Madam, – The withdrawal of an invitation to clerical abuse survivor Colm O’Gorman to speak on the theme of reconciliation at a Mass in Drogheda raises further questions about the capacity for Christian leadership of some of Ireland’s leading Catholic hierarchs.
Survivor members of this organisation met Cardinal Brady in April 2008 to discuss the same issue and put to him especially the need for ongoing frank discussion between victims of clerical abuse and the church leadership. We heard nothing more from him and since then, as far as we are aware, there has been no other initiative from the hierarchy to hear from survivors of abuse on this theme of reconciliation. This is in marked contrast to the invitation issued to survivors by President Mary McAleese earlier this year.
Nor has there yet been a response from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference to the call made by Bishop Noel Treanor for a multi-disciplinary study of the causes of the Catholic catastrophe documented in the Ryan report.
In sum, the bishop’s crosier, once a symbol of pastoral care, has morphed into a portable question mark. We wonder what is Cardinal Brady’s view of his pastoral responsibility for those his church has so severely injured, and for healing the church? We wonder, also, why it is inappropriate for a victim of clerical abuse to speak of reconciliation at Mass, when priest abusers have often been allowed by their bishops to preside at the same ceremony. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It was with disappointment that we read that Colm O’Gorman would not be able to speak at the Mass of reconciliation. Mr O’Gorman has been a symbol of truth and reconciliation both in respect of his role in relation to clerical abuse and that in Amnesty International Ireland. It is clear this was thwarted by the intervention of the Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh, reportedly at the behest of a number of lay people (Home News, September 25th). The idea that there was a question whether or not it was “appropriate” for this man to speak during Mass is puzzling, especially in the light of the Gospel of the day: “ ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him’. Jesus replied: ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me’.” (Sunday Missal 1975:258). Surely a man who has undergone so much pain at the hands of the church and who speaks of reconciliation and of “A new spirit of truth, compassion, understanding and love” (Home News, September 26th) is a living miracle and should not be rejected and cast aside? Surely it is more appropriate for him to speak in Mass than those ordained ministers who have caused such pain and yet still hold that capacity?
Irish Catholics will confirm that many people are invited to speak during Masses throughout the Irish dioceses, without objections being raised by the hierarchy. Why then is this man “inappropriate”? As the leader and the senior members of the Augustinian Youth Choir in Drogheda, we consider such inconsistencies difficult to understand.
Furthermore, we find ourselves struggling to keep committed young people involved in the church, for, true to their sense of justice, they rightly ask the question: how can the church which is founded on the teachings of Jesus, marginalise and reject people who they perceive to be different, when the life and ministry of Jesus was rooted in inclusion and acceptance? – Yours, etc,