It's Only a Matter of Time

From your Bloviator's home town comes word that a priest there, Fr. Michael Moynihan, will soon be a guest of the taxpayers for embezzling funds from his parish, using the money to live the life of Riley along with his...er..."roommate."


I suppose we ought be glad no adolescent boys were involved in this particular case of priestly malfeasance, just another man. Less gladdening is the mere four months Fr. Moynihan will spend in the pokey despite his filching $400,000 grand from his parishioners, forging signatures and repeatedly lying to investigators when caught. More disheartening, however, is that for which there is no legal penalty: Moynihan's bringing yet even more scandal upon a scandal-weary Church.


What seems unfathomable is how this priest, along with all the other renegade priests we've heard about over the years, could, despite their vows, engage in such heinous behavior while at the same time administer the sacraments. How do they sleep at night? The bright side is most of those busted these days are getting on in years, post-Vatican II reformer types nearing or in retirement. It brings to mind the Holy Father's insistence that good liturgy is a bulwark against scandal; that priests who observe the rubrics to the letter, eschewing the nonsense we see in so many Catholic churches, seem less likely to get themselves into personal trouble.


I offer a pleasant irony: in my Episcopalian days, when visiting a strange church, I could, by noting the age of the priest, fairly accurately predict how the service would celebrated. If he were old, there would be no nonsense. If he were young, God help us. In the Holy Catholic Church it's quite the opposite.  That bodes well for the future and is worth keeping in mind next time you're forced to endure liturgical dancing, horrible music or endless extemporizing from a blathering old fool in the pulpit. The actuarial tables are on our side.