Time for Penitence, Irish Catholic, July 28, 2011

Time for Penitence

Irish Catholic
July 28, 2011

http://irishcatholic.ie/site/content/time-penitence

Historians, in time, will judge the rights and wrongs of the Taoiseach's speech. For now, it is diplomats who will have to repair the strained but important relationship between the Holy See and the Irish State.

Hopefully, the recalled Nuncio will help the Vatican understand that Taoiseach Enda Kenny's speech, despite misquotes and harsh intemperate language, captured the anger of a generation that has been badly let down by an institutional Catholicism peculiar to Ireland.

''Le catholicisme du type Irlandais'' in many ways betrayed 14 centuries of unbroken and life-giving Christian tradition. Instead of fond memories of a nurturing Church, most remember an arrogant authoritarian Irish Church and a privileged clerical caste that obsessed over sexuality and hell fire and neglected the tender compassion of Christ.

What wasn't narrowly viewed as pure and holy for Church or State was expelled from sight, whether it was young unmarried mothers to a Magdalene home or books burnt or plays banned. There was a symbiotic relationship between the newly emerging Irish State and Catholic idealism. All would be nice and pure in our new Catholic idyll. Those who said otherwise were ignored or not believed. While this Church is very much in the past, the memories of the abuse of power remain and many are estranged from the Church now because of lingering hurt.

Emotional roar

The Taoiseach's speech equally resonated with a younger generation who have never known the Catholic Church outside of public scandals. In many ways, the speech was a plea from a Catholic leader to the Church leadership in the Vatican to quickly and with finality, put an end to the ongoing scandal surrounding abuse in the Irish Church. For over 15 years, the Irish bishops have had to be dragged to the courts and tribunals of inquiry to admit gross errors. In 1996 we were told that the bishops had been on a learning curve. Then came Ferns. Then the Ryan Report. Then the Murphy Report and now the Cloyne Report. All along, they tried to hide behind lawyers, spending millions of euro in Church funds in the process. Even in the last few months, some Church leaders are not fully co-operating with their own National Board and are reluctant to allow reports into their dioceses to be published. Ordinary people, including clergy, are sick and tired of this.

The Taoiseach's speech, while unfair in some of the detail, was an emotional roar from much of Catholic Ireland to the Vatican for action now. The Pope, in his Letter to Irish Catholics, promised reform but it is coming too slowly. Not only that, there is a 'cabal' to use Archbishop Martin's term, of bishops actively trying to push the blame for their inaction on child abuse back on Rome. This is an amazing revisionism and even were it true, it ignores the primacy of conscience even over the Pope.

Four Easters ago, this paper called on the Irish bishops to collectively seek forgiveness for all forms of abuse of power by the Church in Irish society which has scandalised so many and left so many hurt and bruised. Just as Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee year faced the historical sins of the Catholic Church and apologised to all those hurt by Inquisitions, Crusades and many more, the Irish bishops could have put a penitent Church on a firm road to forgiveness and real renewal. But mediocrity and pride triumphed and last week they reaped that harvest when the Taoiseach got up to speak.

Apologies

And, now, we are tired of apologies that ring hollow. The Vatican has a once in a generational opportunity now and should seize it. The step-by-step approach to renewal hasn't worked. When the Irish bishops went to Rome to meet the Pope, the one issue they were united on was that the Vatican should not cut the number of dioceses. We don't need 26 dioceses or 26 bishops for a population the same as Manchester's- this model of Church is clearly not fit for purpose and has not been so for decades. Archbishop Martin has said as much.

The Irish Church needs someone to grab it, shake it up and make it fit for purpose because it is not capable of reforming itself. The Vatican needs to do this. Irish Catholics love their Church and want it back.

We've all had enough. We want a Church that espouses Christian values through quality leadership and Gospel witness and can speak to an increasingly secular society but founded on Christian ethics.

As a society, we have lost our way, caught up in corruption and greed at the highest levels. As a society, we failed and continue to fail our children, our sick, our elderly and our young who cannot find work. We all have to take some responsibility as a nation for our faults as a people. It was our greed that brought the IMF to our door. Perhaps the Taoiseach will be equally vocally strong on these issues. There are many problems we just can't lay at the door of St Peter's in Rome.