Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world. - Epictetus
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| CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz | edited by ATTBS |
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare
Act 1 Scene 3
ANTONIO:
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!
John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
George Weigel at First Things writes:
Theodore McCarrick was not only a sexual predator; he was an accomplished, pathological liar. And pathological liars fool people. McCarrick fooled the media for decades. He fooled his brother priests and bishops. He fooled the wealthy Catholics who funded much of his globe-trotting. He fooled a lot of people on the Catholic left who long regarded him as a hero (and who benefited from his prodigious fundraising). This pattern of deception is depressingly similar to the deceptions that Marcial Maciel worked on traditionally minded Catholics. From which an important lesson ought to be learned: There is no point along the spectrum of Catholic opinion that guarantees immunity from being deceived. One’s theology is not a guarantor of one’s shrewdness.
Stephen P. White at The Catholic Thing writes:
McCarrick was a Master of Deception
McCarrick was a creep and a liar. His attempts to turn anonymous allegations and rumors to his advantage underscores his capacity for manipulation. He insisted that rumors were attacks from his enemies on the right and left. In a show of transparency, he forwarded the anonymous accusations against him to the FBI and notified his own presbyteral council. He even admitted to fellow bishops, including Roman officials, that he had been “imprudent” about sharing beds with seminarians at his beach house, but that there was nothing more to it.
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2020/11/12/mistakes-were-made/
The emotional, spiritual, financial and/or professional cost of having our trust manipulated and possibly destroyed by a con artist, a fraudster, a deceiver or an impostor, be he a priest, prelate or parishioner, can be a wound that lasts years, possibly decades, and even a lifetime.
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master. - Epictetus
If we hold on to betrayal it can fester and infect our lives to a point where we become a slave to misery, and quite possibly become the thing we hate (or fear) the most.
How is trust restored?
Whatever may befall me, Lord, though dark the hour may be;
In all my woes, in all my joys, though nought but grief I see,
O sacred heart of Jesus, I place my trust in thee.
When those I loved have passed away, and I am sore distressed,
O sacred heart of Jesus, I fly to thee for rest.
In all my trials, great or small, my confidence shall be
Unshaken as I cry, dear Lord, I place my trust in thee.
This is my one sweet prayer, dear Lord, my faith, my trust, my love,
But most of all in that last hour, when death points up above,
O sweet savior, may thy face smile on my soul all free.
Oh may I cry with rapturous love, I've placed my trust in thee.
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Stand by your word.