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Catholic faith holds steady despite scandal By JOHN DARLING While Catholic parishioners here are expressing "shock and horror" at the church's pedophilia crisis, attendance and donations - and faith - are holding steady, said the Rev. Raymond Finnerty, priest for Our Lady of the Mountain Church in Ashland and Southern Oregon State University's Newman Center. "Members are being supportive and compassionate and going out of their way to help and thank and pray for the priesthood," Finnerty said. The only negative event, he said, was one hate letter sent to the Newman Catholic Student Center, quoting French author Emile Zola that human progress will happen when "the last brick of the last church falls on the last priest." "The scandal has given a sense of credibility to people who hate or don't understand the church, but I just feel sorry for the person who sent that letter," Finnerty said. "The church is in crisis and that affects how people look at the priesthood. Most priests are healthy people, lovingly serving a faithful community." Parishioners at Sacred Heart Church in Medford are dealing with the scandal candidly and continuing normal levels of attendance and donations, said Joel Reeder, retired attorney and member of the church's administrative council. "It (pedophilia) is wrong and it's not time for us to run and hide. I'm not hanging my head. We're discussing it. A sermon here a month ago (by the Rev. Liam Cary) called it spiritual murder that ought to be treated as a crime. The (greater) church has handled it badly. They should have addressed it immediately, especially in this country, with our traditions of truth, openness and justice." George Longie of Medford, who attends Catholic services at the Veterans Domiciliary in White City, said "I resent it (pedophilia) and the priests being hidden and transferred. I go into confession with these guys and I feel betrayed. I have my doubts now and it's really going to take something to bring me back." The parish of Sacred Heart, the Rogue Valley's largest parish, is "shell-shocked," said Father Cary, "to hear these things, one day after another. It's pretty hard to bear, but people are being very generous and we having good attendance, with overflow crowds at Easter." The history of the Catholic church is marked by "grievous problems, seemingly out of control," some of which have lasted over a century, he said, and the church has lived through them and gotten stronger. "In my sermons, I've said that Christ has been betrayed by his chosen ones since the beginning. One (Judas) in fact betrayed him with a kiss. It's terrible and it's at the heart of what's happening now. We must look at the other 11, who overcame their fear and denial." The push toward allowing marriage among priests is not the real issue, Cary said, since pedophilia is a "psychological deformity." He added, "There's no connection between celibacy and this (pedophilia) and a lot of married priests have the problem also." Church members who grew up before the church's liberalizing Vatican II changes of 1964 are the ones who let the crisis develop with a "hush-hush, let's not talk about it" attitude toward pedophilia, said Sue Ward, pastoral council chair at Our Lady of the Mountain. Younger members aren't afraid to ask questions and act, she said. "It's not happening here in the Rogue Valley because we wouldn't let it happen. We would ask immediate removal. But the Catholic church is so huge, I'm not confident they can resolve this." The parish here is responding with a "great empathy and prayer around it" and focusing more on the children than the offenders, she said. "We're sad, but not surprised, because this has been happening a long time - and the (larger) church has to get solution-oriented now." The Rev. William McHugh of Shady Cove Catholic Church said his parishioners are satisfied with the efforts being made to resolve the crisis. He cited a new letter from Archbishop John Blazny of Portland, to be read to parishes in May, that the Diocese of Western Oregon has set up stricter screening policies for priests and will cooperate with civil authorities in all allegations. The letter said church authorities have grievous concern about victims after "learning painfully of the harsh realities of this travesty," according to McHugh. Congressional candidate John McColgan of Talent grew up in the Boston archdiocese. He called the events "tragic and a betrayal of trust by some priests." However, he added, "I have faith the church will come back stronger. That's what you have to believe - that when evil comes, that good must come from that." John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.