The Mark Foley scandal has been the talk of the town lately. Yesterday I read online some of the text messages that Foley sent to a teenage boy and it's some of the most shocking things you could ever read coming from a US Congressman. Just about everyone is agreed on that. Now we have many representatives and congressional aides doing damage control and others trying to inflict more damage on an already incendiary situation. So who's to blame for this fiasco? The Republicans are saying that the Democrats are on a witch hunt. The Democrats are saying that it was Republican operatives who leaked the story to ABC in the first place. And what we end up with are two diametrically opposed sides lobbing grenades at each other. Everyone is on the offensive and the defensive. People across the political spectrum seem to be running up to the front lines, throwing a bomb, and then ducking for cover. But someone is being relegated to the backseat in the wake of all of this wrangling: Mark Foley himself.
A person is more that what he/she does, and Foley is no different. What kind of help is Foley receiving? What kind of help are his victims getting? Are they getting any personal support from colleagues, Republican or Democrat? Is there anyone recognizing that Foley is a severly disturbed man who needs help? Would anyone on either side of the aisle be willing to show some compassion to Mark Foley? I'm getting the impression from listening to the media darlings that none of that really matters right now. What does matter, though, is gaining political capital from this whole thing, and it just shows how entrenched people can become.
Both political parties now have the chance to show that they're not just a bunch of political opportunists. Mark Foley and his pages represent the opportunity to bring out the best of everyone involved. It would be nice to see Republicans and Democrats together reaching out to Foley with mercy and compassion, while at the same time trying to restore some dignity and wholeness to the pages Foley exploited. Otherwise, the shame and the guilt and the scorn heaped upon them will just drive them deeper into the darkness.
Douglas Hoag
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Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, New Lenox, Illinois.
I'm married with two children.
My MBTI type is E/INFP, in case that means anything to you.
My prayer: Lord, help me finish everything I sta
Most importantly, I believe that the reality and personage of God was uniquely and fully realized in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No one else comes close.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for the seizures and/or convulsions you may experience while reading this blog.
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I'm married with two children.
My MBTI type is E/INFP, in case that means anything to you.
My prayer: Lord, help me finish everything I sta
Most importantly, I believe that the reality and personage of God was uniquely and fully realized in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No one else comes close.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for the seizures and/or convulsions you may experience while reading this blog.
Doug Hoag's Profile
Create Your Badge
2 comments:
Unfortunately politics isn't about compassion and grace. The Church is. Politics is about the acquisition of power without merit, and the corruption that immediately follows.
The press understands power and corruption because it's trying to uncover it. It doesn't understand grace, because uncovering corruption isn't about grace; it's about exposing sin so that it can be punished, not forgiven. If any grace is being extended to Foley right now, the press isn't gonna cover it. It's gonna cover the politicians scurrying like roaches for cover.
I would hope (and expect) there are Christians extending grace to Foley, but we won't hear about them immediately. Such stories take a while to get out; and politicians are too worried that grace will be misinterpreted as complicity.
Very keen observations. The media seeks the sensational to get bigger audiences and make money for themselves and sponsors. And of course, sin and controversy are big news items. I wish it could be different, but people are drawn to the salacious. Perhaps people will start to tending to the wounds when the smoke clears. I hope I get to hear when that happens.
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