When Religious Leaders Fall
Beliefnet has an interesting slide show entitled Fallen Religious Leaders (Link) From Hare Krishna child abusers, through the Muslim cleric in Manhattan who said the Jews did the 9/11 attack and on to Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggart, it was an interesting list. But the one with the deepest and greatest impact overall has probably been the years-long scandal in the Roman Catholic church with the abusing priests. Several are mentioned in Beliefnet's slide show along with Cardinal Law who was charged with covering up the abuse in his diocese.

It is a sad litany overall, but the loss of trust in people who were placed on a pedestal by themselves, their positions, their congregations, can have a devastating effect. But not always on the people involved. Cardinal Law, according to Beliefnet, "presides over an influential church in Rome." The impact of Ted Haggard's story is small in comparison to some of these others. It won't be long before people will have lost track of him, just as most have lost track of Swaggart and Baker.

But those impacted by the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church will remember for a long time. And that includes many, many Catholics for whom the church was irreparably damaged in their minds. No, it is not right to paint every priest with the same brush, just as every evangelical preacher isn't a meth and sex addict. But when such a deeply held value of trust is shattered by the ones who have claimed it as their own, it is a sad day for those involved.

No, the church - and the world - must come to grips with the fact that we are all sinners in need of grace. Until we can walk along together with this knowledge, not as an excuse but a common ground, we will only find ourselves betrayed and with a diminished faith in the leaders we call to serve us. (That may be part of the problem, but that's for another time.)