News from Sophia Christi

On the day Hitler entered Paris, Clementine Churchill wrote a note to her husband. “My Darling Winston,” she wrote, “I must confess that I have noticed a deterioration in your manner; and you are not as kind as you used to be.” He had been acting “so contemptuous” toward subordinates in meetings that “no ideas, good or bad, will be forthcoming,” she told him, so “you won’t get the best results.” The letter was torn up. But after giving it more thought, she sent it anyway. We need people like Clementine in all the strongholds of power, people who have the courage and ability to not only speak the truth, but gain a hearing for those whose voices have been silenced. And we do have those people—individuals within and outside organizations who pay attention to abuses of power, who courageously call out the abusers and insist on being heard. We have them in the Church where, for more than three decades, many have worked tirelessly to bring the issue of sexual abuse to the ears of the Vatican. Events of the past two weeks have put this shameful history in the headlines again, and it is turning the institution upside down. We need to hear these stories. We need to take a long, hard look at a culture that continues to produce what Francis has called “little monsters” and use our voices singly and in unison to insist on systemic change. (more…)