Louis Cilia
The Pope’s visit to Britain
The Pope’s historic four-day visit to Britain came to an end last Sunday. Against all expectations, it was a success as he attracted large and eager crowds wherever he went. The size and enthusiasm of the throngs gathered to acclaim him and hear his words in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and finally Birmingham appeared to astonish everyone; even the Pope’s many detractors who had eagerly looked forward to a PR disaster for the Church as it stumbled from one debacle to another were surprised.
The sex abuse scandals by Catholic priests in many countries, including the Church’s very heartlands, have had devastating effects. The Church’s former unique moral standing worldwide has been shaken to its very foundations and to such an extent that it will take many years before it can reclaim it again. To do so it needs to reform itself root and branch.
For the immediate future there are a number of questions that need to be asked and answered. The most pressing are: Will vocations continue to shrink? Will Church membership keep on declining? Will the expected fall in Church revenue as a result of a substantial drop in Mass attendances, widespread disenchantment with the Church and general disinterest in its activities bring about an unparalleled organisational and institutional crisis which will further impede the Church from effectively carrying out its worldwide mission with consequent negative results on its many religious, educational and social interests?
The Pope’s successful visit to the UK, however, raises hopes that these dire forebodings will not, in the long run, materialise. People, especially the young, are still trusting in religion and eagerly looking at the Church as a significant leader in their lives. These sentiments were also evident and witnessed by us during the Pope’s visit to Malta last April. Hope is still there, but radical reform is the only path to a vital and vibrant Church.
The questions asked earlier in this article cannot be shirked by those in the Church hierarchy who are in a position to restore the Church’s reputation. They are questions that need to be confronted with openness and without prejudice. Much of the damage caused has been the result of the Church’s own secretive attitude. The approach was that these were problems that concerned the Church only. The Murphy Report on the scandals in Ireland accused the police of adopting a culture of deference towards the Church by allowing crimes committed by the clergy to be treated as an internal ecclesiastical matter. The protection of the good name of the Church was given precedence over helping the abused child. As a result, the perpetrators of the crimes felt safe enough to continue with their vile activities to the detriment of victims and, finally, the Church itself. It is not the only reason why Catholicism imploded in recent times, but it can be attributed as one of the main reasons. Endless cover-ups brought about a vicious circle of moral degradation in the very heart of the Church.
One other relevant question that needs to be confronted is why the Church has attracted such a large number of paedophiles to its ranks? Paedophilia has been subjected to intensive study by specialists. At first, psychotherapists were of the view that paedophilia was treatable. Now they are more circumspect in their observations and would not give a straightforward opinion – each case is complicated and needs to be treated on its own.
Some have also claimed that clerical celibacy and the Church’s many activities relating to child education and welfare created the right environment (and attraction) for people with deviated sexual inclinations towards children. However, there is no data to prove that celibate priests are more prone to abuse children, or that married men are less likely to resort to paedophilia.
The Church has been accused of being reactionary, of closing its doors to progress, among other things by not allowing priests to marry. But the Church might well be in a worse situation if it had simply adapted itself to the more liberal values of the prevailing times. That’s what the Anglican community, especially in Canada and the US, has done in recent decades but this has brought about unprecedented problems to that Church with deep internal divisions, dwindling attendances and mass defections.
The renewal of the Catholic Church should not be a hurried affair. It needs to be planned calmly and with determination, as otherwise it will rebound disastrously if it is handled badly. Without doubt, however, there is also a sense of urgency. It is a matter that cannot be protracted any longer given the seriousness and widespread violation that has taken place. A balance needs to be established between these two exigencies. What it requires are calm specialist minds working with insistence and resolve to get results within reasonable timeframes. The healing power of Christ – even in the darkest and bleakest of situations – will then do the rest.
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gloria sullivan
Sep 29th 2010, 20:25
I find the "just carry on as usual" to be disgusting. Who cares what "good" you think the Pope and his cohorts have done? This"fauxchurch" has been doing the devil's work for millenium(s). You are just now getting a taste of the evil they have done and you want everything to be just as it always was. "Living a lie" is what it is and has been We have been generationally brain - washed since the middle of the 1st century. NO MORE, WE KNOW NOW!
Pray that God will enlighten you to the TRUTH. Use your discernment. These are Crimes Against Humanity and God crys out for justice. HE won't take your free will away.
M. Cassar
Sep 25th 2010, 19:20
Leave the Vatican’s financial scandals out for now. So, in your opinion the problems of child-abuse by priests in the Catholic Church is not worthy observing the incredible success the Pope had in Great Britain. Could you mention just one single item please? No wonder the list of Catholics giving their back to the Chalice Church is getting taller every minute!
John Sammut
Sep 25th 2010, 15:47
It's a pity that a lot of journalists and commentators just limit themselves to the problem of child-abuse by priests in the Catholic Church even when observing the incredible success the Pope had in Great Britain.
Why no mention of the big ideas that the Pope stands for and which he articulated so wonderfully in his speach to both Houses of Parliament and in his homily on the Canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
The impression I get is that they have put on glasses that shut them off from the other existing colours or levels except those they have chosen.
One can call this narrownindedness or in philosphical terms subjectivism.
Louise Vella
Sep 25th 2010, 11:00
IV
We do not know what incriminating evidence the Maltese Church might be holding in its secret archives and how many crimes related to clerical child abuse have gone unpunished. By shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish, the Church showed that it was more concerned to cover-up for the crimes of child-molesting priests than to protect innocent victims. Every bishop is responsible for the well being of all his flock, especially defenceless children.
The key conclusion of the Murphy report in Ireland stated that there was institutional, systemic cover-up and protection of abusive priests that involved the church as an organisation and senior members of the church hierarchy. Would it surprise anyone if a similar investigation in Malta came to the same conclusion?
Last March Mgr Charles Scicluna spoke about the culture of omertà in such cases in Italy. Does he think the same is true in Malta? Will Mgr Scicluna order Archbishop Cremona to pass on to the police all the information he has about paedophile priests in the Curia's secret archives? I doubt it.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi should immediately set up an independent commission to probe into cover-ups of clergy sexual abuse in Malta.
Louise Vella
Sep 25th 2010, 10:55
III
If Jesus returned today he would condemn the Catholic Church as the Pharisees of our generation. Naming and shaming the priest child molesters could prevent future children from being victimized by the abusing priests. The fact is that the Church prizes secrecy and avidly resists accountability to civil authorities. Archbishop Cremona still consciously covers up the identities of current Maltese priest child abusers. The message that the church is sending is that abuse victims are its last priority. Predatory priests who are suspended still walk free. The Church should ensure maximum transparency to get this issue out. Suspending predators doesn’t cure them. Actions not apologies and policies protect children.
We hear apologies from the pope and the bishops. However they are not willing to open up the massive files on offenders abusing those in their care, to legal authorities so that the perpetrators can be punished.
Archbishop Cremona and Bishop Grech must come up urgently with a full and public accounting of what has occurred over the years. We want the names and localities of Maltese priest child molesters. We want our bishops to be completely transparent as silence and secrets are the fuel of sexual abuse.
renald williams
Sep 25th 2010, 10:19
May believing quote…
People, especially the young, are still trusting in religion and eagerly looking at the…
...as a significant leader in their lives…
For One is your Leader, that is, Christ. Matthew 23:10.
Want to know Jesus? Read His Gospels. Peace and health wishes.
Louise Vella
Sep 25th 2010, 10:03
II
The Church has pursued a deliberate policy of cover-up, protecting sex offenders in order to avoid scandal, with no regard for the safety of children.
It’s all very well for the Pope to keep saying sorry but that is simply not good enough. He needs to order bishops to name priest child rapists and their locations and ask the police to prosecute them. He should also promise the world that from now on any priest who abuses a child will be immediately handed over to the police.
He should immediately make public a list of all accused priests whom the Vatican has laicized or assigned to lives of prayer and penance. The Catholic Church claims a moral authority and superiority yet protects people guilty of the most horrible crimes against children and continues to provide sanctuary from the law to its own offenders. The leaders of the Church chose to deal with the rape of children by priests internally without involving the law. They covered-up the scandal until it was too huge to contain.
Children raped by priests have suffered and continue to suffer because bishops covered up the scandal and protected priest child rapists instead of protecting children.
Louise Vella
Sep 25th 2010, 09:58
I
Pope Benedict headed the Vatican office for more than twenty years where firsthand knowledge arrived and was kept secret and in most cases flat out buried.
The pope will probably tell us he is sorry every chance he gets to be in front of a camera. He still refuses to turn over records of known and suspected pedophiles to the police. As if the Church has some moral and legal authority in this matter! The simple truth here is: if there is a crime committed, the police should have authority and no one else. The Pope has really done nothing to put an end to the abuse and protect future generations. It was the media who gave a voice to the victims. The Church only admitted to the scandal in a bow to public pressure. Priests are meant to be helping, caring and supporting children and not raping them. In Malta priests are so sure of special political and church protection, that they feel able to act with impunity.