Clintons pastor sees struggle for
nations soul
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
Special to the National Catholic Reporter New
York
Pastoring a president acknowledged by political allies as
untrustworthy and condemned by opponents as a serial adulterer, perjurer and
obstructer of justice is, in the view of United Methodist minister, the Rev.
Phillip Wogaman, a bit of a minefield.
Your pastoral zone must be kept personal and private,
Wogaman told students at Union Theological Seminary here Feb. 8. It was the day
on which his parishioner, Bill Clinton, was attending the funeral of King
Hussein of Jordan while the U.S. Senate weighed whether the president was fit
to keep his job. Its a privilege to be his pastor. But its
stressful, too, Wogaman said.
Wogaman became senior pastor at Washingtons Foundry United
Methodist Church in 1992 after 26 years of teaching Christian ethics at Wesley
Theological Seminary in Washington. Not long after assuming the pulpit, the
Secret Service arrived to check out the church should Clinton win
the White House. Foundry Church was only a mile away, and Hillary Rodham
Clinton is a churchgoing United Methodist. Her husband is a Southern
Baptist.
In the wake of the presidents admission last August of an
inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Wogaman became a
member of Clintons three-person inner circle of spiritual advisers.
Wogaman said Clintons confession caused him deep disappointment
over the presidents conduct.
Prior to that time, did the pastor believe Clinton was telling the
truth when he vehemently denied having had an affair with the former White
House intern? I was skeptical, Wogaman told NCR in a
luncheon interview.
Wogaman sees the nation in grave crisis over
Clintons conduct, even if the president is acquitted. As a social
ethicist and frequent writer and speaker on public issues, he feels called to
contribute to a moral debate that he says will be waged for years in schools of
public affairs, law and journalism, and -- he hopes -- in seminaries and
pulpits.
For that reason he wrote From the Eye of the Storm: A Pastor to
the President Speaks Out (139 pages, Westminster, John Knox Press,
Louisville, Ky.) between mid-September and the Nov. 2 midterm elections. The
book finds its fire in two events that occurred Sept. 11: the White House
Prayer Breakfast at which Clinton acknowledged his sin and expressed his
remorse and need for forgiveness, and the public release of the Starr
Report.
Wogaman attended the prayer breakfast, as he had on other
occasions. The next day he agreed to be a panelist on a television talk show
responding to the Starr Report and to the breakfast. His co-panelists and the
moderator all condemned the sinner-in-chief and called for his
ouster.
Wogaman thought the two events showed two impulses at work: one
emphasizing repentance, forgiveness and the spiritual unity of the nation, and
the other focusing on judgment and condemnation. He asked himself which of
these really represents the nation. It was as if the country was
struggling to define its own soul, he said.
With regard to Clintons infidelity, Wogaman told his
congregation in a Sept. 13 sermon that in 42 years of marriage, I
havent done any of that. But I have to tell you that if the president of
the United States were here [he was not in church that day], I could not stand
in front of him and say, Bill Clinton, Im a better man than you
are.
Wogaman believes that no one can say that -- all are in need of
forgiveness, and repentance can take a lifetime. The surest antidote to the
political cynicism that is sweeping the nation in the aftermath of the scandal
is the doctrine of original sin, he said. To those who cannot now forgive the
president and who feel totally let down by his behavior, Wogaman
advised waiting until the dust clears and then look at the bigger
picture. No one wants to be judged by his faults alone, he added.
Acknowledging that Americans yearn for the psychological and
spiritual security of moral absolutes, and that they are finding few, if
any, of them in this situation, the pastor advised rereading the story of the
woman caught in adultery who was about to be stoned when Jesus appeared on the
scene. What if Jesus had not stopped, if hed agreed with her
accusers or been a strict interpreter of the law of the time? What if they had
stoned her to death, in keeping with the law? What would the effect of that
have been on the moral life and development of the people of that
village? he asked.
Wogaman finds the nation at a similar crossroads. The
question is: Which of these, law or love, must give way when they are in
conflict? Such a question forces us to reach deeply into the moral, spiritual
and legal traditions that have formed us as a people, he wrote.
When this whole thing shifts down, if it doesnt leave
us more loving and caring, it will leave us worse off as a nation, he
said.
What does one tell the children if one should choose love and
compassion over law and punishment?
Tell them that no one is perfect -- not even George
Washington, Wogaman said. Tell them that when they do something
wrong -- and this was a lot wrong -- they should apologize and say,
Im sorry. Tell them when they ask, How can you love
someone after something like that? that we love one another because we
are loved. It is God who first loves us.
If Americans are to forgive their errant leader, what can they
expect from him in return? Wogaman believes Clinton and the nation will have to
work very hard at reconciliation. But I have confidence in his presidency
and believe he will act chastely and soberly.
Although Wogaman said he cannot violate any pastoral confidences
and reveal why he or anyone should be assured that Clintons contrition is
genuine, Wogaman hinted that Clinton may grow in candor with the people who
have stood by him. The American people will be in for a confirmation of
their best perceptions of him.
For the nation to forgive their wayward leader at this time would
advance the nation morally, Wogaman believes. Wogaman suggests a soul-searching
debate on American culture, which he hopes would include consideration of the
disconnect between sex and love, the role of pornography, the right to privacy
and how mean-spiritedness and attack ads contribute to our
political character.
If the project appears overwhelming, the pastor noted, the
devil is in the details. And so are the angels.
National Catholic Reporter, February 19,
1999
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