The Pope ‘Speaks Out’ On Child Abuse, But Does Little Else
In the recent wake of yet another child abuse scandal, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out strongly, condemning the unconscionable actions of predator clergy. He said that while it is the duty of the Church and her followers to protect children, “unfortunately, in different instances, certain of its members went against this commitment and violated rights.” One wishes, though, that he would do more than simply ‘speak’ on the matter.
This latest outrage centers on the findings of the Murphy report, a study commissioned by the Irish government. It deals with child abuse in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. The findings are deeply disturbing. The report found that there was rampant abuse of children since at least the 1930s. Most complaints were entirely ignored by the upper echelons of the Catholic clergy and, perhaps most shockingly, the police as well.
The Murphy report comes on the heels of the Ryan report (also known as the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse), which concerned itself primarily with children’s institutions run by Catholic orders and funded by the Irish government. The abuse in these places was described as systematic, consisting of severe beatings, forced sexual acts (both hetero and homosexual), starvation and humiliation. The report found that these Catholic institutions treated the children like slaves. Like in the Murphy report, it was found that government officials turned a blind eye to the suffering of the children.
Recently the Archdiocese of Boston admitted that three of the priests cited for terrible abuses of children had served time in churches in the United States. The sexual abuse scandal that broke out under Cardinal Bernard Law, then Archbishop of Boston, is still fresh in the minds of most Americans. The horrific practice of shuffling predator priests from parish to parish, even when their abuses were well-known to their superiors, was, and for all we know still is, commonplace.
Where are the mass convictions? Why aren’t the prisons getting a fresh batch of child molesters? In the case of Ireland, it is because the commissions were not formed to bring charges, merely to shine a light on the offending institutions in order to curtail further abuse. In the case of the Ryan report, that ability was curtailed even further, due to a legal challenge from the Christian Brothers. They got all the names redacted so that they could deal with the abusers in private.
So what is the Pope’s response to this litany of horrific abuses? “Jesus’ harsh words in the Bible about those who harm children should commit everyone to never lowering the level of respect and love.”
Is he really serious?
How could the Pope be so divorced from the reality of this situation? In an e-mail statement, Barbara Dorris, a director at SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) wrote, “These are more meaningless and self-serving words from the Vatican. How many times does the Pope get to ‘condemn’ clergy sexual abuse while doing virtually nothing to stop it?”
The Catholic Church has succeeded in hiding these abuses for so long specifically because they are either unable or unwilling to admit the full scope of this disaster and reap the terrible publicity it will surely bring. Joseph Fosco, a founding member of the Chicago-based Cardinal Cody Observation Commission, has commented frequently on the Church’s obsession to avoid publicity by employing a veil of secrecy. “What I find especially alarming is the Archdiocese of Chicago’s obsession over ‘scandal prevention’, which seems to be more of a concern than the safety of children. The depositions of Cardinal George and Bishop Goedert clearly show that scandal is among their chief concern (in my opinion). It was sad to read letters regarding the late Cardinal Bernardin, who apparently was as worried about scandals as his successor seems to be. I understand that scandals are critical matters, but the safety of children is far more critical.”
So how does the Church move forward? The Pope himself said,”The wounds caused by such acts (child abuse) run deep, and it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence and trust where these have been damaged. In your (the priests of Ireland) continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem, it is important 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.”
Why pass the buck? Who would be better to take the lead on this rebuilding than the Pope himself? Voice of the Faithful, an organization formed in the wake of the Boston sex scandal, wrote in an open letter to Pope Benedict, “The time to act is now. The secrecy must come to an end. We are convinced that this programme cannot be speedily achieved in Ireland or elsewhere without the deployment of the full authority of your own office.”
The man at the head of the Catholic Church, the one who could potentially do something about this whole mess, continues to spout platitudes instead of ordering his underlings to expose all the lies and conspiracies. It would only take the power of Benedict’s office to change the meek words of an obviously reluctant Pope into a concrete, and necessarily harsh, policy of zero tolerance towards child abuse. He could easily make it a rule that all child molesters be immediately turned over to the secular authorities. The question is why doesn’t he?
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