Rite and Reason: In giving a half-apology for clerical sex abuse, the Catholic bishops are covering up a cover-up, writes Gail Grossman Freyne.
Last month, the Catholic Bishops of Ireland published a report by staff at the Royal College of Surgeons entitled A Time to Listen,Confronting Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland. This was a generous and commendable initiative.
Yet, while the report contains much important information, the bishops ’accompanying statements indicate that they have failed to appreciate the seriousness of its implications for their own participation in the wrongs that were being investigated. The Irish Catholic bishops are now in the bizarre and paradoxical situation that the more they "apologise ", the angrier the victims are likely to become.
Within the psychotherapeutic conversation, when an abuser says, "I am sorry that you are hurting "or, in passive voice, "I am
sorry that it happened ",they fail to make clear the exact details of what they did wrong, to take personal responsibility for their behaviour.
In similar vein, when Bishop John McAreavey states, "For what has happened we are truly sorry ", there is no possibility for healing to take place because this statement does not detail what he or the hierarchy collectively has done or failed to do. Those we have offended are only convinced of our remorse when we tell them clearly how we have wronged them. Likewise, the statements of Archbishop Seán Brady accompanying the report also lack the proximity that is a necessary part of a genuine apology.
He speaks of "some priests "who have "betrayed the sacred trust placed in them ", and of sexual abuse as a major social problem most often perpetrated within the family.
These are undisputed facts,but in this context they deflect and derogate from the certainly moral,and possibly legal,mismanagement of which the Catholic hierarchy is guilty. When he does refer to himself and his fellow bishops, he does so obliquely, by use of the phrase "the Church ".When the word "apology "is used, the archbishop speaks only of "the failures in pastoral responsibility on our part in the handling of
these cases ". He does not state the specific content or extent of their institutional or personal failures, merely stating, "The limits of what have often been perceived as an unduly legalistic response, attempts at 'avoiding scandal ', and protecting the institutional Church, are already well documented ...and must not be repeated ".
But what must precede this firm purpose of amendment is – as report author Prof McGee puts it –a "transparent "response to the complaints detailed in it. Three of the key findings put it this way: "Those abused and their families reported ... the handling of complaints often lacked compassion with difficulties in getting information, accessing people and a view that legal concerns took precedence over a pastoral response. "And further, that "confidence in the Church declined among those abused and in their families but this was attributed more to the response to the disclosure than to the abuse itself."
Likewise, clergy who were interviewed, "described the strategy adopted by the Church ...as an attempt to prevent scandal and protect the church as an institution".
This report is telling the Irish bishops that their offence was the cover-up. And the Irish bishops have not yet apologised for the cover-up. There can be no justice without truth, and no healing without both.
What the victims need to hear is not, ‘‘I am sorry that you suffered at the hands of someone else, ’’but rather, ‘‘I confess that I did all I could to avoid making public the abuse committed by my direct subordinates. I confess that in so doing, I put the institution and the clerical abuser before you and your family. I know that I failed you and other children by moving the offender from parish to parish and in not informing the police. Finally, I welcome suggestions from you as to how I can begin to make amends.’’
Gail Grossman Freyne, LL.B., PhD., is a director of the Family Therapy and Counselling Centre,Ranelagh,Dublin