I DESIRE MERCY

10th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Hos 6:3-6; Rom 4:18-25; Mt 9:9-13
Rev. John Tran Kha, Houston, TX

n June 4th, 2002, a panel of Catholic Bishops released a proposed "Draft Charter For The Protection of Children and Young People" with recommendations to:

• Remove all priests who abused more than one child in the past and those who abuse any child in the future.
  
• Set up diocesan review board to determine whether a priest who molested one child in the past can continue to serve.
  
• Bishops should no longer enter into confidentiality agreements in settlements of civil lawsuits over sex abuse unless victim insists.
  
• Require background checks for all diocesan and parish workers who have contact with children.
  
• Have bishops provide an "accurate and complete" description of a priest's personnel record if the cleric seeks to transfer to another diocese.
  
• Have each diocese create a review board, comprised mainly of lay people, to examine abuse claims.
  

The public has different reactions to the proposal. Some expresses hope and considers the proposal a good start, but others say the proposal does not go far enough to punish bishops and senior officials who kept moving the accused pedophile priests from one parish to another. Some supports zero tolerance policy to any priest who had abused minors in the past. Others argue that if a priest who abused a youth years ago but never repeated the offense again, should be allowed to remain in the priesthood. The Church should be a church of forgiveness and a church of compassion.

The Pedophiles

Who wants to stand next to the pedophiles and the sexual abusers? Who wants to sit at the same table with them? Who dares to support them? No one!

We feel for the victims. We want to protect the children. We want justice for the victims. We feel embarrassed by the sins and crimes of the pedophile priests. Many people feel angry and disappointed with the accused pedophile priests and the Church. We want to clean up the Church and restore the credibility of the leadership in the Church. But how should we deal with these priests? Now, once a priest is accused of the crime, he is immediately removed from ministry. The media hunts them down and puts them on public trial. Society and the public react negatively and despise them and want them to be punished and removed. No one takes time to ask, "Are they merely criminals or are they also sick?" If we remove them from ministries, will their pedophilia problem go away? It seems that no one cares what will happen to them. Now they are defenseless, helpless and hopeless. Several priests have committed suicide after they had been accused of the sexual abuses of minors and youth. The Church has distanced herself from them. Society prosecutes them. People reject them. They don't know where to go and whom to turn to. The Gospel reading today forces us to ask ourselves, "Is there any place for them in the Church?" "Are we looking at them as the Pharisees are looking at the tax collectors and other sinners?"

The Tax Collectors

Tax collectors in the time of Jesus are not looked at with favor by most of the Jewish people. They are considered unpatriotic for helping the Romans pagan conquerors collecting taxes among their own people. They are impure and contaminated by their involvement with Gentiles and secular Jews. The Jews despised them because they often oppressed and defrauded their own people for selfish financial gain. The Pharisees looked down on them and rank them with adulterers, robbers, Gentiles, and great sinners. And Matthew is a tax collector. But when Jesus sees Matthew sitting at the customs post, He calls him to be his disciple. Then He goes to Matthew's house to join him and his friends for dinner. This is quite a radical act. Jesus publicly associates himself with these sinners.

The Pharisees also see Matthew, but they see him as a great sinner. They do not want to have anything to do with him. They distance themselves from the people like Matthew. When they see Jesus eating and sharing the bread at the same table with Matthew and his friends they attack him by questioning his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" It is a scandalous act. But Jesus does not shy away. He intentionally associates himself with these 'sinners'. And He is openly defending them by saying that He does not come to call the righteous but sinners. Healthy people do not need a physician, but the sick do. And He tells them, "Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'"

This is the Jesus whom we profess our faith in. This is the Jesus we want to follow. This is the Jesus we want to imitate. Jesus is challenging us as He has challenged the Pharissees. We, the Church and the U. S. Catholic Bishops, are facing a great challenge at this difficult time. According to Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, the meeting of the bishops in Dallas on June 13-15 is the most important in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. He has asked the people of the diocese of Galveston-Houston to fast and pray for bishops on Friday June 7, 2002, the feast of the Sacred Heart. And the bishop also asks all the priests of the diocese to offer masses from Saturday, June 8 to Saturday, June 15, for the Holy Spirit to guide the bishops in their deliberations and decision during this most important meeting. We all need to hear the words of Jesus, "Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'" Do we have mercy and compassion for both the victims and the accused? How are we going to hate the sins and love the sinners?

An Image of Jesus

A person had a vision of the last day of the world in which people are enjoying their time in heaven. They greet one another. They talk, eat, drink, sing, dance and listen to music. Every one is happy and having good time. But they cannot find Jesus there. Many people ask the Archangel Gabriel where Jesus is. Gabriel goes all over the places to look for Jesus. Finally the Archangel goes outside the gate and finds Jesus sadly standing there alone.

Gabriel asks, "Master, what is the matter? Why are you standing out here alone and look so sad?"

Jesus replies, "I am waiting to see if Judas is coming!"