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	Church Fails to Tap into Depth of Feeling on Abuse Scandals By Laurence White Belfast Telegraph March 22, 2010 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/laurence-white/church-fails-to-tap-into-depth-of-feeling-on-abuse-scandals-14735159.html IRELAND -- The Catholic Church — and I suppose most organised denominations — finds it difficult to communicate with its followers. Listen to any sermon on any Sunday as the priest tries to make a theological message relevant to today's society. After a few minutes and you will notice that the attention of many in the congregation has begun to wander. Pastoral letters from Bishops are even harder going. Read out at Masses on occasions like Easter or Christmas their message is often even more impenetrable. The church hierarchy does not talk the language of the ordinary person. And so it is with the Pope's long-awaited letter on the sex scandals racking the Catholic Church in Ireland. In fairness to him, he made a fair fist of trying to use common language, but it is still a missive which has been drafted and re-drafted several times, full of nuances and clever phrases. There are welcome expressions of regret, shame and remorse; acknowledgement that many victims of abuse have left the Church or feel little for it; the training of priests and religious orders is also questioned and so is the reaction of Bishops to the scandal. There is even an acknowledgement that Bishops had a "misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church and the avoidance of scandal" when they refused to take action against paedophile priests. That is as close as the Pope comes to admitting there was a cover-up. And that is where the Papal pastoral letter falls down. It fails to really tap into the feeling of outrage within the laity over the sex scandals. Of course the Pope should feel remorse, shame and regret and we all know why the Bishops took no action against paedophile priests. What people within the Church — and not just the victims — wanted was for the Pope to say that there will be a full-ranging inquiry into the scandals; that Bishops who did nothing, for whatever reason, will be asked to step down; that all victims will be compensated and that all abusers will be referred to the civil authorities. Recently I watched a couple of episodes of the BBC1 Northern Ireland series on Francis Campbell, the Northern Ireland man who is the UK's Ambassador to the Vatican. As the cameras followed him, it was impossible not to be struck by the huge treasure trove that the Catholic Church owns. At every step there are priceless paintings, golden objects and wall frescos, and that is only the treasure that is on display. God knows what else lies in the vaults, unknown to everyone except to the Vatican curators. The Catholic Church is immensely wealthy and its congregations continue to be very generous. Compensating the victims of abuse — even given the grand scale of the abuse in many more countries than Ireland — should not present the Church with an insuperable problem. The grandeur of the Church sits very uneasily with the despicable way it treated most of the victims of its abusing priests and religious. A Biblical phrase comes to mind: For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose their soul? This might be a fitting text for the hierarchy to consider, but directed at themselves rather than their flocks. I'm still not convinced that the Church has done enough soul searching or shown enough humility.
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