Today at Holy Mass we read the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Pretty famous parable.
The king forgives a huge debt. Turns out that debtor has a debtor of his own, owing much less. But he refuses to forgive. The other servants are outraged. So the king calls his debtor back and righteously condemns him.
Who’s the main character of the parable? A question prompted the parable: Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother’s sins? So: I guess this parable is about the original debtor? About his failure to show mercy? Or maybe it’s about the fellow servants? Their zeal for justice?
No, silly. Obviously the parable is about: The King. God. The mercy of God. He has compassion. He sees reality.
He is the only one in the parable who isn’t desperate. Because He has no needs. He doesn’t owe anyone anything. He has no fear whatsoever of the unvarnished truth.
Out of kindness, in order to get everything straight for everybody, He initiates a reckoning. But He Himself has such endless wealth that He can afford to write off huge debts. It doesn’t matter. He has infinitely more. Infinitely more.
God is the hero of the parable. He is the hero of the Bible. And He is the Spouse of the Church.
…Everybody heard about the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report? How about: Anybody actually read it?
Probably not, because the nauseating recurrent narrative in the Catholic media has repeated itself: The report comes out, and the usual happens. Bishops everywhere begin to talk endlessly about themselves. (Because that is what they do.)
My question is: Why is the release of this grand-jury report an occasion for sorrow? Most of the sorrowful events recounted in it occurred twenty years or more ago. The original events are terribly sad, and sickeningly maddening. But the release of the report is not sad. The release of the report is a triumph. Of the truth.
This moment has come because: the victims have achieved heroic honesty. They have stood up. They have born witness to exactly what we, the Catholic Church, believe in: Justice. Chastity. Truthfulness. The victims have done this in spite of the excruciating pain involved in doing it.
Seems to me that our job right now is to honor these heroes. They have shown great faith in the infinite love of God. Sorting out good from evil in their lives has cost them an enormous struggle. But they did it. They triumphed. This is their hour.
I say: We should rejoice that they have climbed to the top of this terrifying mountain. Now they can see a beautiful sight. God is good, and there is hope.
Many of the sex offenders listed in the report have died. They have met justice. Those still alive should face justice, and let’s hope they will. Seems like we human beings can manage that; we can organize things so that criminals face justice, and a penalty, for what they have done.
One thing the report, and the reaction of the bishops the past 36 hours, shows: The bishops of the United States do not know how to organize that. That is: Seeing justice done. They don’t have the foggiest idea how to study facts and make careful judgments.
Thank you, grand jury, for pointing that out. But we knew that already. That has actually been perfectly obvious for many, many years.
All that, really, is just a tawdry sideshow to the real brilliance of the moment. What really happened when this report came out is this: A people abused and suffering stood up, spoke the truth, and brought about a new and better day.
Father Mark White Blog 
I cherish your opinion, Father and would hope that a great percentage of our priests believe as you do? Do you think so?
Have we read it, you asked? Loaded question. Who can honestly read 1300 pages of allegations, victim stories, half-hearted attempts, if you can even call it that, to move priests away from their victims… Rejoice, you say, that truth is coming to light. I question, can our hearts and minds survive the truth?. How does this truth not tear apart the heart of faithful Catholics who had hoped that their bishops had cleaned house, had stemmed the violence, only to find out that the effort has been minimal, unsatisfactory, political… And this is only Pennsylvania… Of course there is no way that our pain reading the victims stories and the betrayal of the church hierarchy could never come close to that of the victims, but maybe sharing in their pain just a small bit by sharing the knowledge gives them some relief?