“The Irish Bishops Don’t Get It”
From Austen Ivereigh:
“Look at the statements and homilies made by some of the Irish bishops yesterday following their two-day meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, and one thing will be perfectly obvious: they just don’t understand the problem. There is plenty there about sin and repentance, God’s loving and healing mercy, and the evil of abuse of children — and of course, mention of guidelines which prevent it happening again. But what none of them mentions is the culture of collusion and cover-up which prevented the priest perpetrators being dealt with until at least the mid-1990s. Nothing about the decades of denial. No mention of clericalism. Not one reference to institutional idolatry.”
Ivereigh is absolutely right. This is a deep-rooted cultural and societal problem. What is often forgotten is that primary responsibility for some of the worst abuses lies with the state, not the Church. Successive generations of Irish politicians created a gulag system whereby Irish children were locked away on the most meager of pretenses and subjected to the most horrendous abuses. This was never talked about in Ireland, but everybody knew what was going on, as the bogeyman of the industrials schools (always mentioned in hushed and horrified tones) was used to scare generations of Irish children into behaving themselves.
These horrors came out in the Ryan report). On top of this came the Murphy report, detailing a pattern of abuse and cover-up in the Dublin archdiocese that persisted until the arrival of archbishop Martin. By then, the damage was done. Ryan had seeped into public conscienceness. The Irish population was utterly disgusted, and rejected the Church in greater numbers than ever before. Again, it should be noted that the politicians quite deftly deflected blame toward the religious orders, not taking any responsibility for the their own policies and the connivance of the department of education. The fact that blame is widespread points to an underlying sickness in Irish society. And much as a Jansenist-ridden French Canadian Church imploded a generation ago, the Irish Church is now involved in gut-wrenching changes.
The Church stands at a crossroads. Its reputation has never been more battered. Anecdotes abound of priests in Dublin fearing to wear clerics in Dublin city because of the abuse they will receive. If we want to save the Church in Ireland, renewal is urgently needed. It must start by recognizing the cultural sickness that bought us to this point, and not gloss over it with mealy-mouthed references to sin and forgiveness. Only one Irish cleric seems to understand the stakes – Dublin archbishops Diarmuid Martin (David Gibson has a must-read essay on him). Unfortunately, the Vatican seemed unwilling to support Martin in the tough line he was taking. The only loser here is the Irish Church.
Comments are closed.
MM, I am in agreement with your statement about abuse being a societal and cultural problem. However, my contention is that abuse by a priest does infinitely more harm to society and the church due to the sacramental nature of the priesthood, not only physically and cognitively, but spiritually as well. The spiritual effect is quantumly magnified due to the power of the priesthood.
The Pope’s response is inadequate and it weakens the entire Body. A passionate response of love is needed and the Pope as Father must immediately go to Ireland to address every citizen and ask them what he can do to help heal the wounds that affect all of us. He must go and face the rage openly as an example of what a protective and healing father would do. He must show to the entire Church the action of love that does not hide and does not avoid the pain that has resulted from the Church’s sinfullness.
If he does not openly face them and us then he will fail in this critical moment that would define humility and sacrificial love.
You know, a few threads down from this, there’s a “poll of youth” put up by bretalkeld, I think. He asked what is your “least favourite thing about Benedict XVI. I refrained there, but I’ll answer it here: he’s a dissembler of paedophile abuse, and, at least as regards the Legionaries of Christ, he has been, in the past, during the pontificate of John Paul II, even an enabler of it. If he doesn’t go to Ireland and do exactly what Ronald King says, he will be continuing in that mode.
We have had a similar problem here in Canada with the residential schools crisis. True, the church was complicit in heinous things. Yet, the goal was a state goal, which was “civilizing” aboriginals. They were run by churches for the purposes of the state. Yet, its the churches that have been doing most of the repentance in lawsuits and apologies.
Well, wrong is wrong. But Churches/Christians have a
higher obligation. “Let him that nameth the name
of Christ depart from iniquity”. I could list a lot
more verses.
Digby, I diagree with your last comment about the pope. It was John Paul who insisted on burying any inquiry into Maciel. The first thing Ratzinger did was re-open the case.
It is easy to raise questions about the cover up in the church which certainly has to be faced. I am wondering how one explains the massive cover up of sexual abuse in families – catholic and otherwise in Ireland and elsewhere.
The instances among clergy and religious, devastating as they are, are miniscule compared with the sexual abuse of children in families according to government statistics. And this is true too of the high percentage of abuse in public schools in the USA according to recent statistics.
This does not in any way excuse the former, but it does raise questions about the institutional reasons we raise why it was not dealt with more swiftly by church authorities. My guess is that the reasons for the one and the other would be similar.
So I ask these questions: why has this crime with frightful consequences been denied and covered up for so long by so many in families – and still is? Why, considering the statistics available, is there not a nationwide government enquiry into the high percentage of child abuse in the population?
I am please that this sin and crime is being faced in part of the church. But what of the majority of cases elsewhere in the Church, among the laity? It is easy to make a scapegoat of the clergy, or that small proportion of clerics and religious who suffer this pathological sickness, for surely that is what it is. I had never heard of it or even knew it existed until publicity in the 1990s and I have been ordained now for 40 years.
I have found in my long life observing people, that those who are most vocal and often bitter about some particular perceived evil (e.g. homosexuality) are hiding something themselves.
MM, haven’t you seen the video of the then-Cardinal Ratzinger slapping the journalist for bringing up the issue to him in the street, just as he was about to get in his limousine?
Dear Comment moderators, I am surprised that every one of you has to approve every comment. Is this really necessary? Do you not trust one another?
Could you not rotate editorship of the Blog? And I wish you had insisted in your comment policy that contributors use their full name. Why would anyone want to, or be allowed to, hide behind anonymity?
What is more, while I respect your right of modify comments, if you alter mine, would you please let me know why. The problems is, I suppose, that if you edit what I have written, it is no longer my comment. And do you note changes have been made when you print the comment?
Blessings, Fr Ronan Kilgannon, resident priest, Kangaroo Valley NSW Australia.
Digby, yes I’ve seen that video, irritation with a persistent journalist does not imply guilt. The fact is that John Paul ordered the Maciel case to be dismissed. Mere days from John Paul’s death, Ratzinger re-opened it on his own initiative. This tells me that he took it seriously, and disgreed with John Paul on the issue.
Excellent point, Fr. Ronan. It has been clear to me for some time that people are scapegoating Catholic priests (but not the officials of any other religion) because they do want to face the true extent of abuse, which is within families.
Fr. Ronan:
We moved to a process of full moderation, because the consensus was (among the contributors and readers) tbat the comments boxes need to be cleaned up. Moderation has a number of advantages. First, we delete the offensive and insulting comments that can destroy the overall tone of the blog. Second, since moderation takes time, it is less likely that responses are written “in the heat of the moment”, and again, this leads to more tempered comments. Our policy is that each contributor is responsible for his own posts. Of course, I’m not saying there are no disadvantages to full moderation. There are.
We do not edit anybody’s posts, as far as I can tell.
As for full names, I see the point, but some people (for employment reasons) need to protect their anonymity. We try to respect that.
Anyway, if you are new here, welcome to Vox Nova!
David Quinn (who attended the Inquiry’s hearings) wrote a very good article in Studies magazine about the Ryan Report, having realized that most media commentators had read no more than the summary:
http://www.studiesirishreview.ie/j/page712
Here are a few of the facts:
1,090 former residents reported to the Ryan commission; they named 800 alleged abusers in over 200 institutions.
Boys: 50% of the physical abuse reports and 64% of the sexual abuse reports came from 4 institutions.
Girls: 40% of the physical abuse reports came from 3 institutions; 241 women religious were named as physical abusers, but 4 of these were named by 125 witnesses and 156 sisters were named by only one witness each.
Of the 800 religious and others named as abusers, 400 were named by only one person. Sixteen institutions had more than 20 complaints made against them.
The bishops recently invited the Pope to attend the Eucharistic Congress in 2012.
Maybe it should just be cancelled.
The video Digby refers to is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhEUwxadh7U
If Jesus is the truth and he said he is the light
of the world but people love darkness instead of
light, there will always be another “ism”, an alternative created rather than submit to the authority of Christ. People responding to this
article have remarked on the wrongdoings of:
the state, families, why other denominations
have not rcvd the same level of criticism.
The Catholic Church presents itself as the
Church established by Jesus Christ.
Are not Christians supposed to be partakers
of “divine nature”? Should not more be expected than
a state organization? Everybody is wrting their
“opinion”. Does not scripture say
judgement begins with the house of God?
1 Peter 4:16
Father Ronan, I’ve worked in my counseling practice with abuse victims for 30 years. Do you understand the power of the priesthood? You seem to underestimate that power for healing and for hurting. I know what needs to be done for the victims and it is the perpetrator getting on his knees before the victim and admitting to his violence. It means the father of the victim getting on his knees and admitting that he did not protect his child enough or love his child enough. It means the victim is given the freedom to face his abuser and those responsible for the safety of the victim and expect to be heard.
I just saw that video Michael, thank you. And thank you Digby. We have a system of reporting abuse in the secular world and it is a poor system. What is the system in the Church? No priest should ever state the numbers outside the Church are higher. That is absolutely callous and defensive. Every priest should be outraged.
The priesthood is a sacrament and the damage done by a priest is a greater harm than harm done by a lay person. It is easier for a victim to cope with when the abuser is a monster than with someone who is seen as a man of God.
Thank you, MM for confronting this horrible evil. It makes so many people uncomfortable, as it should!
Mr King, it is not callous and defensive to mention abuse of children by those who are not priests and religious, because it is happens to be true that it is where that the majority of abuse happens. Have I no right to call people’s attention to this in an attempt to get people to face a most terrible problem that no one seems to be addressing? You allow me no right to bring some balance into the discussion. Is it that anything a priest says on this matter is to be condemned?
Neither do I agree that the lack of trust caused by a priest’s abuse is worse than that of a father (or mother) or older sibling in a family. Surely that is a frightful failure in trust and care in the place where all children should feel most loved and secure. Perhaps the priesthood is considered differently where you are than in Australia. In a survey of respected profession in Australia, the priesthood comes at the bottom after car and real estate salesmen.
Mr King, if you are involved in counselling abuse victims I applaud your work and accept what you say needs to be done for healing. And by the way the reporting system in the Church in Australia has been in place for some years. Immediately an allegation is made it is reported to the police and the priest or religious is stood down. There have been cases of false allegations that have wrecked the lives of good priests and religious. But I suppose it is callous of me to mention this too.
But I ask, have you written to alert people to the problem in families to newspapers or magazines, as you are writing here about abuse within the priesthood in the church? If you and others in your profession did so, I would not have to mention it, and if you have not, then every layman or woman should be outraged.
P.S. Thank you Vox Nova moderators for you explanation and welcome. It is a fine Blog.
You call that a slap! Why not be upfront and say I’m looking for any evidence that the Pope is to be at fault. It surprises me how people are willing to use the child abuse story to further their political aims. The left say it is all down to clericalism, the right say it is because there are homosexuals tolerated in the clergy. I’m unconvinced that either response actually help the victims.
Fr Ronan, perhaps if the problem had not been covered up, people would be more understanding. Does not
scripture say expose darkness? Ephesians 5:11.
Why did the Catholic Church ignore/hide the problem?
Are there people making false claims? I suppose so,
but it doesn’t change anything. Why aren’t you mad
that instead of addressing the problem earlier
and taking more measures, other people were not
abused? You still build the straw man, “look
at how bad the state is, the family is”.
I ask this sincerely, what is your opinion
of 1 Peter 4:16?
Father Ronan, We have child protective services, guardian ad litem services, foster parents, sexual assault response center, professionals who specialize in the treatment of the predators. These have been in place for over 35 years. The school counselors and psychologists receive special training in identifying children at risk. Everything you have suggested to do I have done throughout my career.
The safety of the child is our major concern. What is your spiritual perspective of the priesthood? Maybe I wasn’t clear about my perception of the powerful spiritual effect of a good or bad priest.
Jake, it is the intent and disposition of the future pope that gives some insight into his defensiveness as a fear based problem-solving strategy.
No question about it trust has been lost – and much of it will not be regained in my view unless some fundamental corrections are made. While one can certainly appreciate the various steps taken by the clergy to create transparency – as a husband and father I simply do not trust this latest and greatest generation of pious overachievers. Seems to me actually that particularly traditional and conservative leaning catholics are so busy lifting Priests back on a pedestal that does them no good.
For me, the shortage of Priests combined with as it seems an attempt to immediately elate those new and oh so pious and wonderful orthodox new priests is rather toxic. I would feel much better if the church could choose from a larger pool of applicants of all walks of life, gender and martial status. Set the bar very high and be very diligent in selecting. For me exclusive male priesthood combined with celibacy -while laudable and historical – turns more and more these days into a albatross around the neck of the church – perhaps call me callous and jaded but in times of 24/7 web access I do not trust reassurances that everything is o.k. –
For me one fundamental correction to regain trust is to open up the priesthood to ALL catholics – all who display desire and talent and successfully finish a high quality seminary that is.
(LOL I am selfish here since I believe that unless we get Priesthood for men, women and married the liberal leaning segment of the catholics church will continue to diminish)
It is not particularly novel that large institutions at times stumble – however in order to recover significant steps have to be taken – finger pointing typically does not get it done.