A Pope for Hard Seasons

By Neil Ormerod
Eureka Street
February 15, 2013

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=35021

Benedict's announcement that he would resign from the papacy came two days before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and a day on which many Catholics go to mass to be anointed with ashes as a sign of repentance. How providential that the new pope will be elected in the midst of this Lenten season, born in ashes but looking forward to resurrection.

And there are plenty of ashes to go around, not least of which are the 'ashes' of the pain and humiliation of the survivors of clergy sexual abuse. While the Church is currently in the midst of a sexual abuse 'crisis', the issue is decades old. It will be one of the major challenges for the new pope to find creative and compassionate ways of addressing this issue.

We saw some of this creativity at work with the move by Pope John Paul II to publicly seek forgiveness for the sins of the Church, including sins against 'minors who are victims of abuse'. Many local bishops conferences echoed this act of repentance. But words are cheap, and actions speak louder.

There is a world of difference between a global apology to 'victims' and how an individual cleric faces the pain of a survivor standing in front of him. The entrance into that world is through conversion, a change in heart and mind, to begin to see the world through the eyes of the poor, the suffering, the humiliated.

This should not be unfamiliar territory for any priest or bishop. A regular reading in the priest's breviary is taken from St Paul's Letter to the Philippians. Paul reminds his readers that Christ did not cling to his equality to God, but emptied himself to become a slave, to the point of accepting a humiliating death on the cross. To begin to see the world through the eyes of its victims is to take on the heart and mind of Christ.

Can we expect this from the next pope? Can we expect anything less?

One of those considered papabile, Cardinal Tagle of the Philippines, has called for greater humility, respectfulness and silence on the part of the Church so that it can become more credible among its followers. Perhaps there is some wisdom in Benedict's humble decision to resign and to withdraw into a life of monastic silence and prayer.

Think how different the response of the Church would have been to survivors of clergy sexual abuse if it had been based on humility, respectfulness and silence.

The humility to accept that the Church has failed, without the knee-jerk response of seeking to protect the Church's interests. The respectfulness of listening to the survivor, without contradiction or blame. The silence of sitting with a survivor in his or her suffering without making excuses or offering trite pious words of 'comfort'.

Of course there are those who will say the problem in the Church is no worse than it is in the rest of society, and that its handling is mirrored by that of other similar institutions like the Boy Scouts or the BBC. This may well be true but it vitiates any claim the Church may make to being a source of healing grace or an expert in humanity.

I also acknowledge that most sexual abuse occurs in the hallowed walls of the family. But the Church can have no credible response to this larger and often hidden problem while its own failures are so patent.

Others seem to think I have some axe to grind on this issue. Indeed my life has been touched not directly but indirectly by both clergy abuse and incest. I have witnessed the damage close up and personal. It has affected the way I do my theology, but in fact my direct output on this matter is relatively small.

However, when I venture outside the cloistered walls of Church journals and magazines into the secular media I know that there are few issues as disempowering when attempting to project a Catholic profile into a public arena as the Church's handling of this matter. It must do better.

Can the next pope make a difference? Can he take the spirit of Lenten penance into the heart of the Church, taking it in the direction of greater humility, respectfulness and silence? We wait in prayerful anticipation.