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"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly." (John 10:10)
This was the text that Pope Benedict XIV recommended to the Irish
bishops on October 28th - to counter the view that Catholicism is
merely "a collection of prohibitions". Clearly the pope's central
concern - to reverse the tide of an anti-Christian and anti-Catholic
secularism in the West generally - is now as relevant to Ireland as
to any other western country.
And this is a task for Irish lay people as well. Many of us know
through bitter experience the emptiness of the promise of happiness
without faith. Many of us have found at the centre of our faith an
intense joy: the reality of a God who comes to meet us in times of
the deepest challenge, and speaks to us of his unconditional love
and respect. Had we not encountered good priests, most of us could
not have discovered that life-giving, life-enhancing truth.
It is important to state that conviction at the same time that we
face up to that other challenge the pope emphasised, in relation to
the scourge of clerical child sexual abuse: "to rebuild confidence
and trust where these have been damaged ... to establish the truth
of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary
to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of
justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the
victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes"
We in "Voice of the Faithful" know well the challenge involved here.
Because we have spoken out strongly against negative aspects of
church culture, people are coming to us in increasing numbers with
their own stories of pain suffered at the hands of a more
dysfunctional Catholicism in the recent past.
These are stories not just of sexual abuse, but, all too often, of
social and physical abuse. People complain of finger-pointing in the
classroom at their origins in orphanages, or in urban areas of deep
poverty and unemployment - by clerics who had apparently forgotten
that their Lord had been born in a stable. Some speak of clerical
bullying to the point of constructive dismissal from church-related
careers. Some complain too of serious physical abuse that would have
put their perpetrators before the courts of today on charges of
common assault.
This is the paradox: the church that I and many others have
experienced as a church of welcome, of safety, of inspiration and of
truth - has been experienced by too many others as a church of
put-downs, of intimidation, of abuse, and of shame.
Thinking hard about this, we believe that the time has come for all
of us, our bishops included, to do exactly what the pope has asked
us to do: identify the source of all of these sufferings, not in
Catholicism, but in something else that we now need to abandon
forever: Catholic clericalism.
Clericalism is the belief that, despite what St Peter and St Paul
both said, God does indeed have favourites: those who have received
the gift of ordination.
Most priests understand that along with this gift of ordination
comes the most solemn obligation: to think not of themselves and of
their own dignity, but of the challenged dignity of so many others.
They understand that it is through our Baptism and Confirmation that
we receive our most important titles: that of brother or sister of
Christ, of Temple of the Holy Spirit, and of son or daughter of the
Father. They take to heart the advice that Jesus gives to all who
are invited to a feast - to take the lowliest place. They
understand, in short, that the Christian call is, above all, a call
to humility. In so doing they raise us lay people up to an
understanding of our own dignity.
Historically Catholic clericalism is something entirely different.
It is a presumption of superiority, a presumption of entitlement to
the submission and deference of the non-ordained.
Clericalism is not the gift of ordination - but the gift of the
world. The clericalist cleric has joined the church not to serve the
poor, but to be socially pre-eminent. Entering the seminary in
search of a career he has allowed the spirituality of the Gospels to
touch him as fleetingly as water slipping off the back of a duck.
Attracted not to the mysterious servant church, he has been
attracted all along to the church of power and of status - and
expects these as his due.
Clericalism lies at the root of all of the disasters the church in
Ireland has suffered in recent years. It explains why so many
paedophiles joined the clergy to begin with: to exploit the
vulnerability and submissiveness of Catholic children and their
families. It explains also why too many bishops covered up this foul
pestilence: to protect the supposedly sinless status of clergy.
And it also explains why so many Irish people are flocking these
days to the cause of secularism. Because bishops have covered up the
abuse it has been left to secular institutions - police, courts,
media - to reveal the truth and to bring what closure the victims of
this abuse have so far experienced.
But the apostles of secularism need to notice exactly what our
bishops need to notice. Power without accountability becomes corrupt
because of our human tendency to sin. And accountability - the
principle that power must always be ready to explain itself - is a
deeply biblical, not a secular, concept. From Genesis to the
Gospels, God calls us to account for our behaviour, especially when
it is used abusively.
It is therefore not dangerous but deeply healing to call for
structures of accountability within our Catholic church also.
Without internal accountability on administrative matters (not
matters of doctrine), Catholicism will remain forever prone to
external accountability - media scandal - because sooner or later
unaccountable power is always abused.
We in Voice of the Faithful therefore recommend our programme as a
necessary part of the answer to the Pope's challenge to the Irish
church: to heal victims, to vindicate good priests and to enable
priests and people to rebind ourselves - 'through structures
established for that purpose' - to the cause of saving our society
from a secularism that wants to cut itself adrift from the spiritual
origins of all that is best in our civilisation.
(© The Irish News, 9th Nov 2006)
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