…”He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and manifest the intentions of hearts.” That is from St. Paul to the Corinthians.  WE HAVE BEEN WARNED. The intention of hearts part is scary.  I met Archbishop McCarrick on several occasions. He was very charming. I have no money to promise him, so he wasn’t trying to charm money out of my bank account. My good looks have long since faded, so it is unlikely that he was trying to charm me into his bed. There is nothing that I have that he could ever possibly want.  Is his being charming a habit formed by all of his secret, and not so secret, desires for money and sex?   Can being charming become habit?

God judges intention. I know from dealing with my own bishop and his predecessor that words, like honey, can drip from their lips but they, at least with some priests, mean something totally different than what they say, or say things that betray their tone deafness or worse, in my opinion, ignorance.

It has been my experience that contrary to the New Testament; priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinal archbishops suck-up to the wealthy and/or famous and do treat them in a different way. I was once told by a layman to find out who are the wealthy people in the parish and become friends with them. Wow, a layman sees that as normal operating procedure for clergy.  Does the rest of the world think that? Maybe I am tone-deaf.

You don’t get to places of power and authority without being adept at playing ‘the game’. This is as true in the Church as it is in the business world. Sociopaths? Psychopaths? They play the game really well.  They often get positions of power.

Therein lies the problem.  If consequences for my actions do not matter to me and I never have any remorse for the bad things I do then I can move predatory priests around, I can molest children, seminarians and other men without worry. “You are my friends, says the Lord, if you do what I command you.”    These people ARE NOT friends of God.

In the breviary Psalm 37 is summed up in this manner…The lot of the wicked and the good. Then it quotes Matthew 5:5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’  Meek, not haughty or arrogant but meek. Where are those men? We need smart and meek.