Christ's Message Is Not Changed by Sin, They Say
By Irwin Block
Montreal Gazette
March 28, 2010
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Catholics+keep+faith/2735996/story.html
CANADA -- The scandal of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy and the suggestion of a cover-up by Pope Benedict XVI while still a cardinal have done nothing to shake the faith of Montreal believers in the church and its precepts.
That's what a parent, a seminarian, a priest, and two students said in random interviews yesterday as several hundred Catholics gathered in Chinatown to celebrate World Youth Day, founded 25 years ago by Pope John Paul II.
At the Chinese Catholic Community Centre, young women prepared palm leaves for an afternoon procession - a head start for today's Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, which precedes Easter.
 |
| ANTICIPATING HOLY WEEK Young Catholics march along René Lévesque Blvd. yesterday on the eve of World Youth Day and Palm Sunday, which begin Holy Week today. The palms mark Christ's entry into Jerusalem, the cross his crucifixion. Photo by John Kenney |
A six-piece band led about 150 students singing a prayer in French to St. Francis, calling for faith where there is doubt and forgiveness after injury.
At the Chinese Catholic Mission Church on de la Gauchetière St., Jean-François Bérard, a civil engineer, dropped off his two teenage sons and then shared his thoughts on the sexual abuse and alleged cover-up.
"The church as we know it is based on faith, but it is a church of men, with their good and bad, that created this most unfortunate problem." Bérard cautioned fellow Catholics that "it would be a mistake to say 'I don't believe in God or Jesus Christ' because of what men have done." "My true belief is in Jesus and his message." Bérard linked the sexual abuse of children in Quebec, Newfoundland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy and elsewhere as analogous to abuses of power by the Catholic Church during the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century and the subjugation of aboriginals by Catholics in South America.
As for the allegation by Swiss theologian Hans Küng that the pope's complicity in a Vatican cover-up of sexual abuse of children dates back at least to his 24 years as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, Bérard said: "If something happened, it's between him and God. If my son makes a mistake, I will not discard him from the family." Küng is a long-time critic of Rome, which barred him from teaching Catholic theology in 1979.
The Canadian church has taken a hard line in response to the cover-up allegations.
On Friday, the primate of the church in Canada, Quebec City's Cardinal Marc Ouellet, accused members of the media of ulterior motives in their attempts to link the pope to sexual abuse cases.
The pope has always had "zero tolerance" for sexual assaults by clergymen and is a man of "compassion and justice," Ouellet said.
Meanwhile, in Chinatown, France Bédard, 62, founder of l'Association des victimes de prêtres, who says she was raped and impregnated by a Quebec priest 45 years ago, said Ouellet was "playing with words" and had no intention of expelling pedophile priests from the church's ranks.
Seminarian Yohann Leroux said he regretted sexual abuse among the clergy as much as he would among any group that has authority over children. But it has not affected his faith or his decision to become a priest.
"I am devoting myself to Christ," he said.
As he prepared to commit to celibacy, Leroux said he saw no link between such a life and sexual abuse, citing statistics that he said indicated abuse is more prevalent within families than among priests.
Rev. Badeea Butrus, who serves a north-end parish, agreed that the possibility Pope Benedict may have committed errors in the past is secondary to one's faith.
"The pope is human and humans are fallible," he noted.
"Nobody is perfect," said François Tremblay, 25, a math student at l'Université du Québec à Montréal.
"It's abominable, but not more likely to happen because you're a priest.
"Pedophilia is a sickness," he said, and joined the others in declaring that he sees no reason why the pope should resign, as Küng has suggested.
Miriam Bergo, 23, a history and philosophy of religion student at Concordia University, said she trusts the pope because he carries "the promise of Christ." "The pope is human, and the doctrine of infallibility covers (only) matters of faith.
"The pope confesses once a week, so it's not like he's infallible."
Contact: iblock@ thegazette.canwest.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.