Brody's Notes... Critics Charge Benedict's Papal Letter Doesn't Go Far Enough

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Mar 20 | In the papal letter to the Irish Catholic Churches released today by the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has apologised to victims, called on abuser priests to tell the truth, and charged bishops to cooperate with civil authorities. Critics of the Pope's reaction to the mounting crisis in the church have charged that the papal letter, which carries no punitive provisions, fails to address the fact that abuse is a global and structural problem for the church. "It would be good if there would be a mea culpa from him for all victims around the globe," said Christian Weisner spokesman for the prominent German Catholic activist group, We Are Church.

In the section of the letter addressed to the Bishops & Church hierarchy Benedict wrote: 

"I must also express my conviction that, in order to recover from this grievous wound, the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenceless children. Such an acknowledgement, accompanied by sincere sorrow for the damage caused to these victims and their families, must lead to a concerted effort to ensure the protection of children from similar crimes in the future."

To the victims of abuse and their families the Pope stated:

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen. Those of you who were abused in residential institutions must have felt that there was no escape from your sufferings. It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the Church. In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel. At the same time, I ask you not to lose hope. It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was Himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, He still bears the wounds of His own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church."

Benedict then addressed the priests and others who have abused the children: 

"You betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents, and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals. You have forfeited the esteem of the people of Ireland and brought shame and dishonour upon your confreres. Those of you who are priests violated the sanctity of the sacrament of Holy Orders in which Christ makes Himself present in us and in our actions. Together with the immense harm done to victims, great damage has been done to the Church and to the public perception of the priesthood and religious life.

I urge you to examine your conscience, take responsibility for the sins you have committed, and humbly express your sorrow. Sincere repentance opens the door to God's forgiveness and the grace of true amendment.

By offering prayers and penances for those you have wronged, you should seek to atone personally for your actions. Christ's redeeming sacrifice has the power to forgive even the gravest of sins, and to bring forth good from even the most terrible evil. At the same time, God's justice summons us to give an account of our actions and to conceal nothing. Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy."

The letter was met with disappointment by survivors of abuse in Ireland. Maeve Lewis, executive director of the Irish victims group One in Four reacted to the papal missive:

"Victims were hoping for an acknowledgement of the scurrilous ways in which they have been treated as they attempted to bring their experiences of abuse to the attention of the church authorities. Pope Benedict has passed up a glorious opportunity to address the core issue in the clerical sexual abuse scandal: the deliberate policy of the Catholic Church at the highest levels to protect sex offenders, thereby endangering children. We feel the letter falls far short of addressing the concerns of the victims." 

and then added;

"In relation to the Irish bishops, the pope acknowledges their failings, but situates them in failures to adhere to cannon law," the group said. "There is no appreciation that the law of the land supersedes cannon law, and that the Catholic bishops, like any other citizens, are obliged to abide by Irish law. If the Church cannot acknowledge this fundamental truth, it is still in denial.” 

Benedict's letter addressed only the scandal in Ireland, not the other cases of abuse which have recently come to light in other countries across Europe, including in the pope's native Germany. When asked today why the German-born pope didn't directly address the German scandal or take the opportunity of the letter to make a more sweeping commentary on the now-global dimensions of the scandal, Vatican spokesperson, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, acknowledged the other cases but said the Irish scandal was unique in its scope. But he said that obviously issues in the letter could be read to apply to other countries and individuals.

"You can't talk about the entire world every time," he said. "It risks becoming banal."

Television Network Al Jazeera's correspondent in Dublin, Laurence Lee, said victims of abuse will see the letter as a massive let down:

"The concrete initiatives that the pope suggested should be carried out involved things like Friday penances, fasting, works of mercy and reading the scriptures; ... clearly what the victims of abuse and pressure groups ... want are concrete measures which are much more to do with resignations or even criminal charges against bishops and priests. It was more a re-statement of the importance of the laws of the church which historically have been seen by the church as more important than an overriding criminal law."

 

While Benedict's letter to Ireland is striking in both tone and substance, critics have also pointed to what it does not contain. For example, there is no call for bishops who reassigned abuser-priests to resign. Although the pope calls bishops to renew their "accountability before God," he offers no new mechanisms or policies to enforce that accountability.

Benedict also does not allude to suggestions in some quarters that the sex abuse crisis ought to occasion a re-examination of the discipline of priestly celibacy in the Catholic church. One week ago, Benedict XVI reaffirmed the value of celibacy, calling it "the sign of full devotion, the entire commitment to the Lord and to the Lord's business, an expression of giving oneself to God and to others."
A prominent Catholic believer who wished to remain anonymous in an interview today said; 

"So, Benedict, what are YOU going to DO! One only need imagine Jesus going into the temple and seeing the money-changers; JESUS didn't ask for prayers for those evil-doers, HE DID something! He ELIMINATED the problem. Benedict, for whatever reason, you still don't understand that the structure of the church is what enabled these crimes to occur and flourish. YOU need to begin a restructuring--------similar to what JESUS did with the tables and chairs of the money-changers! YOU are the one responsible to begin the restructuring and dismantling of the hierarchical power structure of the church; return the church to the lay people, the People Of God, the same ones that Jesus gave his church to. If you are unable to do this because of your age or alliances with other hierarchical cliques, then you need to do the honorable thing and step down."