Church hypocrisy on child abuse

by Letters Editor · April 4, 2013

From Patrick Dacey, Johannesburg

Cardinal Roger Mahony�s sentiments on child abuse (March 13) highlight the hypocrisy of the �governing body� of the Church, whoever they may be. Hopefully our new pope, Francis, will guide the Church back to authentic Christianity.

Dominican Father Edward Schillebeeckx, a theologian whose work had a huge impact on the Dutch church, died at the age of 95 Dec. 23 in Nijmegen, Netherlands, where he lived since 1957. Father Schillebeeckx in pictured in an undated handout photo. (CNS photo, Mirjam Ates-Snijdewind, courtesy of the Edward Schillebeeckx Foundation)

In an era when child abuse by various members of the clergy was being perpetrated, Belgian theologian Fr Edward Schillebeeckx was being investigated for his controversial views, the resurrection being one of them. Fr Schillebeeckx (1915-2010) was a leading adviser to the Dutch bishops, especially during the four sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

Fr Schillebeeckx was a forward-thinking person and it is quite evident his writings were meant to be for the benefit of Christians of all denominations.

�I do not begrudge any believer the right to describe and live out his belief in accordance to old models of experience, culture and ideas,� Fr Schillebeecks once said, �but this attitude isolates the Church�s faith from any future and divests it of any real missionary power.�

I find it absurd that a man of Fr Schillebeeckx�s stature was �under investigation� by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at a time when senior priests such as Cardinal Mahony were covering up serious moral misdeeds that were occurring in the Church.