The editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, presents this report of the inaugural Australasian Clergy Abuse, Reparation & Prevention Conference held in Sydney last Friday.

Healing the victims of clerical sexual abuse and
healing the institutional culture!

by Brian Coyne

As an observer of the inaugural Australasian Clergy Abuse, Reparation & Prevention Conference held last Friday the overwhelming sense I came away with was this was an important symbolic step in giving back to the victims of clerical abuse a sense of control in their lives. No, that's not quite correct — nobody was "giving" them anything — what was critically important about this Conference is that it was victims of clerical sexual abuse claiming back for themselves some measure of control. It wasn't a large gathering — 50-60 were registered — but it was important because it represented what might be termed an "emerging leadership" amongst victims. Most of the most public voices on behalf of victims were represented there. What has also significant about this conference is that the victim's leaders are now reaching out in the community and attracting the moral and financial support of people in the corporate world and government to become a more effective and powerful voice of advocacy on behalf of victims.

Panorama of the Northern half of the Conference Hall at the Mint Building.

In one sense this was not a Conference where anyone learned anything new. It was more an opportunity for networking — and not just locally but on an international canvas. The Conference was addressed by a number of speakers who have flown in from the UK, Ireland and the United States. For a full list of Conference speakers and their subject areas see the Conference program HERE.

The Conference had a major input from women — and unfortunately my report is not going to reflect that because I want to concentrate on the addresses by Bishop Geoff Robinson and Fr Tom Doyle as I have a sense they are the ones, as "insiders of the institution", who probably still carry weight to influence internal opinion at the leadership levels in the institutional Church. Both of them though made the point strongly in their addresses that ultimately more power does have to be handed over to women if the scandal and damage caused by clerical sexual abuse is to be brought to an end.

The Conference was held at the historic Mint Building in Macquarie Street, Sydney. At lunchtime the delegates to the conference moved next door to the grounds of the old Convict Barrack's for the launch of Forget Me Knot Day where they were joined by many more people. There were a string of addresses at both the conference and at the launch from people "sharing their stories" of how they lives had been affected by the abuse they had been subjected to.

Senator Mark Arbib addresses the audience at the launch of
Forget Me Knot Day at the historic Convict Barracks.

Chair of the Conference, Jenni Woodhouse. Jenni is a Social Worker dedicated to her work with victims within the Professional Standards Unit in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. Jenni's role is supporting and caring for victims and survivors of abuse within the church context. She has worked with the Unit since its beginning in 1996. She began working with victims and survivors of abuse in the mid 1980's when working with adolescents in Sydney's inner city suburbs.

The scandal of clerical sexual abuse is that it is one of the worse negations that it is possible to contemplate of the Christian mission of the Church to be protecting the most vulnerable and powerless in society. It has led to an enormous crisis in the insitutional churches for two reasons: the first is the abuse itself. That was bad enough in itself but the damage was extended, and the crisis deepened, by the responses of authorities who, instead of acknowledging the criminal behaviour, and helping the victims, endeavoured to cover it up and protect their own prestige or the prestige of the institution. In so many cases the victims of the abuse were "caste out" and their sense of shame and hurt exacerbated. As many of the speakers at the Conference testified, the institution has yet to provide an adequate response that will return the institution and its leadership to a place of respect.

Pope, cardinals don’t need prayer; they need to listen!

One detects in the global air a profound change taking place in society as the extent of the scandal has spread to all continents of the world. The key advocates for reform and change are becoming more direct and vocal in their criticisms of the institution and its leaders. Gone are the days when Bishops, Cardinals and even the Pope could shelter behind the traditional courtesies that were extended to men of the cloth. Coinciding with his appearance in Sydney, Fr Tom Doyle, has this week had published in National Catholic Reporter one of the strongest criticisms yet of the direction being pursued by the current Pope and his advisers [SEE: "Pope, cardinals don't need prayer; they need to listen"]. Fr Doyle's criticism has been matched by a column written by Eugene Cullen Kennedy critical of the forthcoming convocation of the world's cardinals called by Pope Benedict to "reflect and pray" about sex abuse [SEE: "Sex abuse doesn't top cardinals' agenda – literally"].

The increasing impatience of commentators like Fr Doyle and Dr Cullen Kennedy is reflected by other writers now on the international canvas. Will it be powerful enough to change the culture at the highest and deepest levels of the institutional churches? Don't hold your breath. As both Bishop Geoffrey Robinson and Fr Tom Doyle in the video clips from the conference included on this page suggest, the culture that has led to this crisis has been centuries in the making.

The firming perspective of Bishop Robinson...

Dr Cathy Kezelman, one of a number of significant people responsible for the conference and Forget Me Knot Day, is Australia's foremost expert on adult trauma as a result of child abuse. A medical practitioner and chairperson of ASCA (Adults Surviving Child Abuse), Dr Kezelman is dedicated to advancing the needs of the more than 2 million Australian adults abused as children.

Bishop Robinson's address to the Conference is largely the text from a forthcoming book to be published in the U.S. looking at the abuse crisis. For understandable reasons we are unable to bring you the full address here. To this writer though, the address marked a firming of the resolve and the thinking of Bishop Robinson in his efforts to help force a more mature and intelligent response from the institution. As we see with his co-keynote speaker Tom Doyle's comments in NCR in recent days, the "gloves are coming off" in the criticisms of who and what is responsible for this crisis which today not only brings shame to the bishops, the cardinals and to the pope but to every person who has been baptised as a follower of Jesus Christ who taught us to have especial care for children.

Let me try and summarise what Bishop Robinson had to say. He is putting forward a check-list of twelve major points that he believes need to be addressed by the institutional church (in his case the Catholic Church but, as he says, some of the points also extend to other institutions in society who have been tainted by similar scandals). His focus is not so much on "saving the Church, or his fellow bishops from further scandal" so much as a three-position focus: (i) on returning victims of abuse to a position of healing and equilibrium where, if possible they can resume their lives without constantly being dragged down by what was done to them. (ii) His focus is in preventing, as far as humanly possible, abuse happening again but, if it does, there are mechanisms in place to respond to the needs of the victims as the first priority. (iii) Running through what he has to say I think one can detect this continuing deep love for Jesus and his message and a desire to return the institution to the point where it is again an effective agent in the world from preaching the true "good news" of Jesus Christ.

Here, in summary form, are the twelve areas that Bishop Robinson suggests need to be addressed:

1. The Angry God: This image the institution projects of a God of Wrath and Anger needs to be challenged. It is wrong, and bad theology.
2. The Male Church: Women have been marginalised and treated as second class by the institution for far too long.
3. The Culture of Celibacy: Not so much celbacy per se but mandatory celibacy has to take a major part of the blame as a contributing cause of this crisis.
4. Moral Immaturity: The seminary system and training of priests and religious has not encouraged moral and spiritual maturity. That needs to be changed.
5. Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy: Bishop Robinson argues there has been far too much emphasis on Orthodoxy (right belief) and far too little on Orthopraxy (right action).
6. Sexual Teaching: He argues there needs to be "a profound change in all of sexual morality" within the institution.
7. The Mystique of Priesthood: Priests have been placed on a pedestal of perfection for far too long. It's dangerous to them and it's dangerous to the people they are meant to be serving. Priests are not God — they struggle with all the challenges that ay human beings struggle with in their lives. Often because of their positions on these pedestals they have been placed on they find it difficult to find support in their lives.
8. Professionalism: There has been a rise in professional standards across almost all professions — ethical codes, structures that protect and foster professional integrity but the priesthood has largely been excluded. He argues much more needs to be done to lift professional standards of those in ministry with the Church.
9. A Pope who can't make mistakes: He argues that the way the pontiff has been placed on a pedestal and immune from criticism has been especially damaging to the institution. Creeping infallibility is a huge problem not only for some at the top who would seem to believe they have divine perfection already but also for many at the lowest rungs of the Church. This culture needs to be changed.
10. The Loyalty of Bishops to the Pope: Their oath of allegiance is to the Pope — not to God, or the Church. He argues significant blame has to be placed at the feet of the late John Paul II for his inadequate responses to the growing sexual abuse crisis.
11. A Culture of Secrecy: Bishop Robinson argues that the culture of secrecy in the Church has been a major cause of the problems. Bishops need to present themselves in the best light all the time and the culture of secrecy runs with that. It has been deeply damaging to the institution and needs to be changed.
12. The Sensus Fidelium: He argues the institutional leadership need to be listening far more to the thinking of the broad body of the faithful not just to the small sectors that crave authority figures and founts of certitude.

The foregoing are my words rather than Bishop Robinson's seeking to explain in a short space the arguments he will be presenting in the forthcoming book. (His address on Friday, I suspect, was itself a considerable condensation of the text that will appear in the book — particularly as he moved towards the end of his address.)

Here is the small 3m 54s segment of his half hour address which gives a flavour of his presentation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Haz6SsbTs4

An earlier version of this video which can be found at the link below had recorded 811 views
on YouTube before it was replaced with the new version above.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8L20V4ffvo

The full 26m25s address (3,051 views) can be viewed at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ewAxhJ8m3I

Fr Tom Doyle's address...

Fr Tom Doyle gave an even longer address to the Conference which partly traced the history of the unfolding the clerical sexual abuse scandal and ended with some perspectives on the present situation and words for advice that might be useful as the leaders of these various initiatives in Australia seek to chart a pathway into the future. I've selected this short 5m 40s segment from his address as it is reflective of the changing tone of criticism directed at the leadership of the institutional church. Drafted on the other side of the Pacific Ocean to where Bishop Robinson resides, I suggest is reflects something of the convergence of thinking that is emerging around the world since the inadequate responses to the situation in Ireland that began before Easter this year.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoOKoGXJ2As

An earlier version of this video which can be found at the link below had recorded 2,169 views
on YouTube before it was replaced with the new version above.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwgJn5qikpY

Brian Coyne, 15 Nov 2010

LINKS:
ACARP Conference website: www.survivorsaustralia.com/Clergy_Conference.html.
Survivors' Australia website: www.survivorsaustralia.com.
ASCA website: www.asca.org.au.
Fr Tom Doyle's article in NCR:
ncronline.org/news/pope-cardinals-don't-need-prayer-they-need-listen.
Eugene Cullen Kennedy's article in NCR:
ncronline.org/blogs/bulletins-human-side/sex-abuse-doesnt-top-cardinals-agenda-literally.

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