I know I repeat it to the point of caricature … the image I use at the start of Mass addressing the gap in us between who we are and who we want to be.  I’ve been around and so am not so terribly surprised when I meet human sin and failure, but I must say I am ashamed, angry, and deeply sad over the arrest of the pastor at St. Patrick’s Parish in Onalaska.  The pull of our caved-ed in nature is indeed universal, but there are few things as disheartening as when someone we looked up to as leader shows they too are have clay-feet.  It causes us to doubt the good news, to question the power of grace, to wonder about the strength of our faith.

There’s a story about a 19^th century professor of philosophy and ethics caught up in an academic and personal scandal, trying to defend himself before a group of his students: “My task as an educator is to point to the truth.  I have done that doggedly.  Is it so terrible that I fail to live up to my message myself?  After all, a road sign doesn’t have to take you to the destination to do its work, does it?”  To which one of his students responded: “It does, Sir, if the sign is a person.”

I had a retreat director in addressing us priests liken the Christian life, and its ups and downs, to the pledge we make in marriage.  “We say we marry ‘for better or worse’ … though likely what we mean is we are counting on the and are expecting to avoid the worst.  But a married couple (and we in our Christian lives) need them both … and should expect them both: ‘for better’—to teach us love’s joy … and ‘for worse’—to make our love more pure.”

This is a purifying time for us all in the Catholic community in this area.  We need to encourage each other.  Pray for the Parish of St. Patrick … and for Fr. Pat Umberger … and for all whose trust in authority figures everywhere has been a little bit more poisoned this week.  And look to yourself too.