The View: Church at Breaking Point - Nuala O'Loan

Irish Catholic
March 8, 2012

www.irishcatholic.ie/site/content/view-church-breaking-point-nuala-oloan

When the leader of the biggest diocese in Ireland says, when speaking of the state of the Church in Ireland, "it has reached a breaking point -- it is at a very difficult stage", the reaction should surely be widespread consternation and concern.

This is not just the same old critics trumpeting the same old arguments. Rather it is a man who has given his life to the Church, who has reached the elevated role of archbishop, and who has worked for years to try and restore the Church, at least in his own diocese.

He has also taken a leadership role of articulating the ongoing problems and has not been reticent in criticising those whom he thought were failing to do what should be done, even his fellow bishops.

He has not laboured alone. There are many across the island of Ireland who have worked to try to make amends for the grievous suffering of the victims of abuse in all its forms, who have sought to bring the Church back to that humbler, more genuine place which was the Church established by Jesus, in which there was no place for cover-up or hypocrisy and in which Jesus allowed himself to be terribly done to death to show that there was no price which he would not pay, in love, for the people of God.

When Archbishop Diarmuid Martin made this statement, he made it knowingly. He is privy to information to which many of us do not have access. He chose to speak to an American network to make his most recent statement. By so doing he must have been trying to achieve maximum impact. His words demand and need a response.

It sometimes seems to me that we have many churches within the Church in Ireland. There are places where faith seems to be vibrant, where, although congregation numbers have dropped, the churches remain largely full.

There are individual dioceses within which the anger and despair of recent years is not as obvious.

Reality

But many have gone. That is our reality. There are very few within the Church who have not been wounded, some grievously as in the case of those who were the victims of sexual, physical, emotional and spiritual abuse, and some seriously distressed by what was done by the perpetrators of abuse and by the failure of those within the Church to respond in accordance with Gospel values, but who chose to make the Church more important than the God who made us and whom we all serve.

I have written previously of the need to ensure that various forms of action are taken to achieve change.

Much has been done, but, as the archbishop said on US television, "there's a real danger today of people saying the child abuse scandal is over, let's bury it, let's move on".

"It isn't over, child protection and the protection of children will go on for the rest of our lives and into the future because the problems are there."

So what do we need to do? In the first instance, we need to acknowledge that things have been done, but that what is required is not a response that exists only in a moment in time.

Those who have suffered abuse may well spend the rest of their lives coping with its consequences.

It is not only the Church which has an obligation to respond to their ongoing needs. It has been acknowledged that the State was complicit in what happened and it has serious ongoing obligations too.

Those obligations must continue to be met, even in times of austerity. Neither the Church nor the State can say to those who were abandoned to their pain in the past, that we no longer have the resources to help you or you must just get on with it.

There is a need to ensure that we are a people who continue to provide the counselling services and the other help which is required, but there is also a need to ensure that we do not fall into the trap of saying "this was our shameful history. We have wonderful new systems. Let us put it behind us." It is not behind us, as the archbishop has said.

In a way, the revelations of child abuse within the Church have served to shine a light on the much wider problems of abuse within society.

Our moral duty as Catholics and as citizens must be to ensure adequate child protection procedures not only in the Church, but throughout the island of Ireland.

This will require ongoing proper resourcing and accountability, not just of the National Board, the Church's child protection office, but also of those engaged in the business of child protection in policing, health and social work in the wider community.

We must also ensure that it is not just children who are protected but that every vulnerable person, whatever their age, has proper care and protection.

We know that the numbers of practising Catholics have dropped by a percentage which varies from 30 per cent to 98pc, depending on where we are in the island of Ireland.

We know that the average age of our diminishing number of priests is about 66. We know that there will be fewer priests to minister to fewer people. Churches will have to close. Parishes will also have to close or be merged. This will be difficult but it is not the biggest challenge we face.

I think the biggest challenge is to ensure that our Church really is one which cares for those who hunger, for those who thirst, for strangers, for those who are needy, for those who are sick, for those in prison.

That means that we look for them, that we do not turn away from them, that we recognise their dignity and that we respect them as our brothers and sisters in Christ, that we find ways to help just as we may at times need help from our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Empty

These are not empty words. Had they been heeded in the past, what did happen might not have happened.

We know what we are called to as Catholics. It will be different for each of us.

It may be that we hold high office in which case we have significant responsibilities to ensure that we use the powers and access to power which are available to us to secure a more just society.

It may be that we work with those in need, in which case we must do all we can to see that our work is as effective as possible given the resources available to us.

It may be that we work in schools, hospitals, prisons, care homes, universities. If that is the case, we must look out for those who may need help -- for people with disabilities, with emotional and spiritual problems.

Our Catholic schools, above all, should be models of how to care for children who do not fit the pattern of high achieving, gifted, well-integrated children who will be a credit to their school.

Only then will our children know that we mean what we preach. If they see exclusion rather than compassion, preferential treatment rather than equality, arrogance rather than humility, they will draw the only conclusion which can be drawn.

Above all we are called to love God and to love his children as he loved us. If we do this, we will be vigilant to protect those who need protection, we will care for those who need care and in so doing we will see the face of God.

We will see it here and now in all those for whom we, as His children, have responsibility. Let us seek the face of God and in so doing let us serve Him and preserve His Church.