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holy anger

6 Comments

I’m mad. Spitting mad. Irate, outraged, furious, frustrated, livid, fuming.

Angry doesn’t have enough synonyms to sum up the fury I feel at the most recent sex abuse scandals to shake the Catholic Church. I can heap adjective upon adjective, yet everything falls flat in the face of depraved evil and systemic injustice.

The men who perpetrated such heinous crimes and the men who covered them up have made a mockery of the church I love. I cannot stay silent.

In the weeks since the news broke, nearly every Catholic I know has struggled to digest and respond to the sickening scope of evil in our midst.

But when I turned to Scripture for help and hope, what I found was clear.

Holy anger.

“Putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil.” (Ephesians 4:25-27)

This Scripture leapt off the page on the night I read the news of the grand jury report from Pennsylvania. Far from a simpering plea “not to go to bed mad,” this exhortation is quite the opposite: a prophetic cry to be angry in holy, timely ways. Not to resort to sin, but to act in truth for the good of the Body of Christ.

For years I thought that anger was my downfall, especially in parenthood. I joked about my Irish temper, but I struggled as a new mother to control my impatience and frustration, not to erupt when I wanted to explode.

Anger was a sin, I thought. No one ever told me anger could be holy.

But throughout Scripture, I see anger rise to the surface as a clarion call, loud and clear. Over and over these stories have risen in my prayer over the past few weeks, reminding me this anger is where God calls me to be.

Think of Jesus’ anger in the temple, flipping tables and driving out with whips. Pure and perfect ire. By definition as a divine act, his anger was not sinful but holy.

“And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.” (Mark 11:15-16)

Holy anger is righteous, not self-righteous. It is prophetic, not oppressive. It is vocational, not vindictive. A call to each of us to wake up and act against evil.

When I get angry about ordinary human concerns, it’s because I want MY will to be done. I want to be heard, I want to be right, I want to be in control.

Holy anger is the opposite. In the face of evil, it demands that God’s will be done.

“For mercy and anger alike are with him; his wrath comes to rest on the wicked.” (Sirach 5:6)

Holy anger shows up in every story of Scripture. From the beginning God holds mercy and anger together. What’s more, every quality of God is eternal. Which means that if divine love and compassion have always existed, then so has holy anger.

But holy anger does not deform. It transforms, restores, and heals.

“He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” (Mark 3:5)

Holy anger is what our church needs right now, to spur us on to change.

. . .

Here are 4 truths I am learning about holy anger.

It runs clear.

Holy anger is not clouded by my own selfishness. It is sparked by evil and spurred by injustice. When I draw closer to God, I feel this anger confirmed and clarified, flowing mighty and strong like a roaring river.

It lasts.

Holy anger doesn’t flare up fast and furious like my own impatience. It endures. Beyond mood or moment, this anger rises but does not simmer down. “Slow to anger” is how we hear God described in Scripture, over and over. Slow to anger, yes. But still to anger.

It unifies.

Holy anger is communal: it pulls together the Body of Christ. Since the scandals broke, I have witnessed the gathering of courageous, committed Catholics who are determined to do their part in speaking out against evil and injustice. Although our approaches or emphases may differ, the impulse to unite in outrage is clear.

It directs.

Everything that is of God exists for God’s purposes in the world. Holy anger has a telos: an end toward which it leads. It is not fury for fury’s sake, but anger with a purpose: to root out evil, to restore justice, to renew healing. We cannot be content to stew and sulk. Holy anger compels us to act.

So what do we do with our holy anger?

  1. We stay clear.
  2. We stay angry.
  3. We stay together.
  4. We act.

Stay alert, stay patient and persistent, stay faithful to the truth, stay committed to change. Here are concrete steps for prayer and action to get started: support victims, contact bishops, support good priests, keep praying. Write letters. Talk to your children.

We are not wrong to be angry at what is happening in the church. Quite the opposite.

This is not the end; this is only the beginning. But holy anger will lead us.

“For he shall rescue the needy when they cry,
the poor who have no one to help.
He will have pity on the weak and the needy,
and save the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life.”
(Psalm 72:12-14)

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cackie Upchurch says

    27 August 2018 at 3:59 pm

    Thanks, Laura. I tried to express some of this to a friend of mine recently. You do so very clearly and I appreciate that I can share this with her.

    Reply
    • motheringspirit says

      27 August 2018 at 4:33 pm

      Thank you, Cackie. Grateful for your words, too.

      Reply
  2. Susan Balling says

    28 August 2018 at 6:00 am

    Thanks a lots!!

    Reply
  3. K says

    4 September 2018 at 12:33 pm

    How do we act? This abuse has been going in the church for hundreds of years now and we know the Vatican covers this up. How do we act to make change in the church?

    I love our faith! Would you continue to work for a company or be apart of a group that engaged in this type of sexual abuse? No, you would likely leave!

    My heart is struggling so much right now. What is your take on this?

    Reply
  4. MacCarthy John C says

    19 September 2018 at 7:13 pm

    Thank you for sharing, Mrs. Fanucci. I look forward to reading more.
    I will share your “Holy Anger” post with my wife, friends, and our pastor!

    SJU alum., class of 1988

    “Mister Mom” since 2008

    father of 5 kids enjoying human journies

    father of 2 souls whom I hope have met and embraced Maggie and Abby Fanucci

    Reply
    • motheringspirit says

      21 September 2018 at 4:34 pm

      Thank you so much! Grateful for your words.

      Reply

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I’m Laura Kelly Fanucci. Mother, writer, wonderer. This space is where I explore mothering through writing. It’s where I celebrate how God shows up in the chaos of raising children. It’s where I love to build community with readers like you. Read More…

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thismessygrace

thismessygrace
Nearly 20 years ago (!) these crazy kids graduated Nearly 20 years ago (!) these crazy kids graduated from Notre Dame. Now we’re thick in the midst of life-with-kids, celebrating middle school & preschool & everything in between. 
 
Since June is a month for graduations & celebrations, I’m delighted to help you celebrate with @grottonetwork .

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To enter the giveaway, follow @grottonetwork and @thismessygrace and leave a comment below about what you’re celebrating this month. Tag a friend for extra entries (up to 3).
 
Rules: Open to the U.S. only. Entries will be accepted until 6/11/22 at 11:59 pm CT. The 2 winners will be chosen at random and announced on 6/12/22. Per Instagram rules, this promotion is in no way sponsored, administered, or associated with Instagram, Inc. By entering, entrants confirm that they are 13+ years of age, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's terms of use.
“How did you do this?” I want to ask her. “H “How did you do this?” I want to ask her. “How did you let your heart break a thousand times?”

I want to call my mother and ask her impossible questions, to probe her heart that held five children and let each of us go in the hardest ways. But I know what she will say, “It’s hard. But you’re doing a beautiful job.” She can’t give words to the deepest yearnings and groanings. None of us can.

I wish I could ask my grandmothers, each of them gone for decades now, each of them matriarchs who raised big broods of their own. I never got to know them as an adult, but I have heaps of questions: How did you do it? How did you not lose yourself or your way? Or did you, and that was precisely the point?

I want a whole book of answers to impossible questions, and none exists. So I send my thoughts to the mothers of faith whose short stories, mere snippets on pages, have sparked small lights to guide me along. To Sarah and Ruth, Hagar and Rachel, Mary and Elizabeth. Every unnamed anguish the holy ones carried, every treasure of love they held in their heart.

Is it any coincidence that birth often brings both cries and screams, laughter and joy?

We hold it all within us. We cannot give words to the enormity of what it means to mother.

I sit outside a coffee shop two blocks from my children’s school on a sunny afternoon, the last day of the year. I wipe away tears for the natural nostalgia, but I also feel the gutting grief welling up from my own wounds of motherhood to know a deeper truth: marking milestones with love and longing is nothing compared to the gaping loss of not having your child here to break your heart in a thousand tiny ways.

So I resolve again, a hundred times again, to let this vulnerability become the strength that keeps me fighting for all children to have what I want for my own: life, love, health, safety, support, opportunity, community, hope. This is how parenting asks us to change. To let the particulars of our lives stretch us to love more widely.

I once thought “to mother” meant to have and to hold.

Now I know it also means to let go.
Many of you asked me to save these suggestions I s Many of you asked me to save these suggestions I shared after the school shooting in Uvalde.

Remember: we can’t do everything, but we can each do something.

Just because we can’t eradicate evil overnight doesn’t mean we can’t take small strong steps toward change.

Any work for justice and peace is long and hard. But we can build this work into our daily lives in concrete ways.

Look at the children in your life. What would you do to keep them safe and alive?

Start there. Let your life and love lead you.
When women meet, the world changes. Today is the When women meet, the world changes.

Today is the Feast of the Visitation. A day when we remember the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth.

Two women pregnant with new life, blooming with prophetic power.
Two mothers called to change the world.

What would happen if we gathered together like this today?
How could the world change if we made Mary’s song our own?

“He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.”
(Luke 1:51-53)

Imagine if we stayed in this holy space—not for a moment’s meeting, but for months together—to gestate the dreams God was waiting to birth through us.

Imagine if we let ourselves be filled with the Holy Spirit to shout out with loud cries.
Imagine if we lifted our souls with prayers of justice and joy.

Imagine if we gave each other strength and service, courage and compassion, as we kept asking how to answer God’s call in our ordinary lives.

When women meet, the world changes.

If you want to know how to fight for justice for your children, for your people, for this world, look to the Visitation.

The mothers will show us the way. They already have.

(Image from the “Windsock Visitation” by Br. Mickey McGrath, OSFS, commissioned for the Monastery of the Visitation in north Minneapolis.)
Here’s what I wish I would have heard preached t Here’s what I wish I would have heard preached today on the Ascension.

Right now is a time to be prophetic and pastoral, a time for each of us to ask how God is calling us to act.
I am writing this to us next week. When our right I am writing this to us next week.

When our righteous anger will have quieted down. When the white-hot fury pulsing through our veins will have subsided. When the news cycle will have moved on.

Do not forget how we felt tonight.
Stay angry. Flip tables.

We cannot live like this. Literally—our children are dying. Our elders are being murdered. We have accepted violence as—a way of life? An unfortunate side effect of freedom? A helpless shrug?

No. I am not resigned.
Stay angry. Flip tables.

Remember how it felt today to hear the news and feel the world crack open—again, for we have heard it a hundred times now. Remember how you felt sick to your stomach. How the children around you glowed, alive and fragile, miraculous and vulnerable.

Remember how you wanted to do something, anything, how you wanted to act, how you wanted to stop and scream for it to end, how every cell in your body cried out that this was evil and unjust and horrific and cannot continue.

Press into that memory like a bruise.
Stay angry. Flip tables.

The only way anything changes is if we change. Change what we believe. Change who we support. Change how we vote. Change where we give. Change how we act. Change how we speak. Change how we pray.

There are no easy answers to terrible, complex problems—which is what gun violence in the US has become. But the lack of easy answers makes it all the more urgent and vital that we press into our righteous anger and say NO MORE.

Stay angry. Flip tables.

I am writing this for us, for tonight, for next week. And I never want to write it again.
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