the more things change

I'm continuing to read The Nun of Kenmare, the autobiography of our community's founder Margaret Anna Cusack (known "in Religion" as Mother Mary Francis Clare). This book was written after she had gone through many trials and difficulties with the church hierarchy. No doubt her challenging experiences gave her a certain perspective. One might even call it prophetic ...

Facts cannot be hidden as they were in previous ages. People know that certain evils exist, and though they may be silent for a time, the existence of these evils is not forgotten. An open, honest admission of the evils in the church would go far to lessen them. It would, at least, save the church the awful crime of even appearing to approve evil by not condemning it. - The Nun of Kenmare, 1888

Later she writes about placing her Sisters in a parish where she knew the priest to be of less than desirable character.

I thought if I went to the bishop and refused to go, that a new story would be circulated to prove that I could not agree with my bishop; so I went, and I held my peace until the truth of what I had been told was so apparent that I felt bound in conscience to report the matter to the bishop. He was not surprised, for, of course, he knew the poor priest's failings, but what can bishops do? They must have priests, and they must often take what they can get or leave their missions unsupplied. - The Nun of Kenmare, 1888

I wonder what Margaret Anna would think of our church today. Certainly these two passages could have easily been written about the recent Church sex abuse scandals, more than one hundred years later.