The Signals Switch

National Survivor Advocates Coalition
March 30, 2012

http://nationalsurvivoradvocatescoalition.wordpress.com/editorials/

Pope Benedict XVI visited Mexico and Cuba between March 23 and March 29 and like the Cardinal Archbishop of New York he seems to have a new strategy towards sexual abuse victims, too.

Beginning with his trip to the United States in 2008, the pontiff has been meeting with survivors of sexual abuse by clergy during his international travels.

But no meetings with survivors were on the agenda for the Mexico or Cuba visits.

The Vatican’s spokesman said no bishops requested meetings with survivors and therefore none were placed on the schedule.

Huh?

Mexico, let’s remember, is the land of the alpha and omega of Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionnaires of Christ. Maciel was born in Mexico and is buried there – a far place and a far cry from the Roman stage where he held forth with great panoply and power backed by Pope John Paul II.

Thanks to the dedicated work of author Jason Berry as well as the revelations of courageous former members of the Legion we know of Maciel’s abuse of children placed in the care of his institutions, his abuse of Legionnaire seminarians, his fathering of children by two women, and his drug abuse.

Benedict knows all too well how diligently and Church-correctly the Maciel victims presented their canon law case to the Vatican. He was in charge of the Congregation to which they made their case.

Very late in the game, Pope Benedict ordered an investigation which resulted in Maciel being ordered to live a life of prayer and penance.

In a new book whose release coincided with the Pope’s arrival in Mexico, the authors assert that in 2001 the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, modified canon law to go easy on Maciel regarding sexual abuse.

"Here’s the link to the Jason Berry’s 3/24/12 National Catholic Reporter story regarding the release of the book: to http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/ratzinger-altered-canon-law-soften-maciel-punishment-book-argues

The suffering of the Maciel sexual abuse survivors alone, let alone the other revelations concerning the fathering of children and the charge by one of the sons that he, too, was abused by Maciel, should have been enough of a genesis for the Pope to initiate a meeting with the Maciel survivors — or at the very, very least speak publicly with compassion and genuine sorrow to comfort the good Catholics of Mexico who endured this duplicitous, deceitful, double life living man.

The Pope’s Mexico trip was a perfect opportunity to tell the world what these survivors have been through and to begin to honestly, forthrightly and sincerely address the crisis.

It’s Lent, the trip was on the threshold of the holiest week of the Catholic calendar, and the Pope’s departing message on Cuban soil was that people find freedom when they seek truth. Fertile ground for reconciliation, penance and of course, truth telling, no?

But the landscape has changed since Pope Benedict began meetings with survivors on his trips.

Most strikingly what’s happened is: the filing of a case in the International Criminal Courts by survivors against Pope Benedict and the Vatican coupled with new strong arm tactics against SNAP and the dramatic opening of the criminal case against the highest ranking clergyman ever to go on trial for endangerment of children, Monsignor William Lynn, in Philadelphia plus a court appearance this week by the only Bishop indicted in this crisis: Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

We can’t help but wonder if this prime time for penitence was passed over in large measure because of the confluence of these events.

Or could it be the Vatican has a point: it’s the Bishops’ fault?

— Kristine Ward, Chair, NSAC

— KristineWard@hotmail.com 937-272-0308/