Who is the Catholic Church?

During all the reports about scandal in the Catholic Church, the common media persist in two errors. The media confuse the message and the messenger.

If a postman, while delivering a letter, walks across our rose garden, would we refuse to read the mail he delivers? A handful of messengers have despoiled the garden of faith. This in no way affects the message of the Gospels, the message of Jesus. And it in no affects my faith.

In fact, journalist John Bentley Mays writes that this crisis presents an ideal time for renewal and a "great opportunity for those who believe that the central task of Christianity is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God."

The media present a false idea of the Church as some monolithic creature in a foreign land. I am the Catholic Church. The people I see every Sunday are the Catholic Church. Along with a billion others, we are the Catholic Church. Because the perpetrators of these evils are also the Church, the rest of us have a heavy cross to carry.

Let justice and love prevail. Let's also have a clear understanding of the nature of the message of faith and who exactly constitutes the Catholic Church.