Can this debt ever be repaid? Perhaps.

In common parlance we’d call it goin’ broke.

Busted.

Belly up.

Down the tubes…

This week the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester announced it was filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.

Confronted with 121 claims of sexual abuse by priests, this is the fourth Catholic diocese in Minnesota to be brought to its financial knees by financial settlements with the victims of sexual depredation by Catholic clergy.

What it would cost to fully settle those claims is more than the Church can afford to pay.

Financially, that is.

At the end of the process the Church will emerge structurally intact – much diminished financially, but relieved of its financial obligation – forgiven, if you will – and poised to continue.

It’s given a second chance.

Of course, that’s the intent and purpose of bankruptcy law, to give individuals and institutions another chance; to free them from the burdens of past financial misjudgment; offer the opportunity to, thus chastened, set a new course. To start over. And in time to erase the inevitable financial stigma that inevitably attaches to the bankrupt.

“…this is the most just and equitable way to hold the Diocese accountable for past child sexual abuse by clergy,” a statement by the diocese reads.

Financially, that may well be the case. That’s a matter for courts, lawyers and accountants to sift through.

For the Church, parsing out the money will be the easy part. How the Church deals with its moral bankruptcy isn’t so easily determined.

There’s no civil authority to establish a moral bankruptcy court; no Chapter 11 proceeding to address moral and ethical failure. Sin is defined in the soul, not in statute and the measure of its damage may well be eternal.

One thing is indisputable, in the actions of its abusive clergy and the hierarchs who enabled them by systematically turning a blind eye and covering up their evil deeds the Church has run up a moral debt it can never repay. As an institution it is a moral bankrupt.

The question is: should the bankrupt’s debt be forgiven? Should it be given another chance? Is it worth being saved or is the failure so profound there is no way out but to dissolve it entirely, to be well rid of it?

Or can its course be reset? Is there a willingness, a resolve to identify what went wrong – and what allowed and encouraged it to go wrong – and make the changes, no matter how difficult and profound,  needed to bring things aright?

Perhaps. Just as the Church calls the people of God to the sacrament of reconciliation, the Church itself needs to come to confession and perform penance … begging the forgiveness and offering financial assistance to those who have been grievously wronged and callously denied is a necessary beginning, and a solemn pledge to “go and sin no more” only a second step.

Can we look for a new awareness that all of us on this earth are the people of God; that the Church is the people of God; and the bishops and clergy the servants of the Church – the people of God. Is it possible for the ordained to free themselves of the pride, power and sense of superior separateness that tempted the weak to wickedness?

It may be possible. May be…

And on the other hand., let’s keep in mind the good priests and honorable people who bring comfort and support to all the people who look to the Church in their time of need. While not forgetting the pain and humiliation caused by the sins of a relative few, let’s not discount the comfort and joy that sustains and enriches so many.

Much has been damaged, but all is not lost.

Perhaps we can begin again.

Perhaps…