JASON KEITH FERNANDES
Before the terrible dogs of war broke loose in West Asia/ Middle East, the world was shocked by the ab solute scandal of the Epstein files. The Epstein files are part of a collection of millions of documents, images, videos, and emails detailing the activities of not only, the late Jeffrey Ep stein, the now infamous Amer ican financier and convicted child sex offender, but also his social circle of public figures, politicians, and celebrities. The scenario that unfolds through the perusal of these files reveals a hellish situation! It recounts incidents where through the offices of Jeffery Epstein, various members of the global elite gained access to all manner of perverse perks and pleasures, but above all sexual favours, often with un derage women. All of these are reported to have taken place ei ther on Epstein’s private island or in other locations marked by extreme luxury and privilege. Indeed, anyone with Christian sensibilities would remark on the similarity of these details to the description of Babylon in the book of Revelation. The revelation of these files wrought so much damage that it brought down many among the great and powerful, nota ble among them being Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, and a great many others who are now be ing prosecuted or investigated for sexual abuse and corrup tion. How should we as Catholics reflect on the Epstein files? Should we gloat now that there is a horrific scandal amongst those same secular elites who would have crowed when the Church was embroiled in simi lar cases of unspeakable abuse? Reflecting on the A-list per sonalities he associated with, and who have been identified as being stuck in the same web of sin that he is credited with spinning, I was struck by the banality of Epstein’s origins. His father, Seymour George Epstein, worked as a groundskeeper and gardener for the New York City Depart ment of Parks and Recreation. Before that, Seymour Epstein was a construction labourer and worked for his father’s house-wrecking company. For mer neighbours and acquaint ances described Jeffrey Ep stein’s parents as a “quiet and humble” couple. Working class origins. That Epstein was not born into wealth but gained access to it through his natural talent with numbers, and no doubt his charm, makes his seduction by Babylon all the more sorrow ful. Sorrow, therefore, should be one part of the Catholic response to this monumental tragedy. The other dimension to this response was captured by Bishop Erik Varden during the annual Lenten retreat he preached to the Roman Curia this year: “A secular mindset will simplify: when it meets ca lamity, it designates monsters and victims.” Bishop Varden also pointed out that “the Church possess es, when she remembers to use them, more delicate and more effective tools.” Through the centuries of Her existence, Our Holy Mother Church has come to recognize the exist ence of diabolical assault. “Ex istential hunger, vulnerability, a yearning for comfort. Such experiences,” Bishop Varden reminds us, “may arise by way of assault.” A number of potential Catho lic responses are revealed when considering this teach ing. First, it reminds us that the world is not only composed of that which can be seen, but also the unseen, and that this unseen world is occupied not just by God and His angels, but also by the devil and his min ions. The latter seek to corrupt and assault us to achieve this diabolical end. It also becomes clear that it is not for members of the Church to fall into the game of demonising those who have fallen victim of demonic assault. One condemns the sin, but one also prays for the sin ner. Briefly viewing a clip of an interview of Epstein with Ste ve Bannon (a polemical figure in his own right, but let’s not go there now) the impression one came away with, was of a man who was defeated, trying to gain sympathy, still trying to use charm to get out of a situation, but above all, very confused that none of this was working any more. One pitied the man. Contemplating Epstein – and the many men and women he associated with, and the sins they have been accused of – for a while, one realises that this is how the diabolical works. It plays on our weaknesses, on our very human needs, as well as the strengths and talents that we are gifted by God. It promises fulfillment and res olution of our human failings, and then, once we have suc cumbed completely to tempta tion, we are dropped, so that the talents we were gifted by Our Lord, become the very weights that drag us down into hell. The Devil – the Catholic Church teaches – hates life, and how he delights when it is through our potential to live that we are compromised! For this reason, a Christian lets the law take its course because we recognise that human free will is necessary and involved in assenting to diabolical propositions. Mercy and compassion to the fallen as much as the victim must be the face of the Christian response to sexual, or any other scandal. In his preaching to the Ro man Curia, Bishop Varden concluded with the following observation that we would do well to reflect on: “The spiritual life is not ad junct to the remainder of ex istence. It is its soul. We must beware of all dualism, always remembering that the Word became flesh so that our flesh might be imbued with Logos. We must keep a look-out both to the left and to the right while taking care—[Saint] Bernard [of Clairvaux] insists on this point—not to mistake the left for the right or the right for the left. We must learn to be equal ly at ease in our carnal and spiritual nature so that Christ our Master may govern peace fully in both.” The mercy and compas sion that form the heart of the Christian response to a tragedy of the order that the Epstein files reveal, emerge from a rec ognition that human life is not merely the material and visi ble. To use the words of Bishop Varden, the spiritual life is the soul of our existence. If there is one thing that the Catholic Church has to offer in the face of the horrors of the Epstein files, it is this truth, and the rec ognition that success has been couched in hedonistic terms for too long, while the spiritual has been forgotten. What the world needs is to balance the materi al with the spiritual and walk with both the spiritual and the carnal hand in hand, each giv en its due importance and not confused for the other. For this reason, the Catholic Church must also be marked by a fierce commitment to preach ing the remedies that the world cannot offer. The sacraments of our Holy Mother Church, and particularly the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist. (Jason Keith Fernandes is an anthropologist of the law and a theologian.)
