JIMMY O'BRIEN,
Sir, - Almost 20 years ago, at the first "Pobal" conference, I raised the issue of power and its misuse in the Roman Catholic Church. I did it as a convinced believer and a churchgoer, because it seemed to me that it was that issue of power and its non-accountability that was at the root of the church's problems. Indeed, so great is the problem that most in the church leadership deny the very existence of a system of power and control.
For my "sins", I was gradually excluded from any further participation in any internal church dialogue. Nevertheless, I continue to maintain what is now a lonely faith. I manage that by the simple process of ignoring the utterances of those who would claim to speak for me and to teach me. I am always tempted to leave. But I won't leave, because I won't allow any human to separate me from profound truths that are central to all of my (far from perfectly lived) convictions.
Indeed, these truths are so profound and meaningful for me that I would love to help others to share them. But who would listen to me now? The tragedy is that the claim of monopoly control over such profound truths has been used to create an institution of power and control dedicated, above all else, to self-preservation.
I have watched for 20 years as everything was sacrificed in order to preserve that established power structure. I saw the humiliation of brave Christians in Nicaragua. I saw the deliberate destruction of the struggle for justice in Latin America. I saw bishops and cardinals who supported the struggle for justice there marginalised and humiliated.
I watched as a secretive process of consolidation was put in place to appoint bishops here in Ireland who could be relied upon to put the interests of the authority of the institutional church before all other considerations. And I have seen good people, clerical and lay gradually excluded from influence in the pursuit of that overriding objective. And, of course, I have watched as advocates of church power, such as the founder of Opus Dei, are fast-tracked to canonisation.
It is in that context that the scandal of clerical abuse of children must be seen. Bishops were, of course, unqualified to deal with all that it implied. But their lack of qualification did not arise from some lack of experience. Rather, it arose from an inability to face the fact that there were values that were more fundamental than the self-interest of the church. In an institution dedicated to self protection above all else, the overwhelming instinct is always to protect itself. Quite simply they sought to minimise the impact of such scandals on the church. In the process the victims of this dreadful abuse were further humiliated.
That of itself was scandalous. Only an admission of culpability, not just of mealy-mouthed regret, could begin to heal that hurt. At this stage that can probably only have real meaning if all church records and all church figures (including the Papal Nuncio) are prepared to explain themselves in public and make all the records in their possession available to all those who have been hurt, or to their agreed representatives. Good men such as Leonardo Boff have been forced through worse than that for far less serious reasons.
Can I hope that after that, for the sake of the many lonely and still faithful, a church will emerge which listens, not to its own inflated pretensions of grandeur and divine mandate, but to its own suffering, humiliated, and angry members? Such a church with a real commitment to gospel values of service and truth could never confuse its own interests with those of the suffering poor.
I still have faith, I know what love is; but can someone in the official church offer me any hope? - Yours, etc.,
Senator BRENDAN RYAN,
Seanad Éireann,
Baile Átha Cliath, 2.
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Sir, - When Brendan Comiskey of Ferns resigns and Donal Murray of Limerick reluctantly acknowledges publicly, and sadly, that a small number of his priests have been involved in the sexual abuse of children, one can empathise with the victims of Irish Catholic clerical sexual abuse, rejoicing that the researchers of the British Broadcasting Corporation appear to have had more impact on the consciences of the Irish hierarchy than the compilers of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The English translation of the Catechism for Ireland published eight years ago (the year FatherBrendan Smyth pleaded guilty in a Belfast court to 17 charges of sexual abuse of children) states in paragraph 2389: "Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care. The offence is compounded by the scandalous harm done to the physical and moral integrity of the young, who will remain scarred by it all their lives; and the violation of responsibility for their upbringing."
Long before Willie Walsh of Killaloe recently advocated a pastoral rather than a legal approach to the scandal of the clerical sexual abuse of children my own bishop, Dr John Magee of Cloyne, was to the forefront.
During Advent of 1994, following the wave of allegations against priests and religious throughout Ireland, he wrote to me, and to all the priests of his diocese, saying: "Be strong in speaking to your people and be up-front. Don't hide because we have nothing to be afraid of. Our people need to be assured and supported because they are hurt also. Don't look for excuses but recognise child abuse by a priest or religious for what it really is, namely a heinous crime, not only because it is an evil in itself but because it is also a violation of a sacred trust.
"We must be caring in our pastoral approach to this problem. A victim and a victim's family must be heard and above all by the Church. They want to be assured that what has happened will never happen again. They need to be given all the help necessary to be healed, so this calls for immediate pastoral initiatives both at local and national levels.
"In regard to the perpetrators, every assistance must be given so that adequate treatment be given and fullest co-operation with the civil authorities be adhered to."
Bishop Magee was able to assure me in his letter of 1994: "that since I came to this wonderful diocese of Cloyne and to work with you and for you I have never, and I say again never, had any allegations or suggestions of allegations made to me by anyone in regard to any priest of the diocese.
"I shall not countenance or permit any kind of 'witch-hunt' in this diocese and I commit myself once more to being a caring, pastoral bishop with and for the priests, religious and lay faithful of the diocese."
I hope that Bishop Magee's pastoral and person-centred approach to the abuse of children will have a profound and lasting influence on the forthcoming extraordinary synod of the Irish bishops being called to consider this scandal - by persons ordained by them.
I pray that the Irish bishops will keep in mind and acknowledge - no matter how shameful or humbling - that the perpetrators of these crimes are our brothers, as Pope John Paul II declared in his letter to priests on Holy Thursday: "At this time too, as priests we are personally and profoundly afflicted by the sins of some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of Ordination in succumbing even to the most grievous forms of the mysterium iniquitatis at work in the world." - Yours, etc.,
Rev PEADAR
O'CALLAGHAN,
Kilbrin,
Kanturk,
Co Cork.
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Sir, - Many people are writing off the Catholic faith because of the actions of mere mortals. From the outset let me state that my heart goes out to the victims of the clerical abuse, but my faith in God and what the Catholic Church stands for is steadfast. I firmly believe God's hand is in all of this. I am reminded of the line in 1st Corinthians 4:5: "He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts".
One of the central pillars of Christ message was justice. I believe that Jesus wouldwant an inquiry into what happened in Ferns and in all other places where there is a suspicion of wrongdoing.
A letter from Tony Burke (April 3rd) asked the question "How would Christ have reacted in such a situation?" Unfortunately, Mr Burke answered the question very poorly. The informed answer can be summed up in three words: love, justice,and mercy. Love for the victims and the perpetrators, justice for the victims and the perpetrators, mercy for the victims and the perpetrators.
It is in this light I ask all people to not lose sight of the central message of Christ, to remember that Jesus would demand justice for the victims, and not to paint every Catholic, religious or otherwise, with the same brush. - Yours, etc.,
JIMMY O'BRIEN,
Woodley Park,
Stillorgan,
Dublin 14.
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Sir, - Most of us empathise completely when tragedy or harm befall children. We think to ourselves, "What if that happened to my child?" Paddy Agnew (The Irish Times, April 3rd) reports on the Catholic Church Hierarchy's failure to comprehend the seriousness of child sexual abuse by priests.
Could this be because priests do not have children of their own and this lack of human personal experience makes them remote and not fully aware of the damage done to children? - Yours, etc.,
KATHLEEN KELLEHER,
Rathdown Park,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.