The abuse of power, and the power of abuse

By Allan Moss OMI

Child abuse by the clergy, making the headlines of the mass media, has scandalised the world. Like the pilots who dropped the atomic bomb, we say: “My God, what have we done?”

To deal with the situation, the Church has established codes of conduct, disciplinary committees, psychological therapy facilities and so on. For many it is too little too late; but better late than never. The Church bows its head in shame and prays for forgiveness and the healing of its victims.

Yet, it seems what really brought the Church to its senses was the fear of lawsuits and publicity. Hopefully, the Church will learn that its primary motives should be in terms of its prophetic call of duty to God and to his people. It should witness to a higher sense of morality rather than legalities, cover-ups and lies to save its face and finances.

Quis custodiet custodes? — who will guard the guardians, the guardians of morality, who are supposed to be the salt of the earth? “If the salt loses its flavour, with what shall it be salted?” (Mt 5:13).

“They have forsaken me,” says the Lord, “the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer 2:13).

Does this go deeper, possibly involving a power struggle rather than service? Have we developed an authoritarian clergy instead of a serving one? It seems that many of our priests, once suitably ensconced in a parish — especially a wealthy one — have no accountability and no proper dialogue with the local laity. Hence they do what they like, financially, even lustfully. Isn’t this part of the problem of clerical corruption and sexual abuse?

I see it all around. It is not simply their priesthood, it is our priesthood that is at stake and being disgraced. This is the urgent issue, not the liturgical reforms and translations.

What is the priority of the hierarchy? I am aware of one bishop who has actually told his laity to stop complaining about their priests. I know the laity cry to the hierarchy to be more concerned about clerical abuses and finances. Some of the people of God have cried to me in frustration and being scandalised.

I am not anti-clerical. I value my priesthood, not to be denigrated and despised as happened in some places in Ireland. How serious is the hierarchy in declaring the Year for Priests and calling upon the laity to pray for them? Perhaps a survey should be done by the Church before outsiders or the mass media open our eyes to what we should have seen long ago.

Hopefully, the recent African Synod has monitored this and the bishops will be doing something more urgently than spending money and energy on debatable liturgical issues, which further confuse the People of God.

“No words of apology will ever be sufficient,” said a prelate of Ireland. Hopefully it will not come to that in South Africa.

I think of Little Angelina who comes from a loving and hugging family. They greet one another with a kiss and a hug. What she did not know was that one member, a teenage cousin, could not be touched. She had been abused by a cleric and is now paranoid, weary of any physical contact with anyone. She is undergoing psychiatric therapy and God alone knows the damage done. Angelina knows that she is jumpy but does not know why.

Angelina loves going to church and is fond of her priest. I wonder what she will think when she finds out the truth about her cousin.

Fr Moss is a parish priest in Pietermaritzburg.