Melanie McDonagh: the Church of Sinners Loses More Authority on Sex

By Melanie McDonagh
London Evening Standard
February 26, 2013

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/melanie-mcdonagh-the-church-of-sinners-loses-more-authority-on-sex-8511104.html

Humiliation: Cardinal O'Brien's resignation was expedited by the Pope

Oh God. Not again. Catholics are used to weathering the worst when it comes to revelations, and allegations, about clerical sexual abuse so we’ve grown something like a hardened carapace. Even so, to lose the head of the church in Scotland, one of the two cardinals in Britain, is quite something.

The practical result of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s resignation is that there are no electors from Britain at the papal conclave — that’ll be one less vote, then, for the man from Ghana. The longer-term effect will be to diminish that bit further the church’s authority when it comes to sex.

For Cardinal O’Brien, who was to retire in three weeks, on St Patrick’s Day, his 75th birthday, it’s a devastating humiliation. As for the Vatican, one cleric in the Curia took his head out of his hands long enough to tell me: “It feels like the church is under siege from the forces of chaos.” Well, that’s one way of putting it.

To be honest, there isn’t that much love lost between the bishops of England and those of Scotland. For English bishops, who favour a nuanced approach when it comes to public debate, the abrasive style of Cardinal O’Brien, a pitbull polemicist, was embarrassing. They cringed when he sounded off on subjects such as gay marriage because he’d alienate more people than he won round. “You spend so much time trying to build bridges with gay people,” one (London) priest told me, “and when Keith O’Brien opens his mouth, it’s all undone.” But the fallout will affect them too.

The Cardinal may still contest the allegations; stepping down, pending investigation, is exactly what any priest in this situation would have to do. It’s the Pope’s intervention that was remarkable: in expediting the cardinal’s resignation, he brought the speculation about his participation in the papal election to an abrupt close. It may be that Benedict, two days away from retirement, has simply had enough of clerical sexual abuse, alleged or proven. The issue has dogged his pontificate; his reaction, too, was probably: Oh God. Not again.

Of course, there’s no suggestion that Cardinal O’Brien — a nicer person in the flesh than he seems on telly — was guilty of child abuse. We’re talking about alleged “inappropriate behaviour” with grown men — three priests and one ex-priest — dating back to the Eighties.

The allegations are about an abuse of power, not criminality: a spiritual director in a seminary with a student; a bishop with a parish priest. They’re still serious. But why are the men concerned only surfacing now? They could have brought these charges any time during the past 25 years. Perhaps personal disaffection played a part? Or fear? We don’t know. But their timing is, from a dramatic point of view, impeccable.

Last week, the Cardinal suggested that a future pope should reconsider compulsory celibacy for priests, which wasn’t the custom of early Christianity. Yet even if the church ordained married men tomorrow — besides Anglican vicar-converts, which it does already — this wouldn’t have a bearing on its teaching about homosexuality, let alone gay marriage. But perhaps priests would be that bit less lonely.

The Catholic Church has a name for itself — the church of sinners. In the wake of all this, it feels terribly apt.