For today’s sermon on courage, I would like the church to open their King James Bibles to Matthew 27:24: “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.”
While Pontius Pilate knew Jesus was an innocent man, the Roman governor authorized his crucifixion in large part because he was afraid of appearing disloyal to Caesar and losing power.
The constitutional crisis our country currently finds itself in may be new to America, but as we see in the Gospel of Matthew, the wreckage caused by political expediency began in ancient times.
Which brings us to St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, a proposed online faith-based charter school in Oklahoma that is seeking public funding, a decision to be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court this year. Last summer, the state’s Supreme Court rejected the contract St. Isidore had with Oklahoma.
Now, let me tell you what I’m concerned with: the 2019 audits by the Catholic Church in Oklahoma that found abuse allegations against 22 clerics to be substantiated. Alleged predators responsible for the care of children were systemically transferred by superiors from state to state from 1960 until 2018.