A “scandal” is literally a trap or stumbling block. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it as any saying, action, or omission which causes an occasion of sin for another.
Over the years, the news has reported many “scandals” on the part of Catholic leaders – bishops, priests, brothers, and sisters. It is difficult to say how many people’s faith was weakened by these events, but it is likely that these scandals were enough to make some less-committed people (and even many deeply-committee people) experience a profound sense of disillusionment. In some cases, there was probably no scandal in the strict sense, but simply failings due to human frailty. In other cases, however, especially where the young or the innocent were abused or led astray, real scandal and prolonged harm was (and remains) very much present.
Scandal in the Gospel sense and in the tabloid sense are not quite the same. We should be careful to distinguish them. For example, Jesus Himself caused “scandal” among some of the religious leaders because he failed to observe certain rituals. On an entirely different level, scandals exposed by the media, for purposes of sensationalism, can blow up certain trivial matters in a particularly obnoxious “holier-than-thou” approach.
Perhaps we should remember that it is not only people in public life who can cause scandal. All of us, by our ambivalence, our double-standards or by our hypocrisy can lead others, especially the young and the vulnerable astray. How often do we tell children to behave in one way while we ourselves act in a totally other way? We need to be particularly careful of being stumbling blocks, especially to children’s faith.
“Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness … make your way straight before me.” Psalm 5, 8
