Shaken, down to the roots

A priest and theologian from Dublin takes an
honest look at the recent scandal and its implication for the Catholic Church in Ireland

By Fr. Brendan Leahy

Two days after the publication of Pope Benedict’s letter to the Irish I found myself on Tonight with Vincent Browne, a TV program with very high audience ratings. To have to talk about the letter was not going to be easy. I tried to highlight how the Pope has invited Irish Catholics to begin again in terms of the Gospel. From the positive reaction, I could see that Irish people want to hear a hopeful word that will help them move forward.

The situation in Ireland is tense. Due to economic collapse, a banking crisis, rising unemployment and severe flooding, 2009 has already been a most difficult year. The current Church crisis has brought a new gloom.

Following the release of the Report into Child Sex Abuse in the Dublin Diocese (Murphy Report), a number of bishops have already tendered their resignations. There are calls for the Church to be removed from the running of parish schools, money to be withheld from the Church, and much greater lay involvement in all levels of Church decision-making and organization.

The shocking aspect of the report is the sheer damning indictment of the structures and rules of the Catholic Church that facilitated a cover-up of the actions and responsibilities of so many abusing priests. The shock of the findings of the Murphy Report has challenged people’s traditional trust in the Church, in the way the Church saw itself, ran its day-to-day activities and interacted with the secular state.

“The fact is that the sexual abuse of a child is, and always was, a crime in civil law,” emphasized the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. “It is, and always was, a crime in canon law; and it is, and always was, grievously sinful.” People ask how the Church’s own law and civil law could have been so ignored.

Archbishop Martin, who was out of the country during the period under investigation and therefore in no way incriminated, has been in the forefront in expressing the need for recognition of responsibility by those in positions of responsibility at the time covered in the report.

The immediate issue is the safety of children. In the diocese of Dublin, 2,100 people have participated in training programs in child protection, and 7,065 have taken part in the Police Vetting Process. This includes clergy, parish workers and volunteers, staff in Catholic schools, and so on.

The issue requires a comprehensive response at all levels of Church life. Much greater accountability is called for. Already a few years ago, another report spoke of the need of new management training for bishops. Much greater management efficiency will require much greater participation by all in the running of the Church as a community.

However, new structures alone are not sufficient. Archbishop Martin has spoken of the need for the Irish Church to go through a process of renewal. For this to happen, he observed, the real protagonist of reform and transformation in the Church is the Word of God, as the Pope mentioned in his letter.

The issue of unity has become central. Unfortunately, the question has to be raised as to what kind of unity existed in the past among bishops and clerics. Was it only a mask of unity, or was it really only a settling for a lowest common denominator?

Was it unity in truth? Was there frankness? These will be the dimensions of unity needed as the Church goes forward. And this is true for all the baptized faithful. They, too, are being called to live a new unity as they become active “locomotives” in bringing forward the Church day to day.

Both Church and secular commentators speak of a decisive moment of crisis. The very word “crisis” can mean a time of being on the knife-edge, needing to decide. It can go either way, negatively or positively.

In his letter, Pope Benedict has reminded the Irish of three moments of a new beginning in our history: when the Gospel first arrived with the resultant blossoming of the monastic movement that spread the Gospel in Europe; during the Reformation, when Irish Catholics remained faithful despite persecution; and in the nineteenth century after Catholic Emancipation, when the Church in Ireland had an extraordinary moment of growth (schools, hospitals, care for the poor) and missionary expansion. For the pope, this history is not closed.
It is open.

There is a clear sense that this moment goes way beyond the specific issue of child abuse by priests. It could be described as a “kairos” moment, a particular intervention of God who is always working for our good to bring out something new and more beautiful even in the most difficult of times. What will be required now? The Pope suggests a way. He quotes Augustine writing of the bishops’ relationship to the faithful: for you I am a bishop; with you I am a follower of Christ. The Pope is indicating a shift that is necessary: the rediscovery of the Church as communion, in which all are co-responsible, and not simply clerics in charge with others as collaborators.

Such a shift cannot be done swiftly. The Pope knows that. And it’s not just a spiritual thought. He pointed out recently at an audience that institutional reforms are needed.

Much of what the Pope wants to say is summed up in the prayer he sent the Irish. It brings us right back to the source of our life: the Triune life of God who is Love, mutual being-for-one-another. Renewal in this light is entrusted especially to young people: “Bring your much-needed enthusiasm and idealism to the rebuilding and renewal of our beloved Church.”

Reverend Brendan Leahy is Professor of Systematic Theology, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland.

Benedict XVI’s letter to the Catholics of Ireland (text and video) is available at www.vatican.va [Abuse of Minors—The Church’s Response], along with other documents and a guide to understanding procedures concerning sexual abuse allegations.

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