But Who Are They Angry At?

Posted on January 3, 2003 in Social Justice

“We are faltering disciples and we have come here on wobbly, weak and shaking knees. We may even have come with clenched fists and tightened jaws, angry over all that has happened,” Rev. Daniel St. Laurent said in his eulogy for Rev. Richard Lower.

A very moving story, but just who are they angry at? Lower for what he might have done to a boy in 1973? The man who brought up the charges last week? The Diocese of Manchester for treating the charge seriously and putting Lower on leave while local authorities investigated?

Perhaps this is merely an example of the press failing to fill in all the details. Or maybe St. Laurent was being deliberately vague to please everyone in his audience? It seems that the crowd felt sympathy largely for Lower. What will the man who made the accusation be made to suffer now? Will he be, regardless of the truth of his claim, be likened to the killers of saints?

“Everyone stands in a bit of disbelief and shock. At this time, they are concerned about the loss of a pastor,” pastoral council President Richard Biron said after the service.

What about the loss of peace of mind to a young man? And what can we say for any “man of God” who makes his parishioners dependent upon him, so much so that when his moral purity is questioned, that they feel more sorrow for him than for the victim?

Who are they blaming here? The news reports leave us no clue.