Many Catholics will lose patience with secular commentators who continue to insist that Pope Benedict has failed to apologise for the abuse of minors by priests and other Church personnel.
Closing the Year for Priests, he again offered an apology, begging the forgiveness of those who were abused and from God. The question is not whether the pope has apologised — he demonstrably has — but whether his apologies are being seen as sufficiently complete. Should they have been lacking, as abuse survivor activists are suggesting, then the pope, and the Church with him, must continue to seek the perfect mea culpa.
Such an apology would incorporate an unambiguous confession of failings on episcopal and curial levels, some of them deliberate and some — presumably most — owing to grave errors in judgment and lack of competence.
With the forgiveness that the pope and the Church seek must come reparation and penance. In many cases, the dimension of reparation has taken the form of financial compensation. But money can’t buy forgiveness. The Church, as an institution, must show that it is willing to do all that is needed to reconcile itself with those who feel betrayed by it.
For a start, bishops who put young people at risk of predator priests must be held accountable — a principle that still seems to be applied inconsistently.
The most genuine (and probably necessary) way of making reparations would involve a full inquest into the Vatican’s role in the scandal.
Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, the former prefect of the Pontifical Congregation for Bishops, has unapologetically confirmed that his policy counselled against reporting sex crimes to civil authorities. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has revealed that moves by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to act against abuses were undercut by others in the Vatican. The scandal goes right up to curial corridors.
With that, the Church faces a dilemma. If the whole curial can of worms is opened, will the Vatican lose its authority? But if it isn’t, will the Church merit the forgiveness that Pope Benedict has said it seeks?
Some commentators have mooted a truth and reconciliation commission. This would provide abuse survivors with a forum in which to tell of their terrible experiences, and facilitate the acknowledgment and confession of crimes by sexual predators and gross dereliction by Church officials.
The inquest into the scandal is not limited to the hierarchs, however. The whole Body of Christ must heal itself. Last week’s moving letter by a reader who acknowledged that she knew abuses were taking place but kept quiet about them must touch all of us.
How many others did not do the same, or are even now justifying the actions of abusers or those who failed to protect the innocent (perhaps understandably so when they knew, loved and respected these people)? How many of us would still turn a blind eye to the crimes of our pastors, teachers, friends or family members?
The whole Church stands accused, and the guilt must be collectively borne.
There are times when collective guilt places obligations and burdens even on those who bear no personal blame. As a minimum, this burden involves the unqualified recogniton that the Church, as an institution, failed terribly, and an awareness that we, as the Church, must address that failure with justice, charity and honesty.
But perhaps our collective penance is not best expressed in public recitation of mea culpas (important as these would be), but in prayerful and brutally honest introspection, as individuals and as a Church, on our failings in protecting and defending the vulnerable.
As the Church seeks forgiveness from those brutalised by priests and by those leaders who placed institutional reputation before justice, it must humble itself to achieve the reconciliation without which it cannot be healed.
The actions of the predatory priests, and the coverups by some bishops are inexcusable. Any attempt to justify why the bishops failed to act would be unfortunate. Having accepted without any reservation the failure of the church to deal with the matter as it was happening, I think we are overplaying this unfortunate happening. It feels like some people want to keep the ‘beast’ alive. I may be wrong, but I doubt very much that the millions of catholics around the world are preocupied with this matter. Yes we ordinary people know about it, and regret that it happened. We also regret the rapes, murders,poverty,injustice,homelessness,hunger, and many other social problems that happen around us. Is it not perhaps the opinion makers within the church, who are exploiting an unfortunate situation? I’m sorry if I have offended anyone.
The Church “as an institution” failed terribly? This is the usual overture to calls for radical reform of the Church as instituted by Jesus Christ and founded by Him on the Apostles under the headship of Peter which have never been lacking at any time in her history.
Neither “the Church” nor “the Church as an institution” failed, but perhaps we are approaching the problem if we can learn to say “the Church as the Holy People of God failed terribly” – which appears to be the point of this editorial. There is more than one voice regularly braying in “The Southern Cross” for the papacy and episcopacy to be dismantled or emasculated – we don’t need the Editor to join in.
Incidentally, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos was pro-Prefect and then Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy (not Bishops) between 1996 and 2006, which makes his opinion explicable if not excusable and considerably reduces the wattage when it comes to claiming or implying an agreed or accepted “policy” disseminated throughout the episcopate world-wide (or even one tacitly connived at) that priests guilty of such crimes should be protected from criminal investigation by civil authorities.
Martin, you are seeing monsters where none exist. Nowhere does the editorial suggest that the “the papacy and episcopacy [...] be dismantled or emasculated”. On the contrary, the editorial surely suggests that the institution is worth saving (it’s exceedingly preposterous to imply that I’d argue against the office of the Bishop of Rome).
Without wishing to enter into a semantical debate, the failure in the scandal resides with both, the People of God, sinful clergy, and with officials in the Church (those who make up the institution) I am quite certain that on this, Pope Benedict and I are on the same page.
Tseko, the scandal is massive and the Church is bleeding. The issue is being discussed, and that discussion is necessary for healing to take place. The book cannot be closed yet — and clearly the pope himself is not closing it. I’d be much happier if there had been no need to write editorials such as this one. But I’m afraid the issue is not going to be put to rest by being silent (never mind dismissive) about it.
What I meant, Günther, was that your not joining in the chorus (as you have not) is just what we want. My apologies for putting it across ineptly.
At issue is not “social sin” as discussed in “Reconciliatio et paenitentia” 16, nor group culpability through conniving at or acquiescing in a sin (white South Africans under apartheid, for example).
The Holy Father, in his homily at the Mass in the Pauline Chapel on 15 April was clearly speaking of individual not corporate guilt:-
“Now, under the attacks of the world that speak of our sins, we [Christians] . . see that it is necessary to do penance, that is, to recognize what is wrong in our lives . .”
Not institutional sin, but sin by culpable individuals.
Shame and suffering occasioned by the sin of the few is communicated to the many, for together we form the body of Christ (1Co.12:26). It is this that the Holy Father was referring to in his letter of 20 March to the Church in Ireland. Addressing priests:-
“All of us are suffering as a result of the sins of our confreres who betrayed a sacred trust or failed to deal justly and responsibly with allegations of abuse . . I am also aware that in some people’s eyes you are tainted by association, and viewed as if you were somehow responsible for the misdeeds of others . .”
And aboard the flight to Portugal (11 May):-
” . . the suffering of the church comes from inside the Church, from sins that exist inside the Church. This we have always known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way. The biggest weight on the Church doesn’t come from the enemies outside but is born from sin inside the Church.”