Denver Catholic

23 DENVER CATHOLIC | MARCH 9-22, 2019 "T he Catholic Dioceses of Colorado should have reported to authorities any and all accu- sations of sexual abuse decades ago, but we must praise the devel- opment that fi nally came Tuesday when church o¨ cials announced they will open their records for scrutiny." – Denver Post Editorial Board, Feb. 20, 2019. In the days following the announcement of a voluntary agree- ment between Colorado's three dio- ceses and the Colorado Attorney Gen- eral for an independent review of past allegations of sexual abuse of minors and the creation of an independent survivors' reparation program, news- paper editorial boards from around the state ož ered their opinions on the actions taken by all the parties involved. The general themes seemed to be that while nothing can fully make right the sins of the past, the process the Catholic Church in Colorado has entered into is a positive step in the right direction, and one that should be modeled by other institutions in the state. "Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila deserves credit for opening the records voluntarily, and we hope he is able to stand fi rm in his resolve to expose the worst of what remains hidden," the Denver Post Editorial Board wrote. "The best that can come from all of this is closure, healing and restitution for Colorado survivors of sexual abuse." In Colorado Springs, the Gazette Editorial Board also noted the unfortunate history in the Church, but added that "fortunately, today's American Catholic institutions are safe harbors when compared with most other environments that combine adults with kids." Praising the ež ect that the 2002 Dallas Charter has had within the Church, the Gazette Editorial Board wrote that it hoped the dioceses' actions could lead to state-wide changes. "Anyone who watches local news knows anecdotally about the alarming rate of sex abuse involving children in public schools," the Gazette Board wrote. "Let us hope Colorado's attor- ney general, bishops, investigators and sex abuse survivors can make the investigation a constructive model for others to follow. All children matter, Catholic and otherwise. Each war- rants protection from sexual abuse — just as survivors deserve justice." From Pueblo, the Chieftain Edito- rial Board called the announcement a "remarkable partnership," and said that it "represents a great opportu- nity to provide some comfort and relief for victims and a measure of redemption for the church." In Grand Junction, the Daily Sentinel Editorial Board questioned whether the church should be "lauded" for addressing a "crisis of its own making," but concluded "if the church intends to re-establish its integrity worldwide, what it's doing in Colorado should serve as an exam- ple of the right way to try to make amends." "At this stage of the sex abuse crisis, it's about the best step the church can take," the Daily Sentinel Board wrote. "It's shining a light on its own negligence — at least in Colo- rado. That's how repentance works." And back to Denver, where the Post board wrote that Archbishop Aquila's "words and heart seem to be in the right place," and concluded: "If the Catholic Church wants to move beyond this dark period in its history, the path leads through a transparent reckoning with all that has transpired and a willingness to face repercus- sions, whether they be legal, fi nancial or simply public shame. This step for- ward is a recognition of that fact." "R epent and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1:15). You may hear these words of Jesus on Ash Wednesday, which can be said when you receive ashes in place of "remember you are dust and to dust you shall return." Either way, we begin Lent with a call to repent, knowing in humility that we need God's mercy. When we repent, we express sorrow for our sins and the desire to make a change, turning from our selfi shness to love of God and neighbor. Sin places oneself and one's desires before God. The Catechism tells us that "sin is an ož ense against God," which "sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it" (CCC 1850). But the Catechism also calls it "an ož ense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attach- ment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human sol- idarity" (CCC 1849). What this means is that sin not only ož ends God, but it turns away from the right ordering of our nature and wounds our relation- ship with others. Obedience to God is not something that takes away our freedom, but which strengthens our freedom and makes us happy. God is our Creator and he made us for happiness with him. His commandments set out the way to happiness by showing us how to rightly order our desires and actions. Lent calls us to penance so that we can get our priorities straight again. We should not only give up a particular thing we like, but focus on breaking our attachments that pull us away from higher things: our love for God and others. A recent book digs deep into the philosophy and psychology of the human ordering to God and how sin turns us away from it. Steven Jensen's Sin: A Thomistic Psychology (Catholic University of America Press, 2018) explains the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and, using clear examples, defends it against modern miscon- ceptions. Jensen seeks to explain how sin is a personal choice that entails a "voluntary rejection of God" (7). This rejection occurs because all of our actions must be ordered toward God as the fi nal end or goal of our life. He explains that "Aquinas's notion of sin includes the idea of the order of an action to an end. Good actions are ordered to the true ultimate end; evil actions are ordered to some false or apparent good as though it were an ultimate end" (15). Sin substitutes a created good in place of God. Jensen helps us to get the root of sin and its causes — ignorance, pas- sion, and an evil will — as well as to understand how our lives should be ordered to God. When we live by his grace, God enters into our action and shapes it so that it leads us to him (cf. 76). Even in a state of grace, we sin venially when we look for immediate consolation rather than the ultimate happiness found in the beatifi c vision of heaven. Mortal sin, however, turns away from God and makes another good to be one's end. Ultimately, overcoming sin entails love: willing something greater than ourselves, a good which is absolute and which we share in communion with others. We must experience conversion by turn- ing away from our isolated and selfi sh desires and "turning to God" (95). Lent is a time to turn away from sin and back to God: "To choose for God or against God.... To choose life or choose death" (292). The reason we give things up or take on new practices is to restore our relation- ship with God and others. When we break sinful habits and do penance, we remove the obstacles that keep us from God, but we also must convert our hearts to him in a relationship of love. Sin keeps us from our true hap- piness in Go d and Lent gives us the opportunity, if we repent and believe, to rediscover our true goal and pur- pose in him. The Catholic Reader R. Jared Staudt, PhD, is a husband and father of six, the director of formation for the Archdiocese of Denver, a Benedictine oblate, prolifi c writer, and insatiable reader. DR. R. JARED STAUDT Mark Haas is the Director of Public Relations for the Archdiocese of Denver. MARK HAAS Facing sin to begin Lent Colorado editorial boards weigh in on dioceses' historic agreement with Attorney General

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