I think there are few if any human beings who are 100% good or bad. The best of us sometimes do wrong things and the worst of us sometimes behave well.
I grew up expecting the best of clerics but misbehavior has been endemic to all religions. I should have realized that. This country was founded on reactions to European religious wars. It’s not just that we came seeking freedom. It’s that we came from continents mired in warfare over who had the right answers to theological questions. Many of those same faiths, really all of our faiths, said they were for peace, the Golden Rule and all sorts of universal principles but didn’t pursue them in practice. It was America’s great contribution to try to realize that universal humanity.
Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard of Albany died a couple of weeks ago. I was certainly unhappy about some of the things that came out about his misbehavior.
He long denied multiple sexual abuse claims against him, but acknowledged under oath that he covered up child sex claims against other clergy.
And certainly there are matters of church doctrine that he and I disagreed about. But I think it’s also important to talk about some of the ways that he should be long and warmly remembered.
One way to crystalize it is that Hubbard embraced the fundamentals of what it means to be American. We are one people regardless of religious differences or where we come from. The principles of good behavior apply to us all, by all of us. And Hubbard is warmly remembered for his work with people of all backgrounds, with the poor, with African-Americans, with Jews and others.
Howard Hubbard was Bishop when we moved to Albany in 1979 and I can’t testify about what happened before we got here. But I can tell you that Albany has been a personally welcoming place. I learned through friends of our children that what their churches taught about Jews had changed significantly under Bishop Hubbard. Certainly, Hubbard is not solely responsible for that. Cooperation between Catholics, other Christians and Jews in Albany goes a long way back and I think that has been increasingly true with the Muslim community as it has expanded locally. That cooperation is made clear in the names of many prominent partnerships in the area. People got along and worked together. And it is also true that our religious organizations work together to deliver food to the poor and deal with other social problems of our era.
Rabbi Scott Shpeen who long officiated at Temple Beth Emeth in Albany, where Hubbard spoke on several occasions, worked with Hubbard on many interfaith programs, and said:
His legacy in building bridges between the Catholic and Jewish community is immeasurable….We have a wonderfully comfortable and collegial relationship with him.
Bishop Hubbard led a service of reconciliation for Christians and Jews on Palm Sunday in 1986. And he participated in an interfaith fask force as early as 1966 to deal with social issues from discrimination to trash pickup.
Howard Hubbard did things that I hope he felt great shame about and should certainly be condemned for.
We need to learn from his misbehavior – that clerics are capable of great sins and that abusing each other, regardless of sex, race or religion are great sins. But Hubbard also participated in our growing realization of the importance of our common defense of each other’s humanity. Indeed, that’s part of why we came to realize that Hubbard’s misbehavior is unacceptable. So, in addition to his faults, he also left a legacy of human decency toward people of all kinds that should, must, survive. It’s what makes America work.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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