Sinful men and the power of the word

Many people have been deeply wounded by the institutional Church, and this in at least two distinct but related ways.

First, some individual priests have been guilty of grievous and, at times, heinous crimes.

Second, some bishops — including those in very senior positions — knowingly covered up wrongdoing and reassigned offenders, even when the risk of re‑offending was clearly grave.

It is therefore not surprising that many people cite these failures as reasons why they “walked away from the Church” long ago.

One of the great difficulties in such circumstances is separating the man from the sacrament, and fallible men from the Church’s sacramental life. The Church herself has always insisted on making this distinction, not to excuse sin, but to safeguard the faith of the people of God.

Writing in the fourth century, Saint John Chrysostom (Homily On the Betrayal of Judas) and cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1375) expresses this with remarkable clarity:

It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.

In the same section of the Catechism, Saint Ambrose of Milan, writing in roughly the same period, expresses the Church’s faith with equal eloquence:

Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated. The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed.... Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature.

How can it be that sinful men can preside and act in the person of Christ when the change happens in the Eucharist? These Fathers articulate a foundational Catholic conviction: the efficacy of the Eucharist depends not on the holiness of the minister, but on the action of Christ himself. The priest acts in persona Christi, not because he is worthy, but because Christ wills to act through human weakness. This is God’s way, not ours. Let no one claim worthiness.

At the same time, nothing written here excuses or diminishes the grievous failures of the Church’s institutional leadership –  local, diocesan, and universal – which in many cases betrayed trust and gravely scandalised the faithful. These failures have been a major cause of stumbling and even spiritual harm for countless people, and they demand truth, repentance, justice, and reform.

Holding these two truths together –  the unwavering holiness of the sacraments and the real sinfulness of those entrusted with authority – is difficult, but necessary. The Church’s faith insists on both.