“The Church is full of Pedophiles! Uhh No.”

Yea, that face just about sums up my feelings towards these kinds of dumb generalizations. As a practicing Catholic who loves the Lord and the Church, hearing stories about past clergy sexual abuse cases and cover-ups wounds me deeply.  But it doesn’t make me want to be any less a Catholic… Heck no.  Just like whatever North Korea’s leaders do, doesn’t make me want to be any less Korean. It’s really the K-Pop that does that for me… Haha I digress. I recently read an article that covered the story of how the United Nations was recently criticizing the Catholic Church for its administrative faults in response to the various sexual abuse cases over the past many years.  Along with the article, generalized statements were made about the Catholic Church that weren’t true or fair. But then again, most of the stuff we read on the internet isn’t true or fair. Here are some thoughts about this topic that I posted:

The people who have been responsible within the Church for committing pedophilia and or not taking responsibility of removing pedophiles, make up less than 1% of the 1.2 Billion Catholics in the world. Yet the way the media portrays it, makes it sound like all those in the Catholic Church are corrupt, are guilty, are lost. To assume that, is insulting to me, and the countless other Catholics who follow Christ out of love and devotion through faith… Catholics who know that despite the sinfulness of its members, the Church is still holy because of Christ, who is the head and founder of the Church.  In any group or organization, religious or not, there will always be a small percentage of people even in leadership roles, who make bad decisions that hurts lives (i.e. the US Government??).  And sadly, critics of faith or religion will use this as a crutch to point the finger and say that that is why they choose not to believe or go to Church (fine… more donuts for me anyways).

The 99% of the Church’s 412,000+ priests who have dedicated their lives to God, and have never committed any sort of evil towards children… Tell me, where has the media praised them for their deeds? It doesn’t take much education to see that the media is biased, and even when there is negative fallout from past sins within the Church, it’s important not to get swept up in generalizations. The truth is, the Catholic Church is the largest charitable organization on the planet, serving the needs of people day in and day out, throughout the world. And ironically, you will rarely, if ever, hear about any of the awe-inspiring stories of the faithful, in major news outlets.  I am personally so grateful for the Priests in my life who have served my family and me with sincerity; encouraged me in times of difficulty, and inspired me by their example, to live a life that is full and devoted to God and neighbor. Shout out to Fr Mariusz Koch, CFR, a Franciscan Priest, who presided over my wedding last August! Represent!

The way I see it is that if someone in your immediate family was guilty of doing something immoral and evil, and then other family members made the unfortunate decision to cover it up because of shame… Would that mean your entire family is corrupt? That your family is no longer worth being a part of because of the actions of a small percentage? No. This is illogical. In times like those, the Family, or in this case the Church, needs renewal, purification, and healing. Even in the Gospel, one of the 12 disciples: Judas, betrayed Christ. That kind of corruption was present since the beginning of the Church, but Christ didn’t give up on it. In fact, He died for the Church, and as a result became for it the source of life that springs up for all the faithful, to drink from its living waters. Christ also promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church. You don’t ditch your family when the proverbial crap hits the fan… you seek to help restore it back to life, through forgiveness and love.  God forbid… that God give up on us when we’re acting ugly.  Mercy!

If in the past few decades, these terrible things have had to come up to the surface so that those who don’t belong in ministry roles, but rather in jail, could be exposed… then praise God for that.  I still offer my prayers for those who have been guilty of such things, because in my heart I know we are all sinners in need of forgiveness.  I also pray for those who have been victims of such terrible things, because I can only imagine how hard it must be to forgive on that level.  Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, when once interviewed by a journalist, was asked what her thoughts were about a murderer who had recently been brought to justice. She commented that she might be worse off than the murderer, were it not for the grace of God in her life.

I love being Catholic and I’m convinced of the holiness that I’ve seen in its members who have never been praised by the news for their dedication. I choose not to give into sweeping generalizations about this family of believers because of the faults of a minority. Each day I pray for the grace to do my best to strive to be part of the solution, and not the problem. Long live the Church, the Bride of Christ, the refuge for sinners!

Keep the faith and stay classy,

Paul J. Kim