Edmund Rice Network, Edmund Rice Network, June 27, 2009

Edmund Rice Network

Edmund Rice Network
June 27, 2009

http://www.edmundrice.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=252&joscclean=1&comment_id=5

In amongst the myriad of words spoken and written following the publication of the Ryan Report in Ireland, in amongst all the hurts, grievances, angers flowing from aggrieved people, in amongst the stories and memories being recalled, the story of Fr Flanagan, the visionary and legendary founder of Boys Towns in USA, offers us a sobering challenge.

In 1946, Fr Flanagan returned to his birthplace and also visited the "so-called training schools", in effect the borstals or reformatories, to see if they were "a success or failure."

Although he was treated as a celebrity, he made it clear he was unhappy with what he found in Ireland. He was dismayed at the state of Ireland's reform schools and blasted them as "a scandal, un-Christlike, and wrong."

celtic_cross150Speaking to a large audience in Cork, he said, "You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it." He called Ireland's penal institutions "a disgrace to the nation," and later said "I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child's character."

However, his words fell on deaf ears and he was roundly criticized. The then Minister for Justice said that he was "not disposed to take any notice of what Monsignor Flanagan said while he was in this country, because his statements were so exaggerated that I did not think people would attach any importance to them."

Unfortunately for many young Irish children his words were not heeded and for several decades more, children suffered abysmally in reformatories, orphanages and industrial schools. Christian Brothers managed six of these institutions, whilst the Presentation Brothers, together with sixteen other Congregations, were also responsible for similar places.

Today Congregations may rue the day that they ever became involved in these institutions, yet it is clear that offering service to such places was intimately allied with the charisms of these Congregations.

The revelations of the Ryan Report into institutional abuse in Ireland have led the Congregation Leader of the Christian Brothers, Philip Pinto, to state that this is'A time of deep soul searching for us as Congregation. We all share the elements of a culture that has at times caused extraordinary pain for others. How could we have strayed so far from the compassionate vision of Edmund? We strayed from the spiritual core of who we are. We forgot the God who gave us birth.'

Culture

In the last decade or two, the world and the Church have learned over and over again, that where there is a disconnect between our inheritance and our practices, we lose our way.

We were caught up in a culture where protection of reputation by secrecy and denial was given a higher value than the Gospel values of care, respect and compassion.

Somehow within our own culture we lost the initiative given to us by Edmund Rice to open our whole hearts to Christ, present and appealing to us in the poor. It seems as if our humanity became divorced from the practical values of the Gospel.

Yet none of us, whether in society, church or congregation can claim that we are blameless, because we ignored the warnings of people such as Fr Flanagan, we went along with the status quo, we failed to break free and expose injustice and exploitation, we failed to speak up, to reflect on what was happening, and to call stop.

Healing and Reconciliation

Philip Pinto went on to say:

Many of the former pupils of our schools are still hurting. Let us reach out to them however we can. This is first and foremost about them, the hurting people, and not about us.

The recent great upsurge and vocalization of anger illustrates how many have been suffering for so long as a result of being in institutions across Ireland. Conversely now, the amount of energy and resources needed to redress the ills of the past has to be commensurate.

Everyone within the Network needs to be committed to healing the hurts of the past in whatever country they have occurred, not leaving it to a few in leadership positions, not leaving it to public statements, but person to person, face to face. Experience teaches that some of the most valuable ways of bringing about healing are through listening to stories, believing the stories, expressing apologies, and assuring those hurting that they were not the cause of their suffering.

Followers of the Gospel have a great model of healing in the person of Jesus and the ministry of healing needs to be undertaken, not because of pressure from outside or trying to look good in the eyes of the general public, but because of genuine compassion for those suffering and a determination to bring about healing wherever possible.

Implications for the global Edmund Rice Network

What are the implications of all of this for the global Edmund Rice Network today?

oak_tree120Who are the Fr Flanagan's of today and are we listening to them - in our personal lives and in ministries of spirituality, education, welfare and justice?

What is happening today which could be the cause of shame in a future generation?

How faithful are we in all of our endeavors across the network to the best values of our founder Edmund Rice, and to the radical values of justice as expressed in the Gospels?

The Ryan Report is a wake-up call to the whole Network - this is a time for soul searching, for re-visioning, for evaluation, for purifying motivations, for challenging one another - a time to reconnect with our deepest values and our inheritance.

It is a time for heeding the advice of The Alchemist: Be aware of the place where you are brought to tears. That's where I am, and that's where your treasure is.

We all wish that evil and darkness and cruelty would vanish from our world and we keep trying to work our way back up the great chain of being by rejecting the darkness and cleaving to the light. But we cannot cleave to the light by rejecting or denying the shadow. Liberation, whether experienced pleasurably or painfully, always involves relinquishment and some kind of loss.

Or as Margaret Mitchell from 'Gone with the Wind' fame said: Until you have lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was, or what freedom really is.