The videos that follow were presented in our weekly email flocknote in September and early October of 2019. You can pick up a FREE copy of Bishop Barron’s excellent book Letter to a Suffering Church at the Welcome Desk after weekend Masses while supplies last.

This webpage will be deleted in December, 2019.

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 Part 1: The Devil’s masterpiece

Bishop Barron describes the current sexual abuse crisis as “a diabolical masterpiece,” arguing that this storm of wickedness has compromised the work of the Church in nearly every way.

Watch below as he discusses the landscape today in the wake of these scandals, including the hurt and alienation felt by so many Catholics:

Part 2: What does the Bible say about the sexual abuse crisis?

Bishop Barron notes how this terrible abuse crisis has been analyzed from numerous perspectives: psychological, interpersonal, criminal, cultural, etc.

These are each important, but the problem will not be adequately investigated until we see it in the light coming from the Word of God.

As it turns out, the Bible has a great deal to say about human sexuality and the myriad ways that sin twists and distorts it.

part 3: We have been here before

Bishop Barron observes that while our present abuse crisis is unique in many ways, the current darkness must be seen in historical perspective.

The Church, from the very beginning and at every point in its development, has been marked to varying degrees by sin, scandal, stupidity, misbehavior, misfortune, and wickedness.

In this chapter, Bishop Barron recounts some of the misdeeds and outrageous sins of priests, bishops, and popes in Catholic history.

But he also shows how the Church still emerged on the other side, since there is nevertheless something good, even indestructibly good, about the Mystical Body of Christ.

part 4: With this abuse crisis, why should we stay in the Church?

A recent Gallup poll revealed that 37% of Catholics are considering leaving the Church due to the sexual abuse crisis.

Maybe you’re in that group.

So why should we stay? As Bishop Barron says, we stay because no matter how difficult things become, no matter how much wickedness and sin creeps into the Church, the treasure of the Church remains—not financial treasure, mind you, but the treasure of life in Christ, especially through the Eucharist.

part 5: What’s the way forward after scandal?

The book closes with an important question: What’s the way forward?

According to Bishop Barron, we need three things. First, we need institutional reforms, building upon the changes put in place in 2002, which have reduced cases of sexual abuse down to a trickle.

Second, we need a deep and abiding spiritual reform, beginning with the priesthood but including lay men and women.

Third, we need movements of renewal and reform—new orders, new groups, and new works of the Spirit.

As Bishop Barron concludes, “I know many Catholics are sorely tempted just to give up on the Church, to join another religious group, or perhaps to become one of the religiously unaffiliated. But this is not the time to leave; it is the time to stay and fight.”