On the 26th of November, 2009, a statement was issued by the Irish Government with regard the findings of the Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. The long-awaited Statement informed the Irish public that: "a systemic, calculated perversion of power and trust was visited on helpless and innocent children in the Archdiocese over a 30 year period ... The report leaves us in no doubt that clerical child sexual abuse was tolerated and covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin and other Church authorities. The focus of those authorities was on the avoidance of scandal for the Church and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution, rather than on the welfare of children. The findings are shocking and raise the most fundamental questions for the Church authorities." Dr Andrew Kania has prepared this commentary which we publish as an editorial reflective of the collective view of the wider Catholica community on this issue of acute embarrassment to almost all baptised Catholics. ...Editor

The right of the laity to be critical...

One of the most striking lessons that can be learned from the findings of the Commission, is that a respect and a commitment to the Church, by the laity — should not at any stage preclude the laity from being critical of the leadership and the organizations that operate under Her name. In fact the Orthodox theologian, John Meyendorff, writes in words as applicable to Catholics as to the Orthodox, that:

"Since the Church is catholic in all her parts, each one of her members — not only the clergy but also each layman — is called to confess and to defend the truth of tradition; opposing even the bishops should they fall into heresy". (Meyendorff, 1998, p. 16)

It is clear that those clerics who abused children under their care, did so on the basis, that the perceived general behaviour of priests was in the eyes of the Catholic laity, accepted as being beyond reproach; a case of blind faith inadvertently issuing to those perverse minded clerics, carte blanche. Similarly it would also appear that the hierarchs who covered up the criminal behaviour of pedophile priests, did so on the basis that their authority would be accepted without question. A venomous concoction to say the least, and too irresistible in its taste and odour for the predator and opportunist alike, not to drink of it.

St Jerome (347-420) observed that bishops and clercis can sometimes be persons of poor character.

As early as the fourth century St. Jerome (347-420) observed that bishops and clerics can sometimes be persons of poor character, he warned:

"Do not let your deeds thwart your words. Otherwise, when you are speaking in church, your hearers will tacitly retort, 'Why do you not put your own words into practice?'" (Early Dominicans, 1982, p. 216)

St Hilary of Poitiers (300-367), even went so far as to say that:

"The ears of the faithful are holier than the hearts of the bishops". (Congar, 2004, p. 75)

Several hundred years later the Dominican, Blessed Humbert of Romans (1200-1277), provided a candid look at corruption within the Church of the 13th Century when he preached:

"Others are put off by the corruption to be found in the rulers of the church, who often put obstacles in the way of preaching, instead of fostering it as they ought to, like the scribes and Pharisees among the Jews and the priests of the temples among the pagans, who always did their best to thwart the preaching of Christ, and even persecuted his preachers fiercely, as we can see in the Acts of the Apostles and the legends of the saints". (Early Dominicans, 1982, p. 244)

Clerical corruption an historical problem...

That the problem of corruption in the clergy seems to be historically entrenched is also evidenced from the writings of Blessed Jordan of Saxony (1190-1237) who recounted the tale:

"Once, when I was in a large city in Brabant called Brussels, a girl came to me, who was not very well off, but was good looking. She was crying and asked me to help her. I encouraged her to tell me what the matter was. With a lot of sobbing and sighing, she said, 'I'm in a dreadful state. A priest tried to take me by force and kissed me against my will, and I slapped him in the face and made his nose bleed. Now the clergy all tell me there is no alternative but for me to go to Rome about it.' I could hardly stop myself from bursting out laughing, but I spoke to her very seriously, putting the fear of God into her as if she had committed a grave offence. Eventually I made her swear that she would do exactly what I told her. Then I said, 'By the oath you have sworn, I command you: if he or any other priest tries to force his kisses on you or to pet you, clench your fist tight and knock his eye out if you can. Whatever his rank may be, do not let him get away with it. It is quite lawful to hit anyone to preserve your chastity, as it is to defend your bodily life.' Then I encouraged the girl herself and everybody else who was there to have a good laugh and cheer up". (Early Dominicans, 1982, p. 140)

An obedience to the dogma of the Church should never be hyper-extended to applying a saintly veneer to the men and women who comprise Her; especially if it means that in addition to selective vision we also deafen our ears to the blaring injustice or evil that men can do. St. François de Sales, is unequivocally clear on this point, in the Introduction to the Devout Life, when he writes:

"While extremely sensitive as to the slightest approach to slander, you must also guard against an extreme into which some people fall who, in their desire to speak evil of no one, actually uphold and speak well of vice. If you have to do with one who is unquestionably a slanderer, do not excuse him by calling him frank and free-spoken; do not call one who is notoriously vain, liberal and elegant; do not call dangerous levities mere simplicity; do not screen disobedience under the name of zeal; or arrogance of frankness; or evil intimacy of friendship. No, my friends, we must never, in our wish to shun slander, foster or flatter vice in others: but we must call evil evil, and sin sin, and so doing we shall serve God's glory."

It is not Christianity to dress the wolf in an outfit of wool and place him in a pasture among the fold — knowing that every time he shows his teeth the sheep will dimly obey; nor is it Christianity to have the wolf sit in the pasture land in the hope that by coming to be acquainted with the meekness of the lamb he will have a metanoia and become a vegetarian; nor is it Christianity for the wolf to slowly eat the sheep one by one, and then for their shepherd to rationalize this behaviour with an apologetic explaining the circle of life, or feigning ignorance as to the inherent ill-will of the wolf toward the sheep. Every good shepherd is aware of the loss of his flock, and seeks the immediate root cause; for no wolf, however cunning he is, has the ability to pull the wool over a loving shepherd's eyes. (cf. John 10: 11-18 & Job 30: 5-6, LXX) As Christians we are called upon to forgive, but forgiveness does not mean sacrificing the innocents in the manner of some Aztec ritual; Christians are called to punish the wrong-doer, and protect the innocent, as they are also called to forgive and rehabilitate when the threat of evil is no more.

The Irish laity were abused twice over...

One cannot blame the laity of Ireland for being naïve. A loyal and faith-filled people were abused twice over — first by the sexual crimes committed; second, by the brutal rape of trust that was entwined in the depraved act. Every father and mother who gave their child to the Church, to be purified, only to receive them back, defiled, can never be fully compensated. Christ knew this when he spoke of millstones and those who take the innocence of children from them. There can be no excuse for these crimes; and no excuse for their being covered up; the Nüremberg defence remains impotent even if it be dressed up in a clerical collar or if the hand that hid the crimes also shamelessly held the shepherd's crook.

The cause of what occurred in Ireland is perhaps best summed up by Gerard de Groote, who in 1383 delivered a sermon to his chapter-house in Utrecht, in which he addressed the presence of moral corruption in the Church, specifically amongst the clergy; as de Groote saw the issue:

"My lords, the more august the priesthood, the more scandalous the dissoluteness therein". (Wautier D'Aygalliers, 1925, p. 28)

When men seek to prematurely make Saints of the living by blindly assuming standards of perfection of them; oftentimes they but succeed in assisting the devil in his task of disguising himself. We are a Church of Saints and Sinners — and the presence of both should never be forgotten.

This commentary has also been published as an article in the current print edition of The Record newspaper.

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©2010Dr Andrew Thomas Kania

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