BONN (GERMANY)
La Croix International [France]
February 24, 2023
By Jochen Sautermeister
[Via Malaysia Herald]
A few months ago, a book with an eloquent title was published: Heillose Macht — literally, “Power empty of salvation.” Many priests and laypersons, both Church employees and volunteers, relate here the abuse of power that they have personally suffered in the Catholic Church, which they have experienced “as a place of despotism and humiliation”.
Numerous reactions to these accounts show that they are talking about something with which many people in the Church are familiar — but something they don’t dare to talk about except in a “safe space”. The stories are about the abuse of power, about contempt for persons, about a lack of respect in the Church. Such experiences are not limited to the German-speaking area, but occur everywhere in the world, as I myself know from my involvement in international projects and worldwide networks.
Something is fundamentally wrong if people need safe spaces of this kind before they can talk about how they experience the abusive exercise of power in the Church. A culture of fear in the Church is a drastic negation of the self-understanding of a Church that is welcoming and cares for people. If the message proclaimed is contradicted by the reality people experience, the words that are used lose all credibility. Abuse of power, contempt for persons, and lack of respect not only harm and offend individuals. They also damage the religious and moral authority of the Church.
The gulf between rhetoric and reality
We cannot be indifferent to all these experiences of the abuse of power, because they expose in a terrifying manner toxic, contemptuous behavioural patterns, structures, and dynamics of power that make people ill – and that are still at work in the Church today.
All the endeavours to tackle sexualised violence in the Church will remain half-hearted, as long as the protection of the institution remains more important than an honest and self-critical discussion of the various types and the specific mechanisms of the abuse of power; as long as the protection of those in positions of authority is more important than uncovering abuses; and as long as loyal criticism is dismissed as disobedience.
The Church’s credibility sustains lasting damage. And the gulf between the rhetoric about tackling abuse and the reality people experience contradicts the mandate to spread the gospel. The bishops have a special responsibility here.
This is because the principle “Tone at the Top” applies to the Church, too. The leadership culture on the management level rubs off on the institution as a whole and on the persons who work within it. The behaviour at the top has an effect on the culture and the interaction in the Church as a whole —everywhere in the world.