiveness until there is justice. There can be no justice until there is truth and no truth without full accountability. And when you think about it, is this not the standard of integrity to which each and everyone one in this assembly is bound—father, mother, sister and brother, priest, deacon, religious and parishioner. Living the Christian life is not a spin of words but a sincere movement of the heart toward all that is noble and true and good. We have no greater model than Jesus and there is no sin that is greater than the mercy of God.
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