(LifeSiteNews) — All of us are aware of the severe scandals that have rocked the Church and the Vatican, from sex scandals to financial corruption scandals. But you might not be fully aware of their depths.
My guest on this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show is Stephen Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful. He joins me to discuss the real extent of the corruption in the Church.
Brady’s first encounter with corruption in the Church was when his children were exposed to pornographic sexual education in public schools in the mid-1990s. Seeing that Catholic teachers and school board members who distributed Communion at the local parish had a hand to play in the issue, Brady attempted to speak to his priest and bishop about the issue, but to no avail. Finally, he wrote to other priests in the diocese and found out that his bishop – Daniel Ryan – was “involved with picking up teenage boys off the street and having his way with them.”
Thinking he could approach the rest of the hierarchy about the issue, he eventually found out that the hierarchy was part of the problem. Eventually seeing that the problem extended globally, Brady eventually worked with Servant of God Father John Hardon S.J., and, after seeking Hardon’s advice, Father Malachi Martin S.J., to combat it. Hardon, who was once ordered to convince Brady to stop fighting the problem, told him privately that he should not, even if he publicly attempted to convince him to stop.
“I was in a world I never thought I would find,” Brady tells me. Considering the corruption in the hierarchy and the opposition he faced early in his fight, with Hardon’s help and that of other clergy, he says, “I had to come to the understanding that once a member of the hierarchy crosses that line, he’s nothing. He’s put himself in jeopardy.”
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When I ask him if the American hierarchy has changed for the better in terms of sexual abuse, Brady tells me they have not. While some would say that bishops cannot go “too far” for fear of persecution, Brady tells me they have an obligation to do what is right before God. Members of the hierarchy Brady spoke with won’t clarify anything, even where he could be wrong.
Even now, Brady says, the hierarchy seems not to care about any such problem. Pointing to the existence of canceled priests, he says “canon law means nothing,” as none have had due process.
Looking at the problem of money laundering on top of sexual corruption, Brady says that what people see is only the tip of the iceberg. Discussing a particular case centered on a Jordanian he knows, Benjamin Seryani, Brady says Seryani did not realize he was involved in alleged money laundering for corrupt Church officials until he began to produce bills for work that was never being done. If jurisdiction in the case is moved from California to Jordan, Brady tells me, Seryani is afraid he would not live long.
“My thought is, if they enter the hierarchy without a true love for Christ and His Church, what are they there for if not a criminal enterprise?” Brady asks. “Can you really fear God and believe in hell if you commit a sacrilege and give Holy Communion to a world leader who’s done more to promote abortion than anyone else?”
“Can you love your fellow man if you do that, because you’re sending this world leader to hell or helping him?” he continues.
Later in the show, we talk about Brady’s motivation behind his fight against corruption and the salvation of clerics’ souls. He says no one around the late Daniel Ryan spoke to him about his salvation, adding that the same happened with those surrounding former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Brady believes people do not truly understand what love is.
For Brady, the solution to the crisis in the Church is to call out the hierarchy over the evils its members committed and compel them to respond. If more members of the hierarchy stand against corruption from its highest part, he continues, it would “force” them to address it.
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