When Rome speaks, the world listens and hopes

By Rev. Alexander Santora
Jersey Journal
February 17, 2019

https://bit.ly/2V42ZZc

Pope Francis

After a 2018 summer of stunning revelations of sexual abuse by then-Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, followed by the explosive release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, Pope Francis took action last September. Short of convening a Vatican council, which would have summoned all the Catholic bishops from around the world, Francis called for a meeting of all the presidents of the national conferences – 110 in all. For example, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo from Texas represents the U.S. bishops. And likewise, the Mexican and Canadian counterparts will send their presidents.

They are in Rome Thursday through next Sunday. Along with them are members of the Roman Curia, the pope’s cabinet, representatives of the international unions of major religious superiors (both men and women) and a number of survivors of abuse.

“The goal is that all of the bishops clearly understand what they need to do to prevent and combat the worldwide problem of the sexual abuse of minors,” Alessandro Gisotti, the interim director of the Holy See press office, told journalists earlier this year. The pope, he said, wants the bishops to return to their countries and “understand the laws to be applied and ... take the necessary steps to prevent abuse, to care for the victims and to make sure that no case is covered up or buried.”

A global problem requires a global response.

But the Vatican has downplayed the significance of this gathering, which is puzzling on one level. There’s a consensus that now is the time for action, not more discussion. Yet we have to get into the mind of Francis, a Jesuit priest, who is simply not an authoritarian as in the mold of John Paul II. Francis can issue all the edicts he wants, but unless there is a conversion of heart and mind and a reform of the clerical culture, this can be seen as window dressing.

Gisotti further explained that Francis wants this summit “to be an assembly of pastors, not an academic conference — a meeting characterized by prayer and discernment, a catechetical and working gathering.”

McCarrick, the former archbishop of Newark now living in a Kansas monastery, was just laicized, removed from the clerical state. The people of the Newark archdiocese, which he led from 1986 to 2001, need an explanation from someone in authority how McCarrick was able to abuse seminarians with impunity and rise through the ranks of the church.

A significant development, which impacts the U.S. scene, is an analysis of the Pennsylvania grand jury report by Peter Steinfels, former New York Times religion reporter, in Commonweal magazine on Jan. 25. This bombshell set off a series of state attorneys general, including New Jersey’s, to impanel their own grand juries. But Steinfels, who read the entire 1,356 pages, titled his piece, “Vehemently Misleading: The Report Is Not What It Seems.”

One charge is true: Predator priests preyed on innocent children and performed unspeakable acts. But that the church leaders did nothing is misleading.

“It is grossly misleading, irresponsible, inaccurate and unjust,” Steinfels wrote.

Yet, no one in the secular press wants to deviate from the sensationalism of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. It’s as if there is a self-fulfilling prophecy that predator priests were protected by powerful prelates.

Finally, the elephant in the room has to be addressed: When will the church address its teachings on sexuality in light of contemporary scholarship in psychology and the behavioral sciences? The credibility of the Catholic Church is on the line. Most theological research is carried out under university auspices, and unless church leaders begin to assess and assimilate these findings, there will be problems with the faithful trying to live moral lives in a church whose teachings no longer inspire or ring true to lived experiences.

The summit beginning Thursday is not the end of the journey but rather a turning point in whether the church can speak with any future authority about a safe environment for children. But it has to win over the adults in the church who look to Francis as a sign of hope.