BishopAccountability.org
	Should the Pope Resign? By Jaime Romo Healing and Spirituality May 18, 2010 http://www.jaimeromo.com/blog/ Absolutely not. Here are five reasons. There may be resignations by bishops who have been directly involved with abuse, or who have been negligent in ending abuse by those under their supervision. However, the pope needs to lead by example, badly or not, of how to rebuild his individual and collective capacity to promote healing and end abuse. He may not have enough time in his life to transform the lifetime of socialization and clerical enculturation to show an ability to respond to the problem of clericalism. Yet, he represents a role in a system that is centuries old and entrenched in many other patriarchic, misogynistic and anti-child cultures. That is why he must stay. Millions of people who still identify with religious institutions need to see his example, good or bad, and come to terms with what they need to do to find their own authority and responsibility for the abuse, deception and betrayal. Those who identify with the organization of these religious institutions need to experience his role as a catalyst for change. Those who are overly dependent on his authority need to take up their own and hold him accountable. Those who are overly independent on his authority need to come to terms with sharing power/ authority with him and what he represents. We’re not talking about replacing a few bishops, as if religious groups and organizations are machines with interchangeable parts. We’re talking about an extreme makeover: profound assessment of what needs to go in order to serve the needs of others today; radical collaboration with others who bring expertise that he and others in the institutional roles do not have (e.g., survivors). Speaking of survivors, I just read a short reflection by Anthony B. Robinson about Paul and Silas in Philippi, where they’ve been wrongly beaten and jailed. He points out that sometimes it is right to refuse to go quietly. He says, “Sometimes matters need to get brought into the open. Responsibility needs to be taken. Apology needs to be made and heard. Sin needs to be owned and confessed. And then we can (and should), like Paul and Silas, move on. Too often we try to move on without responsibility owned or repentance made. We just want folks to go quietly and pretend nothing happened. The thing is, that doesn’t really work. Like a wound improperly dressed, it festers and infects the whole body. Sometimes things need to be opened up and faced, so that we can truly go on.” Thomas Jefferson was brilliant with respect to governmental organization, and was incapable and unwilling to deal with racism and its evil. This pope may be extraordinary with respect to other popes, and is incapable or unwilling to end abuse and effectively promote healing with his existing knowledge base, dispositions and skills. This pope and this body of believers need to work with survivors so that we can truly go on. Resist the easier interpretation that a stepping down is a solution. Resist the temptation to kill the messenger or the representative of a larger, collective problem. He may need to face civil or criminal courts—and he must do so as both the pope and as an individual. Until we can think more creatively about accountability or more collectively about accountability, that will have to do for now. The solution will be in our interdependence and ability to hold both an appreciation for religious authority and our own authority which may lead us to hold religious authorities accountable for criminal behavior.
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