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Keep the Faith - Change the Church! |
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Last Updated: 14/06/2009
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Keep the Faith - Change the Church! |
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Last Updated: 14/06/2009
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Meeting for three days in Maynooth June 8-10, Ireland's Catholic bishops then issued a statement that will deeply disappoint all those hoping that even at this late stage they could rise to the challenge posed by the Ryan report of May 20th. While admitting that the report had indicted 'a culture that was prevalent in the Catholic Church in Ireland for far too long' the bishops collectively failed to take the next obvious step: to promise an intensive investigation of the causes of the greatest catastrophe our Irish Catholic church has ever suffered. VOTF response to this statement. Speaking to RTE on Sunday 24th May, the Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Noel Treanor, had clearly signalled what should happen next: “We have to recognise honestly that these things have happened. We cannot at any level be indifferent. We can’t wash our hands of it and deny it. We simply have to see this evil and the crimes that were perpetrated straight in the face. That means we have to examine why they happened. “That will require an interdisciplinary discussion – with people who are members of the church, involving victims, those who were abused, and going indeed beyond the borders of our church – so that we have the best anthropological and scientific analysis available to try to understand why this happened." This statement aligns Bishop Treanor with the position taken earlier in the year by the Archbishop of Dublin. On January 6th 2009, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin stated a fundamental principle that VOTF was founded to uphold: "We have to have a system whereby people are pushed to be accountable. Human nature needs that." (RTE Primetime, 6th Jan. 2009) Accountability means essentially two things: First, that those who exercise responsibility must be ready to explain and defend every important administrative decision they make; Second, that if serious mistakes are made, those who make them must accept serious consequences. Unaccountability flourished in the Irish church in past decades because bishops imposed an obligation of deference and compliance upon lay people - even upon those charged with care of children. That is why members of the Irish Department of Education would warn religious orders before an inspection of a state funded institution run by religious - allowing the latter to conceal evidence of abuse. And that is also why no clear standards for child care were drawn up, to be imposed upon all state-funded institutions. Despite many complaints, serious investigations were never carried out. And bishops never intervened to ensure the safety of all children in church care in their dioceses. Never threatened with hard questions, or with sanctions for failure to meet clear standards, the staff in these institutions were entirely unaccountable. And so, in too many cases, they were also abusive. And countless children suffered as a consequence. All of this highlights the necessity of the solution recommended by the recent report of the NBSCCC - the body established by the church to ensure the safety of children within it: the establishment of a culture of accountability throughout the church. To make sure we build an accountable church we need structures of accountability that will allow all members of the church to communicate effectively about all such problems, and to put an end to the slow dying of the church that we can all observe in our own time. Lay people too need to be accountable. We must not suppress the questions raised by all recent scandals, and by the increasing disillusionment of our young people. We must demand an opportunity to ask those questions of our leaders. We need especially to ask why there are no regular, structured occasions for the discussion of all such issues, and for the realisation of the programme given to all lay people by Vatican Council II: the consecration of the world to God. Irish members of VOTF - including survivors - will be ready to participate in the inquiry called for by Bishop Treanor - and in any resulting programme to build an accountable and vital church. But too many of Ireland's bishops are still failing the challenge posed by the unrelenting exposure of the complete failure of the church system they and their predecessors have maintained since 1965. The lay apostolate ... is a participation in the saving mission of the Church itself. Through their baptism and confirmation, all are commissioned to that apostolate by the Lord Himself. (Vatican II Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity.)
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Fr Tom Doyle O.P., J.C.D has described this letter as follows: “The document ...‘Betrayal’, is the clearest, most complete and most comprehensive statement I have seen in 23 years of intense involvement in clergy sexual abuse by Catholic clerics in countries throughout the world. I believe that the contents are certainly applicable in Ireland but in every other country on the globe. Most certainly, this statement applies to the institutional Church on the level of the Vatican.”
The letter begins by quoting
the Ferns Report: "Bishops placed the interests of the church
ahead of children". It then asks twelve questions,
beginning with: Further questions follow - on how this catastrophe could have embraced Catholic dioceses right across the globe; how Catholic bishops could have failed to learn over seventeen centuries of the effects of clerical child sex abuse upon children; whether they are still in denial over this; why they should still cling to secrecy and unaccountability, despite the copious evidence that these too have played their part in the sufferings of thousands of children. It also insists that children will not be as safe as they should be in the church until clergy are required to be accountable to lay people in administrative matters. The letter ends by asking how and when the process of healing will begin if survivors are not consulted, and by insisting that any papal visit to Ireland would be a disastrous failure if all of these questions are not addressed beforehand.
The letter includes the address of the episcopal secretary of the
Irish Bishops' Conference. It has not yet even been acknowledged.
Clericalism and Clerical Child Sexual Abuse Our submission explains why we believe clericalism is a key factor in the clerical child abuse disaster - because it endangers children, leads to the mishandling of the issue by church authorities, and prevents healing and reconciliation. This submission was completely vindicated by the NBSC revelations regarding the ongoing danger to children in Cloyne diocese in July 2008. That report stated that the interests of accused clergy in Cloyne had been placed ahead of those of children, exactly as in the Ferns report also. It is high time, we believe, for clericalism to be recognised by the church itself as the fundamental cause of the disgraceful failure of so many bishops to prioritise the safety of children. And as a continuing barrier to the healing of the developing crisis in the church. Clericalism too will need to be put under the microscope by any inquiry into the reasons for the disgraceful wrongs suffered by children in Ireland in past decades. Read a recent article, The Professional Cleric , by a serving priest, Joseph McGuane.
VOTF (Ulster)
Reports to Rome on Derry Diocese |
VOTF™ To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church. Our Goals 1. To support survivors of clergy sexual abuse. 2. To support priests of integrity 3.To shape structural change within the Catholic Church.
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Gentle Father, Son and Holy Spirit, |
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