SAINTLINESS :

Lies of the Cardinals (GARRY WILLS, April 28, 2002, NY Times)

In the year 425, a scandal rocked the African diocese of Bishop Augustine ó now known as St. Augustine. A priest in the community attached to the cathedral died and left his personal property to Augustine. A grieving Augustine went before his congregation to say why he felt that he could not accept the bequest. That priest, like others who had entered that community (and like Augustine himself), had sworn to divest himself of all personal property. To take the property would make the community dedicated to the truth of the Gospel a partner in a deceitful transaction.

Augustine said that he would set up a special board, including "loyal and respected brothers from your number, from you, the community," to decide on a division of the property among members of the priest's family. But that was not enough. If one man had broken his vow, why should people not suspect that others might also be doing so? The reputation of the priesthood was at stake: "Neglecting reputation is a way of being cruel to others," Augustine wrote, "especially in a church position such as ours, about which the Apostle Paul wrote to his followers: `Present to everyone a pattern for doing good works.' "

Augustine did not protect his priests' reputations by covering up any possible offense, but by openly investigating all of his priests, with a promise that audits of their finances would be publicly delivered at Mass. He reported on each case singly. After finding that some priests still had joint holdings with family members, he insisted that these be instantly renounced. Immediate and public divestiture was the condition of their remaining in the community.

Then Augustine issued a warning, saying that any priest found holding property in the future would be instantly expelled: "I will not let him divest himself of it and stay, but I will delete his name from the clerics' register. Though he should appeal from me to a thousand councils, or sail to any other arbiter wherever--anywhere he can--yet, so help me God, he shall not be a cleric so long as I am a bishop. You hear me. They hear me."

Saints, who one might think we would treasure during their lives, instead tend to terrify us, precisely because of the impossible example they set us. It seems safe to say that Pope John Paul II will be sainted one day, but this is not his finest hour. He might want to consider the example of Saint Augustine, however difficult a standard he set. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 30, 2002 8:43 AM