Bishop Barron on Ezekiel and the Sex Abuse Crisis — Transcript

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1. 0:05[Music]
2. 0:10I must say the past several years my
3. 0:12reading of scripture has changed in
4. 0:14light of the terrible period we're going
5. 0:17through I've often said in the um wake
6. 0:19of the sex abuse Scandal this is the
7. 0:22worst period in American Catholic church
8. 0:23history and I find now that I read the
9. 0:26Bible in a different way and certain
10. 0:28passages light up with with new meaning
11. 0:31a good example is a reading from just a
12. 0:33couple weeks ago at Daily Mass from the
13. 0:36ninth chapter of the book of The Prophet
14. 0:38Ezekiel and though I had read this story
15. 0:40many times before preached on it before
16. 0:42uh it it Shone with a new light Ezekiel
17. 0:46shares with his uh reader a vision that
18. 0:49he has according to the vision a group
19. 0:51of avenging Warriors enters the holy
20. 0:54city of Jerusalem from the north that's
21. 0:56of course significant because most of
22. 0:58Israel's enemies invaded from the north
23. 1:01they come in the city but they're
24. 1:02preceded by a figure who is a writer he
25. 1:05has a writing instrument and he has a
26. 1:07little box like a writing where the
27. 1:09writing uh instruments are kept and uh
28. 1:12he's told to Mark certain people in the
29. 1:15city with the toao the TOA is the last
30. 1:18letter in the Hebrew alphabet looks like
31. 1:20a like a letter T he marked those people
32. 1:23then the Warriors came in behind him and
33. 1:26they killed everybody who wasn't marked
34. 1:29it's a bit now like the Passover where
35. 1:32the Jews marked the lentil of their
36. 1:33homes and the angel came and killed the
37. 1:35firstborn you know all the other
38. 1:38families so there's this great Slaughter
39. 1:41takes place in Jerusalem and then
40. 1:42Ezekiel sees the glory of Yahweh
41. 1:46ascending out of the temple as though
42. 1:48he's about to
43. 1:49leave
44. 1:51now this prophetic vision is like many
45. 1:54others in Ezekiel is a bit like a like a
46. 1:56dream or a nightmare we're not meant to
47. 1:58take it literally don't literalize it
48. 2:01the same way you wouldn't literalize a
49. 2:02dream but like a dream it's strange it's
50. 2:07disturbing and also at the same time
51. 2:09deeply meaningful we have that same kind
52. 2:11of reaction that we have to a dream what
53. 2:14does it
54. 2:15mean well they say that uh in ancient
55. 2:18Israel you were told not to read the
56. 2:19book of The Prophet Ezekiel till you
57. 2:21were 50 because the book was so complex
58. 2:24and so rich that young people shouldn't
59. 2:25even try to interpret it well I just
60. 2:27turned 50 a few months ago so I feel
61. 2:29empowered to to uh interpret it
62. 2:33um the holy city of Jerusalem was meant
63. 2:36to
64. 2:36be the magnet that would gather all the
65. 2:39nations that that people would see how
66. 2:41thoroughly and beautifully God is
67. 2:44praised by the holy city and then all
68. 2:47the nations would be gathered to Mount
69. 2:49Zion Ezekiel knows this it's deep in the
70. 2:52Israelite tradition but Jerusalem had
71. 2:55fallen into great
72. 2:57corruption what does God do what he does
73. 3:00typically is he cleanses he purifies
74. 3:05even when that purification is a very
75. 3:07painful process indeed and again you can
76. 3:09see that up and down the Bible repeated
77. 3:11many times so the Avengers come into U
78. 3:14to
79. 3:15cleanse now why did we read this story
80. 3:19today and why would it uh speak to us
81. 3:21today the church is the new Israel the
82. 3:26church is the continuation of Israel and
83. 3:29it has the same Mission namely to be by
84. 3:33its Holiness by its righteousness the
85. 3:36magnet by which all the nations of the
86. 3:38world are
87. 3:40gathered what's happened to us well in
88. 3:43recent years we have fallen in this
89. 3:46country and around the world into a very
90. 3:49deep
91. 3:50corruption some priests not all not most
92. 3:55some I want to be very clear about that
93. 3:57but some priests who by grace in
94. 3:59ordination were supposed to Shepherd
95. 4:02their flocks ended up abusing children
96. 4:05in the most vile
97. 4:07way some Bishops again not all not most
98. 4:12some who by grace and ordination Were
99. 4:15Meant to guide their
100. 4:17churches in many cases look the other
101. 4:19way or in some cases even aided and eded
102. 4:23this
103. 4:23process that is a very profound a very
104. 4:27deep corruption and it has happened in
105. 4:30the heart of the holy city if you want
106. 4:33it happened in the heart of the
107. 4:35church what is God
108. 4:37doing what he always does God cleanses
109. 4:42God purifies yes even when that process
110. 4:46is painful indeed even when it feels
111. 4:50again I don't literalize God's not
112. 4:51running through the church slaughtering
113. 4:53people but it's a it's a prophetic
114. 4:56symbol of God's yes painful cleansing of
115. 5:00the church now go back to another part
116. 5:02though of that Ezekiel Vision not only
117. 5:05are there the avenging U soldiers you
118. 5:08also have that mysterious figure who
119. 5:10writes the symbol he marks out certain
120. 5:14people who are meant to be a Remnant
121. 5:17around whom God is going to rebuild this
122. 5:20holy city right he'll spare this Remnant
123. 5:23and from that Remnant he will build up
124. 5:26the holy city again what's the sign
125. 5:29again the da the tea well the church
126. 5:33fathers love this because the tea looked
127. 5:36for all the world like a
128. 5:38cross every baptized
129. 5:42Catholic is marked with the towel is
130. 5:45marked with the cross the the priest
131. 5:47will take the thumb and and trace a
132. 5:49cross on the baby's forehead or an
133. 5:50adult's
134. 5:52forehead we all of us baptized into
135. 5:54Christ marked by the towel what's the
136. 5:56point we are all meant to be that
137. 5:59remnant
138. 6:00whose purpose is to renew the church
139. 6:04we're all meant to be those people
140. 6:06around whom God is going to rebuild and
141. 6:08remake his church now I've been very
142. 6:11clear in the past I want to be very
143. 6:12clear now I think this is the worst
144. 6:15thing we've gone through we have to be
145. 6:18very clear about how bad the situation
146. 6:20is that's part of the cleansing process
147. 6:22is to be very publicly clear about the
148. 6:26problem at the same time I don't agree
149. 6:29with those who've taken this opportunity
150. 6:31to leave the church church is corrupt
151. 6:35church is sinful full of bad people and
152. 6:38so I'm getting out see in my judgment
153. 6:41that's taken the easy way out that's
154. 6:43refusing to accept the responsibility
155. 6:45that comes with being marked with that
156. 6:47sign you are meant to be part of the
157. 6:49solution not part of the problem and if
158. 6:52you simply say well I've had it with a
159. 6:53church I'm leaving then you're not that
160. 6:57Remnant around which God's going to
161. 6:58rebuild his church CH so I think
162. 7:01ezekiel's Vision now this is many
163. 7:03thousands of years later we can look
164. 7:04back and say it's a template for
165. 7:08understanding our own time yes the holy
166. 7:11city fell into a corruption yes it's
167. 7:14being cleansed and purified painfully
168. 7:17and yes there remains a Remnant marked
169. 7:20with the sign of the cross whose purpose
170. 7:23is to be part of this great rebuilding
171. 7:25and
172. 7:26solution I think take a look at that
173. 7:28ninth chapter of Ezekiel and realize
174. 7:31that this ancient Prophet is speaking to
175. 7:34us
176. 7:36[Music]