Four chapters and counting

by Sue Rakoczy · May 2, 2010

As a Church, we are in the midst of the fourth chapter of the contemporary sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Chapter 1 was in the mid80s in the United States, Canada and Australia, when cases of sexual abuse by clergy were revealed. The focus was on what the survivors had endured, with little mention of the non-action of bishops and religious superiors.

The second chapter began in the 90s with more terrible stories of abuse in North America. The role of the bishops and religious superiors was still quite muted. Then came chapter 3 in the United States in 2002 which revealed not only more cases of abuse but also that certain bishops had moved known predator priests from parish to parish for years. �Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston was one of the most notorious of these bishops and he finally resigned, only to be given a high position in Rome.

These three chapters all occurred during John Paul II’s papacy. �This pope had a very exalted theology of the priesthood and did not take the accusations of abuse seriously. It was only in 2001 that the Vatican drafted real procedures to deal with predator priests.

We are now in the midst of chapter 4, as hundreds of cases of abuse in Europe come to light. Now the focus includes bishops and the Vatican and the link of the social sin of clericalism with the cases of abuse. Clericalism exalts popes, bishops, priests and deacons as special persons who live in a closed world of status, power and secrecy. �We have �learned �how Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Archbishop of Munich placed the ability of �a predator priest to continue in ministry above the needs of local parishes to have faithful priests they can trust. We read how Vatican spin doctors and others try to triviliaze the scandal as “petty gossip”.

Yes, Pope Benedict shed tears in Malta over the abuse scandal. But when will chapter 5 begin? Chapter 5 must be public penance by the pope and all bishops around the world who have cooperated in the abuse by protecting priests.

What kind of penance? First the bishops who have resigned (Cardinal Law, the Irish bishops, the Belgian bishop come to mind) should not go high profile church positions and a comfy retirement. They must be ordered to spend the rest of their lives in prayer and penance in a hermitage on the grounds of a monastery of male religious outside their home country.

Benedict XVI must give a public apology to the church and the world for his omissions as Archbishop of Munich and as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. �It is not enough to say that later in his time as CDF head that he helped draft the protocols which the Vatican now observes. He had a “late conversion” on this. �As for penance, �the pope needs to ask himself what would the most difficult thing for the Church to do now–and then he must order the bishops, including himself, to do it.

Because of the crisis and its clerical cover-up, the Church’s moral authority is in tatters. It is time for Vatican III, at which religious and laity will be voting members. The Church is too important to be left to the clergy.