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	The Gates of Hell Manifested By Burlington Free Press Paul Rousseau May 5, 2010 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100505/OPINION02/5050326/The-gates-of-hell-manifested Jesus declared to Simon, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). It has been obvious that the "gates of hell" have made themselves visible in recent years. It was sad to see that on the most joyful day of the Christian calendar when we celebrate Christ's triumph over death and God's reconciling of humanity with himself that the biggest news coverage, beyond the Easter egg roll at the White House, dealt with the sex abuse scandal allegedly reaching all the way to the Vatican. Other stories included calls for arresting and prosecuting the Pope! While sad and unfortunate, sex abuse scandals are not limited to the Roman Catholic Church. Abuses have been found in all faith communities and beyond including schools, day care centers, the Boy Scouts, and even the U.S. Congress. In the case of the Vatican, these accusations will have to be sorted out. As a Catholic, we cannot help but wonder how these things both seem to happen and appear to be the only story told about the church. If we understand that the church is the "mystical body of Christ," we believe the church, instituted by Christ, is both human and divine, just as Christ is both human and divine. Though reconciled to God, the human dimension of the church is still subject to the failings of our human condition due to the existence of sin in the world. This does not excuse what has been happening but gives us insight into how these things could occur. But despite our human failings, the divine nature of the church brings about a lot of good in our world. Take a look at all the good the church does from providing schools, hospitals, nursing homes, social services, charitable support of those in need, to providing spiritual guidance to any one who seeks it. The role of the church is, ultimately, to lead all souls to heaven. Despite our human failings, the church has always been, historically, a source of good for the world. Those who study history should realize that the history of the Roman Catholic Church is also the history of modern western civilization. Modern western civilization owes its very existence to the Roman Catholic Church. The pinnacle of ancient civilization was equated with the height of the Roman Empire. The subsequent fall of the Roman Empire threw civilization into the so called dark ages. The spark of civilization that kept burning for the next one and a half millennia was cared for and entrusted to the Roman Catholic Church, the official faith of the Roman Empire when the empire met its demise. The source of modern science, education, art and humanities, government, and much more in western civilization is the Roman Catholic Church. For this, the world should be grateful. But through out its history, the church has had to confront "the gates of hell." These confrontations include, among other things, the Roman persecutions of the first Christians, martyrdom of the faithful, theological heresies, church schisms including the Reformation period, secular government's separation from and persecution of the church. Today, the sex abuse scandal and the attacks on the church leadership from the faithless externally and lapsed Catholics internally is only the current manifestation of the church encountering "the gates of hell." The faithful should take comfort in this fact. The church is more than the humans that make up the mystical body of Christ in any given era. The church will survive and like gold tested in fire, it will be stronger for it, for as Christ promised and as history for the past two millennia have demonstrated, "the gates of hell will not prevail against it."
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