Blaming or Collective Responsibility?

It's true that blaming others often lacks mercy.  It can be a vicious snare and cycle.  However, in order for the Church to glorify God once again, and proclaim the True Christ, the Church needs to repent.  In pondering this, the Lord reminded me of the Readings for Monday, April 13. 

Peter, saying "Men of Israel, hear these words:  Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know--this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men."  

Would this be considered blaming?  Was Peter blaming this crowd of men for the death of an innocent man?  But, where is the mercy?  Didn't Jesus forgive them all from the cross anyways?  Didn't Jesus say, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?"  So, why is Peter now blaming them for Jesus' death?  Didn't the mercy Jesus won on the Cross cover this?  Why bother to accuse them now? What's done is done.  It seems possible also that many of the men in the crowd weren't actually responsible for killing Jesus personally.  Why is Peter placing the burden of blame on them, or we could call it, as Pope Benedict does, "collective responsibility."  Which ever you desire to call it, it is the same.  Blame.  The Merriam Webster dictionary states the definition of blame as:

assign responsibility for a fault or wrong. 

Or, there is Matthew 23:27

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!

You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside

but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way,

on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

If this were spoken in the Church today, there would be gasps and scandal for sure.  This would automatically be deemed "judging."  The person who dared utter it would be shamed and silenced. 

This is a huge problem in the Catholic Church.  It is actually a worldly response that has been adopted.  Jesus was speaking the truth to the Pharisees, hoping to pierce their hardened and prideful hearts.  He spoke the truth in this way because He loved them, and desired them to seek His mercy.  So, whatever word you choose; blaming, shaming, accusing...if done correctly with the correct motivation and prayerfully desiring the proper outcome can bring about repentance and conversion. 
There is just such a misunderstanding today about "blame."  Our refusal to "assign responsibility for a fault or wrong" has led to this judgement!  Mercy has been presumed upon, which is a sin in itself, and has misguided an untold amount of souls!  I do believe that the laity has a burden in this, however, the priests bear the greatest burden.  They are the spiritual fathers, the leaders, the shepherds of the sheep.  It is their burden to speak the truth in or out of season.  I don't completely agree that the entire burden lays upon the laity as one prominent Catholic speaker proclaimed after his brush with death.  That would be like blaming the sheep for scattering because the wolves came while the shepherd was asleep.  Or like blaming the children of a family for the sins of the parents.  I also don't agree with many acting as though not one negative word can be said about priests.  That too has led to their identity crisis.  That the priests are above constructive criticism, or accountability has contributed greatly to this arrogance we see and the error being propagated, even by Bishops!  It is God's Mercy that calls out the nature of the sin, and demands repentance.  Without it, the Church will simply remain stagnant and irrelevant.

Before anyone thinks that this sounds cold hearted, unforgiving, or critical please know that my family has interceded for priests for the last ten years.  It is not the typical intercession as most think of it.  We don't simply pray and fast for priests.  We suffer their sins.  These apparently are the priests who are dear to Jesus, but are Judas's nonetheless. Their evil, wickedness, and betrayal is placed upon us so that they may have the room to repent and turn back to Jesus and seek His Mercy.  It is very intense, serious, and difficult.  It took a good many years to understand that this was a ministry of Mercy when it was so very dark and awful.  There is mercy for priests, but they must acknowledge their sinfulness and betrayal of Christ and His sheep and turn back. There are very good, holy priests in our Catholic Church and if not for them, we would surely be lost.  God bless them.  What I am speaking of pertains to the priests who have betrayed our Lord, and they do know it. 

So, to those who are graced with a beautiful parish, ministry and priest, praise and thank God!  But, pray for the wider Church.  There are many, many parishes who are dying on the vine for lack of holiness, lack of spiritual direction, lack of a true Shepherd, lack of Truth.  It is a suffering that can and has led to tremendous discouragement, confusion, and despair.  I don't even want to consider the number of souls that have left our Lord in the Sacraments, have been lost for lack of knowledge, have been lost for eternity as a result of the crisis of faith in the priesthood. 

I read this quote from a Protestant minister named Derek Prince.  I think it could be applied to the current situation:

"I think some churches act like refrigerators, slowing but not stopping the corruption of the fruit they contain-their congregations"

The prayer that is most needed for our priests in this moment is for the grace of true repentance.  They cannot lead others to repentance and salvation if they themselves have not acknowledged their own sinfulness and repent.  Then, the laity will be called to repentance through their holiness and desire to once again please God the Father.  I'm certain our prayers for them, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will be heeded.  Pray also they have the grace of true humility in order to accept and cooperate with these graces.