Repair of Church Will Require Action from Lay Members As Well As Clergy
By Amber Arellano
The Detroit News
April 6, 2010
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100406/OPINION03/4060314/Catholic-Church-is-in-crisis
Easter became a moral conundrum at my house this year.
Outraged by the Catholic Church's shameful response to its pedophilia crisis, my husband announced he wasn't going to Mass with my family and I on Easter morning.
I could hardly blame him. And I imagine thousands of other American Catholics also were struggling with a similar, heartfelt moral struggle over Easter weekend and will continue to do so.
The sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in previous years has re-emerged as new evidence and news stories suggest Pope Benedict XVI himself was part of the widespread lack of church action over the years that led, in the Pope's case specifically, to a priest continuing his molestation of children.
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Rather than take responsibility and corrective action, the Vatican is making a mockery of itself and its followers. The Pope's personal priest has compared allegations against the church to the "collective violence" perpetrated against Jews.
Then on Easter Sunday, the dean of the College of Cardinals had the audacity to say the world's Catholics would not be "influenced by the petty gossip of the moment." What an insult to millions of Catholics, as if we cannot read the news reports and see the church's culpability.
Could these leaders be any more embarrassing for those of us who profess the faith?
Leave or stay?
Now commentators rightly are calling for the Pope and world's bishops to show contrition, clean house and make the church radically more transparent and empower the church's laity and women to have unprecedented governance abilities, including the ability to hold church leaders accountable.
Amen. But before anyone easily tosses off responsibility for the scandal on to the church's leadership, I have to say: What about us?
"Us" being the millions of Catholics, "cultural Catholics" as many of my friends call themselves, and those who I call "post-Catholics" -- folks who have left the church, disappointed and estranged, but who have yet to find another home that nourishes them and provides them with a spiritual community.
Millions of such Americans have left the church. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2009 research findings, of all religious groups the Catholic church has suffered the greatest losses.
Today roughly 1 in 10 American adults are former Catholics; Catholic losses far outnumber gains, about 4 to 1.
I have been one of those leavers. I left the church for most of a decade, explored other faiths, and eventually returned, still missing my old home while remaining ambivalent about its political leadership or lack thereof.
Baby boomers and Generation X'ers, in particular, have left believing our departure would help force the church to be more inclusive, and realize it had to adopt overdue, progressive reforms to attract younger people once again.
But that didn't really reform it.
In fact, by leaving, we often emboldened activists and church leaders who preferred to take the church in the opposite direction, toward a more hierarchical, exclusive, bunker mentality that has blown off global calls for greater institutional responsibility.
Reclaiming churches?
Now Catholics are challenged again about how to respond to the crisis. I am among them. I'm not sure exactly yet how my own life and faith calls me to act, but I know I cannot support the status quo.
The easiest thing to do would be to stay silent and chalk up the latest news as a crisis of leadership. Or I could simply drop out yet again, for good reason.
For me, though, I've seen too much to take that road. I've watched churches become half-empty, and misguided leaders blame everyone but themselves for their irresponsible and even immoral behavior. Disappearing does not influence these leaders to change; it simply gives them more latitude to misbehave.
Instead, pushing for reform seems to be a more effective route for change. I am inspired by groups such as Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an American advocacy group.
These activists -- many women who love their faith and want the best of it to be reclaimed -- are making headlines and leveraging archdioceses to change as never before.
Like other communal American institutions, from block clubs to service organizations and government, the Catholic Church hasn't radically changed to better serve its people for decades.
Perhaps we, the people, need to play a more active role in that desperately-needed transformation.
Contact: aarellano@detnews.com
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