Sucker-punched by crisis in the Church
But Jennifer Antkowiak’s fire for her faith is undimmed
Local TV news and public speaking personality Jennifer Antkowiak paused before she pressed the “post” button on Facebook a few weeks ago.
She and one of her five children had attended Mass at the visually stunning Assumption BVM Church in Bellevue, an outing that included a meal at a town favorite, the Rusty Nail. There were smiles galore and she had captured some moments in pictures that she was inclined to share on social media.
But there was that pause. “I was bracing for negativity. I was bracing for people reacting, ‘Doesn’t she know priests are abusing children and churches are consolidating?’ But there’s a time when you look up and you see beautiful things and you say, ‘This is the life we are living. All of it.’” And she made the post. The Diocese of Pittsburgh has hired Ms. Antkowiak, a devout and lifelong Roman Catholic, as its executive director for community relations — a new, donor-funded position focusing on personal engagement with parishioners and the public, as described in a diocesan statement.
She doesn’t officially start until November, but she’s kind of been on this mission her entire life.
Put simply, the mission is to evangelize the beauty of her faith — a faith that transcends bricks-and-mortar buildings, newspaper headlines, a looming financial crisis, priest shortages, declining Mass attendance, police and grand jury investigations, human betrayal.
It is an understatement to say that hers is an uphill climb.
•••
My life intersects with Jennifer’s in a couple of spots. I spent a few years as a young reporter in her hometown where her father, a brilliant and kind attorney, helped me to learn the ropes of the legal system. He was a sort of mentor to me and I returned the favor once when he asked if I would speak to his teenage daughter about the craft of journalism. I remember her fresh, pretty face and her inquisitive nature.
As years passed, I watched from afar as her career in television took off. She worked more than two decades as a TV news reporter, an anchor for KDKA, and a host of a local TV show. She stepped away from it a couple of times to devote herself to family and to another career as a speaker/consultant focusing on wellness.
More common ground Jennifer and I share: a committed Roman Catholic faith.
And, after spending a couple of hours talking recently, I believe we share even more: pain in the face of the hard truth that the giants of our youth — the priests of the Church — had committed sins so great as to defy full description; anger at the institutional church that sinned in covering it up; conflict over how to make it right; question as to whether it even can be made right.
•••
A few months ago, I jotted down a question in a notebook: “Sell the chalices?”
It was my personal response to reading about the financial fallout of the priest abuse scandal. People are suing. Parishioner contributions are lagging. Payouts for victim compensation (a misnomer if ever I heard one) are encumbered. There’s talk of diocesan bankruptcy.
When I made that notation in my notebook, I was being metaphorical. I was asking myself how much should the Church struggle for its sins of commission and omission? Should the entire institution be allowed to crumble? Should it be torn down?
I ask while fully believing that even if the Church would fall, the faith itself would survive: faith is within man, not of man.
Within that context, flash forward to the news release from the Diocese of Pittsburgh announcing Jennifer’s hire. My reaction was mixed: “Yeah, sink more money into PR-spin.” (The diocese typically spends about $700,000 annually on communications.) On the other hand, as a professional communicator, I saw the value of more communication — more communion — at this time of crisis.
Either way, I felt compelled to write about it. I didn’t know which way to go. I requested an interview with Jennifer.
••• Catholicism permeates every aspect of Jennifer’s life and always has. But how will she navigate these troubled and sacrosanct waters, not just personally but as a paid representative of the Church?
She’s turning to the Mass: “The experience, the sights, the sounds, the touches, the taste of the Host. Everything that happens there feels like home. I’m grounded to it, and I’m leaning into it now.”
The beauty of her faith and the ugliness of the abuse scandal collided with the release of the statewide grand jury report that cataloged accusation after accusation, one more shocking than another.
“I was rocked by it. You hear of someone abusing a child and your head wants to blow off. You’re crazy angry. Then, you take it to the most unthinkable — this is priests and children — and the human brain doesn’t know how to process that, it’s so horrible. I was physically sick and prayed more and prayed harder,” Jennifer said.
She asked God how she could help. And coincidentally (or not) she bumped into Bishop David Zubik, a man she has known since his priest days. They talked. Time passed. Then came the offer of a paid role within the diocese. Jennifer wondered about the appearances: Will it look like an effort to throw a shimmering blanket over a pile of dirt?
She said she won’t let it. “This position will not be used to deny what’s happening. It’s a position that actually acknowledges what’s happening. We are an organization in crisis and we need to increase our efforts to connect with people and with Christ in the midst of all the turmoil.”
I wish her godspeed and God’s blessing.
How will Jennifer navigate these troubled and sacrosanct waters?