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Ireland should pray for a white knight to rid it of these bishops
There are undoubtedly innocent priests, but there are few innocents among the hierarchy. Who will now strip these disgraced men of their sweeping powers, asks Malachi O'Doherty
Friday, 4 December 2009
The Catholic church is in disgrace. We do not know how many priests have molested children, but we know that hundreds did. The old argument put up in defence of the church - that a child was in no greater danger from a priest than from any other type of person - is now invalidated.
Children were in danger at the altar rails, in the sacristy and in schools.
Still, it is likely that more priests - many more - did not offend than did.
There is no excuse for some of the craven whingeing from priests who tell us that they suffer now for sins they did not commit, drawn low in general esteem by the behaviour of others.
That behaviour suggests that they want to cash in on what victimhood is going and preserve the old relationship with the people and their children. They just don't grasp the fact that it is the whole church that is tainted.
For, if there are many innocent priests, there are not so many innocent bishops.
Aside from Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's heroic breach with the institutional secrecy of the church, which made the Murphy report possible, there may not be a single other bishop above suspicion of criminal cover-up and collusion.
We have now had two diocesan reports - in Ferns and in Dublin. The pattern of abuse and secrecy is the same in both. It may be presumed that the same pattern covers the whole island, and perhaps the whole Catholic world.
So, this is about a collapse of moral authority.
For many ordinary Catholics it must feel a bit like the fall of communism did in Russia. Archbishop Martin's contribution was Glasnost, candour.
It was timely and it was called for, but nothing that follows from it is reversible.
This is at least like the moment when Kruschev disclosed the sins of Stalin to a shocked populace, and made them nervous about how to reconcile their conditioned reverence for the Great Leader with the newly comprehended reality.
The question facing Ireland now is: who needs bishops?
The management of child abuse by the Vatican and the refusal to cooperate with the Murphy commission, remind us that Rome is a foreign state exercising power in other countries.
Indeed, the excuse for not cooperating was precisely that it would only accept communications on a diplomatic, state-to-state basis.
It sees the relationship with Ireland as political.
There is only, however, a theological basis for an arrangement whereby appointed emissaries of Rome should excercise power in Ireland, govern schools and hospitals and direct the expenditure of government money.
The basis is that the Catholic hierarchy is legitimate legatee of Christ's apostles, dispensing divine authority.
If people don't believe that, why would they concede any authority to a bishop? The irony is that Ireland has been preoccupied in the last century with the fear that it was being treated like a colony by Britain while Rome had its unanswerable consuls and footsoldiers in every parish and school.
And they took their orders from the top, even orders to contravene state law, as when in 2001 the Pope demanded that all complaints against priests be first referred to him and that even this order should be kept secret.
Bishops are an unecessary stratum of authority. That they be removed is all the more urgent given that they have abused that authority and conspired against the people. But who is to remove them?
The Taoiseach says that the sacking of bishops is for the church to decide on, even though his government shovels money towards the church for the administration of services which are government responsibility.
The Catholics of Ireland wouldn't know how to ditch their bishops - even after they have lost all respect for them.
The priests have pledged obedience to the bishops, and when they have been at odds with them, they have cowered docilely away. This happened when the Conference of Priests of Ireland disbanded two years ago, demoralised by a sense that the bishops were paying no attention to them.
And anyway, the dispute there was that the priests were angry about the main measure the bishops had put in place to assert their concern for abused children.
They had ruled that any priest accused of abuse would be immediately suspended. Priests, who depend on the church for a roof over their heads, wanted this rule reversed.
Anyway, usurp the bishops and Ireland becomes Protestant.
But the rapid fall-off in the numbers of priests will change the character of Catholic Ireland soon, and shift the centre of influence to the laity.
Some then will see the bishops as the enduring link to a global church; some others may see them as a superfluous burden.
The behaviour of Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, cited in the Murphy report for "inexcusable" handling of a paedophile priest during his time as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin, is an illustration of how reluctantly these men are slouching towards full realisation of their responsibility and shows us what pathetic moral champions they make.
Bishop Willie Walsh below centre) has been defending Murray on the grounds that somone who had read the report had explained to him that Murray's offence was slight. Walsh conceded he had not read the report himself.
So his immediate instinct, in the face of a moral challenge, was to close ranks and patronise the rest of us.
It was okay for him not to have read the report but the rest of us should lay off poor Donal Murray until we had.
In no other walk of life would such disemblers and bumblers be deferred to as figures of authority and what Ireland is contemplating now is the possibility that those who covered up for paedophiles, on secret instructions from their master in Rome, should continue to wield power, run services, administer schools and hospitals and appoint the clergy and exact total obedience from those clergy.
This would be an almost inconceivably inappropriate and unjust outcome from the disclosures that they conducted themselves like a criminal mafia against the people from whom they exacted reverence.
But who will step forward and take responsibility and power away from these disgraced men?
Anybody?
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Fada: You are wrong. Jesus stated in Matthew 16: 18 "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church".
Posted by Colin | 08.12.09, 18:27 GMT
Joe you are a bit mistaken in your statement. You say " The one true holy catholic church as set up by Christ"
Jesus did not set up the catholic church. Jesus was a Jew, he practiced Jewish faith and traditions, he never professed to be starting up a church, it was only decades after his death that the gospels were written. Especially the gospel of Paul which was written around 70 years after the death of Jesus, Paul didnt even meet Jesus. Pauls gospel was the basis of the "one true holy catholic church" (as you say) this church was far removed from what Jesus practiced. So it was Paul that invented christianity not Jesus. I would suggest you explore the facts before coming out with such nonsense. Barrie Wilson's book 'How Jesus Became Christian'. Wilson is one of the worlds foremost experts on the subject.
Posted by In The Name Of The Fada | 07.12.09, 11:57 GMT
What a load of rubbish from fellow fundamental christians. Usual stuff of if your not one of us your doomed. The center of the Catholic church is God and Christ. The church is that founded on earth by Jesus Christ not the pope not Rome or not men. The one true holy catholic church as set up by Christ. All others set up by men who had one problem or another with Christs church. Come back to the one true church and help make it better instead of this continual carping from the outside.
Posted by Joe | 07.12.09, 10:20 GMT
Wrong. Rome will do as it has always done. Keep its head down and mouth shut and wait for this to pass as all things pass. Its what they always do. The church thinks in hundreds of years and to them this is just a blip.
Oh and most Catholics have actually read the bible you must not know too many to make a stupid statement like that.
Posted by Joe | 07.12.09, 09:06 GMT
John
I've been a member of our parish Bible reading group for about 20 years now. And I know of many other such groups in our Catholic Church.
Besides showing a bit of respect for your ancestors, who were probably Catholic, I recommend that you get out a bit more.
Posted by Patrick | 05.12.09, 08:13 GMT
The States are quite a bit different from Ireland in the sense that our original founders, most of whom were Masons, focused on the separation of Church and State, when designing our Constitution.
Quite possibly it is time to do the same in Ireland? Maybe it's time to completely separate the government of Ireland from the outside influence of the Vatican. I am only offering this remedy as an outsider, who briefly visited your beautiful island in the 70's. I found the Irish people to be warm and wonderful and a lot of fun to be with. I have followed the stories in Ireland now for 7 years, since we had problems in the States, first in Boston, and then in almost 100% of the parishes in the States.
My prayer is that the people of Ireland will turn to a loving Christ for their answers and not the institutional Church. Maybe holiness, righteousness and simple Christian love can be restored to Ireland if the cancer of unrighteousness is removed once and for all. God Bless!
Posted by Jeannie | 05.12.09, 06:08 GMT
John: The Catholic Church gave the world the Bible. The Old Testament, Pslams and Gospel are read at each Mass. Please learn your biblical history. The King James Version is not the first version of the Bible as you may believe.
The true Church of Christ is the Catholic Church. You should come hom and experience the way the apostles worshipped and taught. I will pray for you.
Posted by Colin | 04.12.09, 23:04 GMT
Ireland would do well to go back to the simple Christian faith she knew from the time of Saint Patrick to the time of the Norman invasion. For centuries Ireland was a beacon of Christian faith in Europe, and was known as the Island of Saints and Scholars. Today, as a result of the devils work, working through the charlatans of the Roman church, Ireland has become better known as a hotspot for corrupt, paedophile priests. Irish people should look themselves to the Bible and find the uncorrupted message of salvation and hope and love...
Luke, Cork
Posted by Luke | 04.12.09, 22:30 GMT
History has proven over and over again that no good can come out of organized religion. Time to get rid of it all.
The rules and regulations of any religion are made up in the imaginations of men. No different than a group of children playing house, pirates or soldiers and making up some rules on-the-fly to make their play more interesting.
Posted by Fred D. | 04.12.09, 17:56 GMT
I agree with your comments. I am a practicing Catholic who is faced with going to Mass next Sunday knowing that our Hierarchy, to a man, has lied, prevaricated, and has sacrificed the safety and welfare of children to such an extent that the Roman Catholic Church is a world-wide Pedophile Club for the protection of Child Abusers.
I am heart-sick.
Posted by Hamish | 04.12.09, 17:51 GMT
Why not ditch the whole lot John? The bible is neither true nor wonderful.
Hopefully out of this mess Ireland finds itself in people will ditch the nonsense of the Catholic church (not to take up another branch of nonsense) and think for themselves.
Posted by In The Name Of The Fada | 04.12.09, 16:29 GMT
This article hits the nail on the head. The people can definitely vote these men out. They can use their voices, feet, and wallets to get rid of the bishops. If the donations stopped tomorrow, change would occur in a heartbeat, because, like most organizations, all one must do it follow its money. As long as Catholics contribute to the "pot," nothing will change. Stop the money and see how fast things change.
Posted by fr. bob hoatson | 04.12.09, 12:42 GMT
His name was Charles Darwin, he died during 1882.
Mr Darwin proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the bible story of creation, i.e. 'god' created human beings, was nothing more than a piece of fiction. Other fields of science have also proven beyond any doubt that the bible is not a reliable piece of literature.
The bible is the foundation that Christianity is built upon, if one cannot rely upon the veracity of the 'holy scripture' then the religion is in a very perilous state. No religion can offer proof that 'god' exists, not even a little bit. They tell their followers that they do not require evidence, they only need faith. Can anyone else see anything wrong with that?
The white knight that the people of Ireland should be looking for is called reason. It's time for people of reason to stand up and say enough is enough, no more silly nonsense about supernatural creators and all the madness that goes along with it.
At the very least, stop brainwashing kids with it.
Posted by WH | 04.12.09, 11:59 GMT
This is a good time for Ireland to divest itself of the treachery of Rome and to embrace true Christianity and to discover a wonderful book called The Bible (which most Catholics have only heard mention of)
Posted by John | 04.12.09, 09:29 GMT
Who will stand forward and disrobe the so-called Holy Men. A question to tremble at. I think it will take the combined prayers of Christians inside and outside of Ireland to get rid of these "old bottles" because we know from the bible that the new wine cannot be stored in old bottles (animal skins) These need to be thrown away, but like all things useless, they have to be identified as such.
Posted by james | 04.12.09, 08:51 GMT