I wrote about the situation created by Meghan Trainor when she disrespected teachers on a podcast. She responded quickly with an apology, and the response to that and my thought that day varied in a variety of ways. One of the most common responses was around how teachers, like so many other professions, circle the wagons when one of their own does something wrong on the job. While nobody thought what she said was right, many of you countered that there are a lot of bad apples in the teaching profession, and her words were not all wrong. A lot of parents have serious and real concerns about who will be teaching their children.
When I was finishing my two-year stint at my first church (a trial run to see if I could cut it) and was getting ready for my first full-time appointment, I had to meet, as a matter of protocol, with the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee (PPRC) of the congregation I was heading to. I had made an appointment for my wife to meet the outgoing pastor (a very gifted woman) to get a tour of the parsonage. When we arrived, the house was dark, and nobody was home. My wife had to sit in the pastor’s office (empty of books and without curtains) while I met with the committee and learned that my predecessor had run away with a married man in the congregation the night before. The church had been told that her life had been threatened by the estranged wife; this turned out to be a lie. Since this woman was not fully ordained (and a woman, I would suggest), the bishop revoked her temporary status so that she could not serve a United Methodist congregation ever again. Good, I thought; the church was doing the right thing. And they were, in this case. But not in all.
It turned out that there were 5 other cases of pastors cheating on their spouses in that Conference that year, but since these men were all fully ordained (and men, I would suggest), they were quietly moved to serve in other churches. One of the men decided to take a leave and get counseling, but the other 4 went about their business. Nothing to see here. Sure, there were whispers and some disagreement among the clergy, but the wagons had been circled and the men (curious, isn’t it?) still had jobs for life. We see this behavior in police units and among politicians as well; we protect our own at all costs. The problem, of course, is that there is an expectation that certain behaviors are inappropriate in these jobs, and we need to protect the innocent. If an electrician or postal worker cheats on their spouse, it generally doesn’t hurt their job performance. When teachers or clergy or the police cross moral and behavioral lines, the damage is devastating. They aren’t just damaging themselves and the people they love; they are hurting the innocent.
No teacher should get away with bullying or harassing or mistreating children. No police officer should get away with misconduct. No pastor should get away with immoral behavior. When we allow this kind of behavior to go unchecked, we damage all that we stand for. We destroy trust in our positions and our institutions. There’s a reason the public doesn’t trust us; when they see us protecting those who do wrong, they see our hypocrisy. When we don’t deal properly with those who cross uncrossable lines, we are complicit in their wrongdoing. I love and support teachers, clergy, and police, but that doesn’t give any of us the right to break our vows. We are responsible for more than ourselves; we clergy, at least, are answerable to God.
Prayer – God, help us to understand the difference between right and wrong, and give us the courage to protect the innocent; even against our own. Amen.