To Ireland’s victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy, Pope Benedict XVI offered an apology: "You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry." For Ireland’s bishops, the pontiff had a reprimand: "Serious mistakes were made. All this has seriously undermined your credibility." Thus the highlights of an eight-page letter from Rome received at Mass around Ireland on March 21.
In an unprecedented move (the Vatican had previously commented on the Irish clerical sex scandal only in private letters), Benedict apologized to victims and accused Ireland’s bishops – past and present – of "grave errors of judgment" and "failures of leadership" in their handling of sex abuse cases in the Church…
The shocking extent of child abuse by clergy in Ireland’s parishes and Catholic institutions was exposed last year in two government enquiries, known as the Ryan Report and the Murphy Report. The first described "endemic sexual abuse" at schools and orphanages run by religious orders from the 1930s to the 1990s, while the latter accused the Catholic Church, the state and the Irish police of colluding in the cover up sexual abuse committed by priests in the archdiocese of Dublin [Catholic Europe: How Damaged is the Papacy?]…In 1999, journalist Mary Raftery’s documentary film States of Fear was broadcast on Irish television. The film brought to public attention for the first time the systemic nature of abuse at Catholic institutions in the past. Since then, Raftery has campaigned for an investigation into child abuse to be held in every Catholic diocese in Ireland. "I think Irish society should take this letter extremely seriously", says Raftery. "For years, we handed over all responsibility for our morality to these people who now stand condemned with such devastation by their own Pope."
Raftery believes the Church’s handling of child abuse allegations has prompted many people to challenge its role in modern Irish society. It’s estimated that around a third of Irish Catholics attend Mass regularly, but the Catholic Church runs over 90% of the country’s elementary schools and holds positions on the management boards of public hospitals — roles that Raftery believes are no longer tenable.
"We now know there was decades of disgraceful behavior that was absolutely contrary to every single thing [the Church] preached. With this knowledge, it’s going to be impossible for people to establish the same relationship of trust with the Catholic Church. I think it has vanished." With the reputation of the Catholic Church at an all-time low in Ireland, convincing young men to join the priesthood may seem like a lost cause. But Fr. Patrick Rushe, coordinator of vocations for the Catholic Church in Ireland, believes the damage can be repaired.
"I was happy that [Pope Benedict] said sorry and I think it was long overdue", says Rushe. "But these are our own problems to solve and the Irish Church has to take responsibility for what happened in the past." So, does Rushe believe the Church can recover? "People committed to their faith are just about hanging on", he says. "But I don’t think it would take a huge amount of further revelations to undermine the goodwill that’s left."
Further revelations may, in fact, not be very far away. Last week, Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said that a state inquiry into institutional and clerical child abuse should be considered. For campaigner Mary Raftery, the possible consequences of such a probe are clear. "It would inevitably expose a range of cover-ups and would make the Church’s role [in Irish society] unsustainable," she says. "The number of people whose hands aren’t dirtied by this is quite small."
The Pope’s letter goes on to make a series of other blunders. He blames the Irish Church. Ireland is the most Catholic place on the planet – more Catholic than Italy. In the states, we have the term "Irish Catholic" which implies a devoted and a harsh Catholicism that seems to reach down to the DNA. The Pope is blaming the rock of Irish society for the problem. He accuses the most devout Catholics in the world of secularism and suggests more religious observance. How in the hell is more observance in parishioners going to decrease the incidence of pedophilia in the priests? We’re not talking about parishioners abusing priests. It goes the other way. And I would doubt that more piety would change the predators. Pedophilia is not a problem that has to do with piety. Another mistake – he doesn’t accept responsibility for this problem in the Vatican itself. The Vatican polices everything in the Catholic Church, and in this case, the Vatican has allowed this to go on for a very long time unchecked. So another reason Why the Pope’s Apology May Not Be Enough is that it’s not an apology, it’s an indictment, misdirected. The Pope is supposed to rid Ireland of its snakes himself, not blame the Irish for having them.
But probably the biggest failure in the Pope’s letter is to speak as an authority, when the whole issue has to do with disillusionment about the authority of the Catholic Clergy. And that disillusionment is bigger than just with the offenders. It’s all the way up to the top. It’s no longer a story about rogue priests, it’s a rogue church. In the Catholic Church, forgiveness is not automatic – it comes with a price – first confession, then acts of contrition [sincere and complete remorse]. The Pope does not confess. Then the Pope levies contrition on others. This is the real reason Why the Pope’s Apology May Not Be Enough. His letter was from a Pope, but not a Catholic. He essentially said, "Father, they have sinned." That’s not how it works.
Growing up in Sandersville, GA in the Protestant Bible Belt in the 1940s, I think there were two Catholic families in town, and there was a tiny church where a priest came from Augusta to do funerals and maybe an occasional mass. As a boy, I went to a funeral of a great aunt and was intrigued by the incense emanating from the brass lantern this man in a dress was swinging. That’s about as much as I knew, until later.
I did come to respect the liberal social justice commitment from some Catholics in the civil rights struggles in Atlanta in the 60s-70s.
Then I lost respect when I was asked to give an affidavit, along with my wife, saying that the marriage of her older brother and his wife of 25 years (and four children) had not been properly entered into and therefore could be annulled — meaning the marriage never happened — so that the now ex-wife could marry a nice Catholic man and have a happy life.
This is what the church was spending its time doing — the case had to go all the way to Rome for approval — instead of protecting the kids from abusive priests.
There is much good still in the church. But it needs some fundamental rethinking of what’s really important. Stricter celibacy isn’t the answer. More piety from the parishioners isn’t the answer. Pedophilia doesn’t just go away with prayer — certainly not prayers from the abused and their families. Kids have to be protected. Leaders have to accept responsibility.
… and, I think, celibacy has to go, at least in Germany. see [Benedict’s Fragile Church]