Magnanimous memoir of a 'dead canary' bishop

By Andrew Hamilton
Eureka Street
July 23, 2014

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=41732#.U8-co_ldWSo

Many of Pope Francis' metaphors have to do with smell. He has urged priests and bishops to go out of the churchy world, saying that it is better to be accident prone than to grow sick through living in fetid air. He has said the clergy must smell like the sheep. And he has remarked on the stuffy air of the Vatican administration.

In mines, where bad air could be lethal, miners used to bring canaries with them. If they fell ill and died, the miners had warning to get out. The recent book by Bishop Bill Morris, replete with documentary evidence, tells the story of a canary caught in the shafts of Vatican culture. His early expiry date pointed to something amiss in the governance of the church, heralding the larger disclosures in the Royal Commission on sexual abuse.

Morris' story needs no retelling. He was Bishop of Toowoomba, sought to empower the laity and local communities, engaged in serious pastoral planning, was informal in his manner and, earlier than most, understood sexual abuse from the perspective of the victim rather than of the institution.

A small minority of Catholics hostile to him complained regularly to Roman officials and were given credence. Pope Benedict decided on the evidence of his officials that Morris' grasp of theology was inadequate and that he had to go, and after the many representations and meetings described in this book, he eventually retired.

To the outside reader the operative values of Roman governance will seem to contrast those advocated by Francis. They seem to have been to judge, not to listen; to heed malicious gossip, not to sift it; to stand on dignity and not to respect it; to seek evidence to justify a case and not to establish the truth; to demand loyalty and not faithfulness; to prize silence over plain speaking.

A small incident embodies the values of the Bishop and of his masters. When he eventually decided he must retire, he asked to delay the date so that he could offer support to the families of children who had been abused in a Catholic school, and to be with the victims of the Queensland floods that in recent days had devastated the communities in his diocese. His request was denied. He had to go immediately.

In his account Morris does not describe the Vatican representatives or his local critics as bad people. He emphasises the moments where their humanity appeared, their recognition of his pastoral gifts and their personal courtesy in prosecuting decisions whose reasons were not open to question.

The saddest feature of this story is that good people did not understand the implications what they were doing. They could not reflect on the values embedded in their way of proceeding.

In hindsight it is always easy to see why canaries in mines snuff it. It is also easy to see that Morris' representations would never receive a hearing and why those who should have spoken publicly in his defense were silent. It is also easy to understand why Francis was seen as so revolutionary when he exemplified and called for less self-preoccupation, more courage and more discernment in the Catholic Church.

In a haunting line in the Gospel Jesus asks, 'if this is done in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?' The answer is now being clinically set out in the Royal Commission into sexual abuse.

There the blaze in the dry wood is reflected in the eyes of the victims of abuse too many of whom found a Church whose representatives tried to prevent their voices from being heard and their faces from being seen. They were often punished or ostracised if they told their story, and blamed as troublemakers if they persisted. The Church leaders to whom they spoke too often treated them as people to be managed.

Church leaders also moved the perpetrators to places where they offended again, kept their abuse secret, and did not pass on their files. These things may not have directly caused sexual abuse but they magnified the sufferings of the victims and enabled it to continue.

When set against the sufferings of those who were sexually abused Morris' dismissal seems like the death of a canary. But the disregard for truth and for people that were disclosed in his treatment are similar to those shown in the way in which many church authorities dealt with sexual abuse.

Like the canary in the mine, Morris' dismissal warned of the toxic culture. His book is magnanimous. He would surely be happy to have been the price that needed to be paid for the success of Francis' attempts to build a culture of governance properly respectful of the people it serves.