Sunday Meditation: Deliver Us From Evil

St. Joseph, patron of a good
death, pray for us.

I read a sobering article this morning, Father Hyde and the Mystery of Evil, by Deacon James Toner about a pious Catholic priest who became immersed in a child sex abuse ring. It's a horror story to rival Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

As I read the article I couldn't help thinking of the psychological term, cognitive dissonance, believing two opposing ideas at the same time. Clearly, that's what happens when the rug is pulled out from under one -- when a person you believed was holy suddenly is revealed as committing the most horrific evils. How could that be? Is it the same person you loved and respected?

But perhaps a holy "Fr. Hyde" really was pious and good until, somehow, he gradually, step by step, embraced the persona of the evil "Fr. Hyde." It's sobering isn't it? To think of someone we admired and loved, a person we looked up to and respected is revealed as the betrayer. Was he always a fraud? Were we simply blinded by a false light?