Skip to main content

Missing in Action? Not Quite: Moral Courage Still Exists

I've been thinking recently about the absence of moral courage among not just our political leaders, but among our spiritual leaders and just everyday Americans.

We don't seem to value it that much any more, or else it has been cheapened by its commercialization.

So I thought I would pass on just a small incidence of personal moral courage, remarkable by its insertion into everyday life.

Everyone is aware of the Catholic Church's unfortunate reactions to the priestly sexual abuse scandal.

One day, in our Sunday bulletin, I glanced at the message from our priest (now retired for health reasons). He was discussing the fact that it had been a hard year for lots of people, him included, and the need for faith in difficult times.

He talked about his father's death, his mother's illness, and his own health problems.

He also said that he had been struck with depression after "a priest who is my friend has been implicated in a sexual abuse case."

The sentence haunted me for a long time. If I had a friend who had been accused of such, would I have had the guts to mention it, much less to identify this person without equivocation as my friend. Not "someone I thought of as a friend" or "someone I long considered a friend," but just "my friend."

About a month later I asked him about it. First, he made sure that I understand that it was pretty obvious that this priest was guilty, and that he did not condone his actions--in fact that he expected him to be turned over to legal authorities.

But then he said, "He has been my friend for thirty years. I cannot and will not pretend that I don't know him and love him. I'm struggling with how to forgive him without losing sight of his victims and the harm he has done. But if anything about which I have been preaching on infinite love, mercy, and forgiveness is true, then I cannot desert him when he has sinned. Especially then."

Several members of my parish raised a stink about this characterization of a child abuser as our priest's friend, and he gently explained his position again and again to deaf ears. I heard rumors later that even people in the diocese office were upset with his "choice of words."

But I always thought that my priest--whether you're a Christian or not--set a standard for quiet, everyday moral courage that few of us could match.

For the sake of my children, however, I'm going to try to live up to his example.

Comments

Wow. I am trying to think if I have ever been in a position even remotely like this. I don't think I have.

And what is probably even more telling is that the priest in his message probably did not agonize over his wording "a priest who is my friend...". It probably came quite simply to him.

I imagine there are many instances of moral courage happening in big and small ways every day. Perhaps one day there will be a reality-show to tell us about them.

Maybe not. I hope not. I believe that the strength of our country and of humanity lie not in large and historic deeds, but in the thousands of small ones....just like this one, which is not so small after all.
Anonymous said…
This is a profound position; and it takes an extreme amount of courage to defend unpopular people and positions, but this is the quintessence of freedom. If we do not defend things we do not like, it is unlikely we will have the courage defened anything at all.

Popular posts from this blog

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba