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PDF versionVatican abuse summit: Penance and a spirit of 'Never Again!'
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 07, 2012
ROME -- In a first of its kind for Rome, the Vatican’s top official for bishops tonight led a liturgy of penance to ask forgiveness for the sexual abuse of children by priests, and for church leaders who covered up that abuse.
The service included an Irish victim of clerical abuse, who, in an apparent reference both to abusers and their protectors, asked God to “forgive them.”
Held tonight at Rome’s Church of St. Igantius, the liturgy was presided over by Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who serves as Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops. His participation was seen as significant, because it implicitly acknowledged that the church’s shortcomings are not limited to priests who committed abuse, but also include bishops who failed to act.
The service was part of a four-day Vatican summit on the sexual abuse crisis titled “Towards Healing and Renewal.” The event brings together roughly 100 bishops and religious superiors from around the world, ahead of a May deadline for bishops’ conferences to submit their policies on fighting abuse for Vatican review.
In his reflections during the liturgy, Ouellet called the crisis “a source of great shame and enormous scandal,” saying that sexual abuse is not only a “crime” but also an “authentic experience of death for the innocent victims.”
The first step towards healing, Ouellet said, is to “listen carefully” to victims and “to believe their painful stories.”
Beyond listening, he said, the church must “establish the proper structures to help prevent similar crimes,” which Ouellet said must be based on the sentiment of “Never again!”
Ouellet said that in many instances, abusers in the clergy should have been identified and removed much earlier, but instead were left in place.
“Once again, we apologize to the victims,” he said, for their “terrible and humiliating experience.”
Tonight’s hour-long liturgy began with a slide show in the darkened Church of St. Ignatius, chosen because it’s a major Jesuit church in Rome and the four-day summit is being held at the Jesuit-run Gregorian University. The slide show featured images symbolizing themes of creation, sin, and redemption.
At one stage, representatives of various groups in the church read prayers asking God for forgiveness, including bishops, educators, religious superiors, priests, parents, and the faithful. The bishop said, “Here we are humbled before you, and before all of humanity, crucified by the evil that has disfigured the face of your church.”
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Irish abuse victim Marie Collins, who spoke this morning at the symposium, then read a prayer on behalf of victims. The text of her prayer was:
Lord, as one acquainted with great sorrows,
you know how difficult it is for us to forgive
those who have done us evil and
only your love can open ourselves to this gift:
we ask you for the strength to unite us to
the forgiveness that, from the cross, you made descend
upon sinful humanity as a healing balm,
so that also thy Church may be healed by our forgiveness.
“Forgive them.”
Though liturgies of penance with victims of abuse have been conducted by bishops and other church leaders in other parts of the world, this was apparently the first time such a service was conducted in Rome by senior Vatican officials.
In his six meetings with victims of sexual abuse so far, Pope Benedict XVI has taken part in private prayers of penance, but has not yet led any such public liturgy.
Back in 2002 amid the spiraling American scandals, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, today Pope Benedict, endorsed such liturgies of penance.
“Such a public act takes note of the reality of sin and invites us to think about sin and mercy,” Ratzinger said at the time. “Above all, it can promote a praxis of penitence, focusing on both education and prevention against these human failings.”
I'm with SNAP on this one.
I'm with SNAP on this one. This event is nice window dressing, but I see little evidence of change. Rome is still appointing clueless and criminal bishops. The prophets who stand up and speak the truth are still being ostracized. Until those who cover up these crimes are removed from powern nothing will change.
We've heard this before and
We've heard this before and in Philadelphia especially. I'll speak to that later but one thing is very clear -
If the bishops had obeyed the Canon Law in place at the time they began receiving complaints about sexual predators, the Church would not be in its present state.
None have been held accountable for their moral failures to act, to protect children, to discipline priests. None have been held criminally responsible for their failures to report known or suspected crimes be it the sexual abuse of children or the possession and/or distribution of pornography.
NOT YET.
However, that's another story and as Terence McKiernan said in the Times this morning, "The Vatican is afraid, and it has reason to be."
I'm waiting for some press coverage on priests, diocesan or order, or brothers or any males at all, testifying to their own sexual abuse in the minor seminary,in grade school or high school.
So far one victim has addressed the symposium in Rome - a woman - Marie Collins. Although I would never have recommended that she put herself in the position of being exploited by the hierarchy in this way, I admire her courage. I hope she is not disappointed with the results of "Toward Healing and Renewal."
I am reminded of another Public Relations event, one that was held in Philadelphia within the year following the release of the horrific 2005 Grand Jury Report on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
It was called "Witness to the Sorrow," or "Witness to the Sorrowing." It was streamed live by the archdiocese's website from beginning to end. It was a very well orchestrated media event; essential meaningless as the 2011 Grand Jury Report on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia would later point out.
Why? Because it accomplished nothing. Nothing changed. Business went on as usual. The cover-up went on as usual. The hardball courtroom tactics in federal court went on as usual and as they go on now in criminal court in preparation for Msgr. William Lynn's trail which begins in March.
It accomplished nothing.
Oh, yes, there were victims of clergy sexual abuse or their relatives who spoke. It was very telling that they were all victims of priests belonging to religious orders. None were victims of archdiocesan priests, sexual predators belonging to the archdiocese. Other victims, along with their family and advocates, were barred from attending the event held at St. Charles Seminary. Truly a media event all around.
Speaking of media events, to get back to the "Toward Healing and Renewal" symposium perhaps John Allen could tell us whether Dublin's Archbishop Martin is in attendence?
Is Martin going to address the assembled group of bishops?
How about Australia's Bishop Geoffrey Robinson who "handled" this church problem down under for so many years?
How about Richard Sipe whose studies have revealed so much?
And how about the Reverend Thomas Doyle,OP who with others in 1985 tried to stir the American bishops out of their lethergy? Is he there? Is he speaking?
Will any of them speak?
Or are their voices to be found where those who have the courage to speak out are usually found -
CRYING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS.
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Advocate for Victims & Legislative Reform
maturlishmdsnd@yahoo.com
WHERE'S THE BEEF, JOHN?
WHERE'S THE BEEF, JOHN? ............ John, when does parental decency or concern for victims require a journalist to take a pass on relaying pedophile protectors' shameless and endless spin? Please think about this.
Priest rape of defenseless children, never again??? Why never again? Because the pope followed his criminal lawyers' advice and staged a contrived conference for the world media? Because the pope said some penitential prayers before cameras? Because the pope spent a couple of minutes with pre-selected victims as media events?
For over three decades, going back to Munich in the '70's with this pope's outrageous protection of a convicted serial pedophile whose abuse of children continued, right up to this pope's recent protection of the nephew-abusing Belgian bishop , this pope has had a consistently dismal record on really dealing with priest sexual predators effectively and honestly.
Hopefully, the pope will live long enough to get his just desserts at the International Criminal Court. Or, like his co-conspirator, Anthony Bevilaqua, he may just be able to run out the clock. Whether or not the pope evades the criminal law process, many of his curial and episcopal co-conspirators will not, rest assured.
This "abuse summit" is just the latest insult to Catholic intelligence. A lot of pietistic promises and hand-wringing, but no effective action. Where's the beef, John? Will bishops now be accountable to independent audits? No! Will bishops now be required to promptly report priest abusers to the police? No! Will the pool of future priests be increased by married and female candidates to facilitate the prompt rejection of suspected pedophile candidates and the earlier elimination of known pedophile priests? No! More business as usual, of course.
All this conference has done is confirm in spades that the pope is not really serious about protecting defenseless children, as if he hadn't already made this very clear.
Let us now just let the numerous prosecutors do their work-- a tough way to clean up the Church, but an effective one to be sure.
Whether or not the pope succeeds with his current duplicitious "religious liberty/birth control" ploy to dump Obama electorally really won't matter much. The public worldwide already knows too much about the papal cover-up. Parents worldwide will compel their political leaders increasingly to protect their children from criminal pedophiles and their enablers--even if this requires prosecuting the entire hierarchy, as sadly may be necessary.
This conference has just proven without doubt that the Vatican will never reform itself.
I pray that you will let go
I pray that you will let go of your venom and pursue healing.There are many forms of abuse for which we should seek help.
Sorry Nan, sounds like you
Sorry Nan, sounds like you are the one with venon, not to mention a complete lack of compassion. As to the staged demonstration by the Bishops: actions speak louder than words. Victims of abuse have a right to expect reformed behaviors.
Mortal sins are determined according to St. John of the Cross by the fact that the victim of the "sin" aka violence is mortally wounded and will go to his/her grave wounded by the acts. Only a miricle from God can heal a mortal sin. Example, murder - who can reverse such an act? The top of the list of sexual sins is child sexual abuse because the victims are damaged for life according both the Catholic Church and to St. John of the Cross.
Victims of sexual remain a sign to others his/her entire life, of the reason why sexual abuse of children takes a tow on the individual and his/her family, and again, nothing except divine intevention can reverse the damage done by a mortal sin which wounds the victim mortally. The best that anyone can hope for is the sufferings of the victims will prevent others from suffering the same by carrying his/her cross and saying "never again." This is what SNAP has tried to do by preventing child sexual abuse by first exposing it and all it's horrors.
Nan, if you really want victims to heal, please pray for them. That would be a sign of Christian love, and don't spout your venon at them for wounds only God can heal. Nan, do everything you can do to prevent children from being abused by persons in religious authorities.
It would have been far
It would have been far better, and worth your prayers, to have stayed silent and reflected a bit more on what was written by Mr. Slevin. You may see the issue differently, but it is your own "venom" that formulated your response. A significant part of healing is in fact the venting of anger - and other feelings - and should never be made to "fit" anyone else's proscription of what is right or correct. To expect otherwise is an abuse in and of itself. While I do not believe it was your intent to be abusive, will it now give you pause to reflect on what occurs inside of you when you read comments like those you reacted to, and why you reacted as you did?
What is worse, Jerry, is that
What is worse, Jerry, is that the participants (the list reads like a who's who of worse offenders) have somehow convinced the Germans to build an academic center so that the bishops' own men - clerical psychologists who put the Church before reason and children (who were also the architects of the cover-up by doing so)- will have access to what promises to be the world archive of confidential abuse cases. This will do the following:
1) take all confidential files of victims out of the reach of sovereign governments, to be manipulated and/or destroyed at will;
2) allow badly trained church psychologists who were a part of the cover-up to add their own spin with new "research."
Make no mistake. This is all prelude to the worst shake-down in Church history.
A liturgy of penance is a
A liturgy of penance is a necessary but insufficient step. So are the new requirements for reporting suspected cases of abuse and assuring a suspected abuser is immediately removed from access to children. Necessary but insufficient.
It is about trust. And with bishops not held accountable, we have no reason to trust that the next abuser won't be hidden. It is a risk some bishops will be willing to take because, whatever happens, the bishop will not be affected.
A VOX CLARA special? Diagram
A VOX CLARA special? Diagram this RUN-ON:
Lord, as one acquainted with great sorrows,
you know how difficult it is for us to forgive
those who have done us evil and
only your love can open ourselves to this gift:
we ask you for the strength to unite us to
the forgiveness that, from the cross, you made descend
upon sinful humanity as a healing balm,
so that also thy Church may be healed by our forgiveness.
“Forgive them.”
All this prayer text needs is a dangling, misplaced WE PRAY thrown in somewhere at random.
"Penance and a spirit of
"Penance and a spirit of 'Never Again!"---
Haven't we heard these words before... and will we be hearing these same words ten years from now?
Forgiveness is not possible until those who committed sex crimes against kids, and those who covered up those crimes are held accountable, otherwise nothing changes..! Kids are still at risk today within the system.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511
"Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.
Dear Lord; We Pray that
Dear Lord;
We Pray that Brother C. B. McK. receives a big Hi-from-the-Sky in appreciation for his transcending reform-of-the-reform payer.
Amen.
Was it enough or too little?
Was it enough or too little? Was it sincere or an act? Does it make any difference after the fact? Is this the best we are to get or should it be pursued as far as possible? Is this coming to end or is it to go on forever? We are so stuck in the process, which is still relatively young because the Church moves so slowly, and we run the danger of a sort of numbness settling over us as a reslt. What will "renew" it is another round of abuse reports out of the global south church which is still somewhat primitive in its active and knowlegeable laity (it was the laity in the US and Europe that brought the crisis to light, so it will likely be so elsewhere), but the effects of conferences like this one will help considerably in empowering younger religious,seminarians/priests/deacons. And one furthe thought: why is the Pope and the USCCB tolerating those bishops who have refused to institute the USCCB's own abuse policies? This is outrageous and only feeds suspicions that the bishops are protecting their own even while begging the forgiveness of victims. Perhaps a few hundred letters to (soon) Cardinal Dolan will help disarm some of the humor he uses to avoid confronting the hard issues, and prompt him to address it publicly.
WHO was crucified by this
WHO was crucified by this evil? No one in the hierarchy---the crucified are the victims.
A "Liturgy of Penance" held
A "Liturgy of Penance" held in a stunning baroque edifice where creme de la creme old men create yet another occasion for themselves to preen before their peers in finest silk, lace and jewel-encrusted crosses, with perhaps some uplifting Palestrina polyphony to be heard. So much for "Liturgy."
(St. Ignatius is a most fitting venue for this ceremony, a prime example of the trompe l'oeil technique in art. The ceremony is a prime example of the trompe le publique technique in corporate PR).
Better they should don jump-suits in orange denim, and hear the cacophony of banging cell-doors by day and the moans of the sodomized by night. And when they realize their own responsibility for the moans of the child-victims whose pain is vastly greater than that of the adult prisoners, and whose rape they covered-up, then, and only then, would there be a start of "Penance."
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