Here from the New Catholic Times, 2.1.2010, is a very powerful statement from a priest who shows integrity.  While we may feel we know these things already, it is refreshing to see Fr. D’Arcy’s comment from one who is on the ‘inside.’  Perhaps the wall of denial and obfuscation is starting to crumble?  Let’s hope so.

Brought to my attention by George Bouchey.

Thanks, George

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A Little Bit of Religion

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: GAME IS UP FOR THE OLD WAYS AND OLD COVER UPS

Author: Father Brian D’Arcy C.P. St Gabriel’s Retreat, The Graan, Enniskillen. Co Fermanagh, N.I.

Posted by: Editor on February 01, 2010 1:00:00 AM

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Catholic Church in Ireland needs to take less heed of the Vatican and pay far more attention to its faithful following

IT’S time to reflect on where we are in the Catholic Church in Ireland.Specifically, Rome’s influence for good or bad needs to be examined.

It is obvious that the so-called leadership (senior clerics and bishops) in Ireland is in disarray.

  Diarmuid Martin is perceived as being the real leader but sometimes appears to be the ruthless voice of the church’s civil service in Rome. Cardinal Brady is attempting the impossible by occasionally agreeing with Diarmuid Martin in public whilst at the same time holding the rest of the senior clerics here together by appearing to support them too. It’s not working and it is time for him to show real leadership on behalf of the whole Irish church, but especially the disillusioned believing Catholics.

Confused

They are angry, confused and lost. They have every right to be because the clerical church has told lies, protected criminals and is so morally bankrupt that it couldn’t even recognise blatant sinfulness of the worst kind.
The clerical church is falling apart (a very positive sign) because it cannot cope with ‘one of its own’ taking them on in public. Perceived disloyalty is the ultimate crime for the careerist cleric. Diarmuid Martin knows he has the support of most people in his efforts to finally clean up the arrogance of the past but is criticised for needlessly humiliating his colleagues in such a public way.

The result is that many bishops are discovering for the first time what most of us know from bitter experience – the institution in Rome has to be preserved at all costs. Individuals, whether they happen to be the victims of abuse, priests or bishops, will be sacrificed to make sure the institution survives. To be fair, some progress on behalf of the survivors of abuse has been made.

But beware of making too much of it. Survivors have welcomed the resignation of the bishops.Yet those who reflect must recognise that the hierarchical Catholic Church is as ruthless as it always has been. Institutions protect themselves at all costs. Individuals and victims were, and still are, disposable. Long live big brother.

At this point we know that even bishops can be forced out of office, yet in reality the change is at best peripheral. The might of the Vatican continues to quash the individual without any radical change in its own structures. The difference is that we now know those are the very structures which need to be demolished because they are at the root of the dysfunction.

It is a mistake to conclude (as the media often does) that the sexual abuse of children by priests and religious has its roots only in bad management. Nor is institutional hypocrisy the only cause of this systemic sexual abuse of children – though undoubtedly it did enable abusers to continue their criminal acts.
At the heart of the problem is a more deep-seated malaise.

Vulnerable

A combination of bad theology, the dysfunctional abuse of power and a warped view of sexuality, have contributed to what the Murphy Report repeatedly refers to as “the systemic failure” to protect the most innocent and the most vulnerable children. I believe that the evil clerical culture which pervades our institution right up to the Vatican bureaucracy itself needs to be dismantled.

This present crisis may not be all bad. If we are humble enough to ask for help it can still offer us the opportunity to become a church based on Gospel values – helping the poor, encouraging the sinner, walking with the powerless, welcoming failure and finding new life in the passion of suffering.

The bad theology comes from 40 years of rejection of the principles of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope John Paul 11 and Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, must accept most of the blame for stifling God’s Holy Spirit.

The real issue was partially addressed by Diarmuid Martin in one of his Christmas messages.

He spoke of a “false understanding of the place of the priest in the Church” and “a totally impoverished understanding of the Church as a community of the baptised.” He’s absolutely correct in what he says, but, sadly, we all know that nothing is likely to change.

If we were serious, passing on real power to committed believers, an end to compulsory celibacy, accepting women priests, blessings for people in good conscience living in second relationships, new forms of the sacrament of reconciliation allowing for general absolution, an end to treating women as second class citizens, an admission that few Catholics live out the principles of Humanae Vitae, compassion for gay people who want to live a spiritual life, a real voice for people in choosing their priests and their bishops and, critically, a limited term of office for both priests and bishops, would form some part of the agenda for change.

Mistakes

We must remember that it wasn’t just a few Auxiliary bishops in Dublin who made mistakes.

The scandal is that it was a deliberate worldwide practice to cover up crime and sin. In the United States of America, in Australia, in Britain and, more recently, in Italy the Pope’s home territory, the culture of secrecy, of failure to take responsibility to help victims, was church practice. Too many who should have known better, were too cowardly to stand up to autocratic and hopelessly inadequate bishops and Cardinals. Too many are still afraid to stand against the Roman centralisation policy about to be foisted upon us.

This is symptomatic of an institution which has lost its way and which has little or no connection with anything for which Christ died.

A power hungry institution which claims to be answerable to God alone, yet which persistently and deliberately acts in a sinful and criminal way needs to be radically reformed.

It is said that a letter from the Pope to the people of Ireland is imminent. Will it be enough? Not likely.

Perhaps those in Rome don’t realise how rightfully angry we are. The Vatican has shown no signs whatever of the kind of repentance and honesty required to make leadership credible.

The utter arrogance shown to the Murphy inquiry is a case in point.

Furthermore, the Vatican appointed the bishops it is now publicly humiliating. The kind of person they sought out to become bishops and then imposed on us failed to do all in their power to protect children because the system discouraged honesty.

Repent

In short it is Rome itself which needs to repent and reform.

A letter from on high will add fuel to our anger unless it states that the Catholic Church on its own is incapable of doing what is right in the matter of child abuse. Don’t forget that we clerics spent fifteen years attempting to get it right, yet it took the Ferns, Ryan and Murphy reports to spell out even the most basic principles.

Even now, many clerics still don’t get it. Unless the Pope is humble enough to accept an inquiry into the Vatican’s own procedures, he 
will not be taken seriously. It is ten years since I first wrote that covering up was part of the Vatican’s policy.

“Part of the human structure of the church is rotten to the core” is what I said then and still believe.

One of the major problems ordinary believers have is a massive collapse in trust. Good people trusted the clerical church and the Pope in particular.

They now know that the clerical church and perhaps even the Pope were not trustworthy in this area.

As we know it is impossible to repair trust once it is broken so deliberately and painfully.

Perhaps it may be possible to attempt to build a new relationship. That will demand a different way of being church.

But it cannot be built on the discredited structures we now have. The end has come for autocratic, hierarchical rulers answerable to 
no one. It’s time to make an opportunity out of a crisis.

Crisis

We clergy have caused the crisis, but God’s people can make it a blessing.  As a church we need to be more humble and to stop being so righteous.

We need reform from the top. We should take less notice of the Vatican and more notice of the Parish Council. There is hope; there is a future, but it will not be found in this mess of our own making.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Abuse and Cover Up, Church Culture, Friends and Partners, Must Read. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.