By Ruth Gledhill and Richard Owen
Times
April 4, 2010
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7087269.ece
United Kingdom -- Easter became a festival of apology across the Christian world today as church leaders issued mea culpas for grievous sins committed against children and God.
The Pope was one of the few who failed to refer at all to the crisis that is tarnishing the image of the Church worldwide — and that has even embroiled the leader of the Anglican Communion, Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.
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| Pope Benedict XVI delivers the traditional Easter message from the central loggia of St Peter's Basilica |
In Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, acknowledged his own role in putting the reputation of the Church before justice for abused children, apologising "with all my heart" but stopped short of the resignation that many believe is inevitable.
Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, admitted that "serious sins" had been committed within the Catholic community. Preaching at Westminster Cathedral, he said: "Talk of sin is not always popular - unless we are talking about other people's sins. In recent weeks the serious sins committed within the Catholic community have been much talked about.
"For our part, we have been reflecting on them deeply, acknowledging our guilt and our need for forgiveness.
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| Pope Benedict XVI delivers the traditional Easter message from the central loggia of St Peter's Basilica |
"This is the journey of Holy Week. Indeed, to appreciate the message of this great Christian feast we have to begin with our own sin and shame."
The sermons reflected one of the most dramatic Easters in living memory for Church leaders and the congregations, more used to listening to age-old and often anodyne messages from the pulpit about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Before preaching at Canterbury Cathedral Dr Williams issued his own apology to the Catholic Church in Ireland for saying that it had lost "all credibility".
A statement released by the Archdiocese of Dublin last night said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, this afternoon telephoned Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to express his deep sorrow and regret for difficulties which may have been created by remarks in a BBC interview concerning the credibility of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
"Archbishop Williams affirmed that nothing could have been farther from his intention than to offend or criticise the Irish Church." Archbishop Martin, the second most senior Catholic in Ireland, responded to a rare breach of ecumenical protocol by Dr Williams in an interview with BBC Radio 4.
He said that he had "rarely felt personally so discouraged" as when he woke to hear Dr Williams' comments. Those working to renew the Church did not deserve the remarks, which "will be for them immensely disheartening and will challenge their faith even further", he said.
Dr Williams had criticised the Catholic Church over its handling of the paedophile priests crisis and made plain his anger over the Pope's plans to welcome disaffected Anglicans to Rome.
In a discussion to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week tomorrow morning Dr Williams said that the abuse scandal had been a "colossal trauma" for Ireland in particular.
"I was speaking to an Irish friend recently who was saying that it's quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar now," he told Andrew Marr. "And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility — that's not just a problem for the Church. It is a problem for everybody in Ireland."
In Rome, meanwhile, where officials of the Holy See have attempted to deflect criticism of the Pope and archbishops by blaming the media for persecuting the Church, the Pope's personal preacher apologised for comparing media investigations into the Church to the anti-Semitic persecution of Jews.
Father Raniero Cantalamessa did not withdraw the comments, made at a Good Friday service where the Pope was present, but said: "If I inadvertently hurt the feelings of Jews and paedophilia victims I sincerely regret it and I apologise."
In his Easter Sunday Mass on St Peter's Square the Pope made no reference to the crisis. In his address Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World), delivered to a packed crowed, the pontiff, 82, who has not referred to the scandal since his letter to Irish bishops two weeks ago, said that he would "not be intimidated by the chatter of dominant opinions" and noted that Jesus had "not reacted when insulted".
He added that he would continue his "pilgrimage", a possible indirect rejection of calls for him to step down.
In an extraordinary departure from tradition top Vatican officials also intervened in the service to defend the Pope.
In a surprise speech before the papal address Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, said: "Holy Father, the people of God are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the chatter of the moment, by the trials that sometimes assail the community of believers."
No Vatican observer could recall the ritual of the papal Easter Sunday Mass being altered in this way. The change of protocol was seen as a sign of the pressure the Vatican is under over the spiralling sex abuse scandal and reports of cover-ups involving the Pope himself when he was Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982 and subsequently the Vatican head of doctrine for 24 years.
In Ireland anger bubbled over at Easter Mass in Dublin's cathedral as protesters placed children's shoes on the altar to represent the victims of clerical sex abuse. About five people walked to the steps of the altar, where one man shouted "shame" at Archbishop Martin.
Other protesters who mingled outside the cathedral said that they also tried to leave shoes but were prevented by gardai.
Rachael Moran, from Dublin, said that she was disgusted that so many people had attended Mass in the wake of the abuse revelations. "I am beyond disgusted that there are hundreds and hundreds of people in that church," she said. "It just really goes to show how warped the Irish mindset is."
In his Easter homily Cardinal Brady indicated that Church leaders were at last beginning to grasp the outrage felt by survivors and observers the world over at a scandal hidden for so long by a Church-led cover up.
"The lives of survivors of child sexual abuse, the faith of members of the Church, and the credibility of Church leadership have all been wounded grievously by the evil deeds of priests and religious who exploited their position to wreak havoc on the lives of helpless children," he said. "Those wounds were aggravated by serious mismanagement on the part of bishops and other leaders in the Church. Those wounds, like the wounds on the body of the risen Christ, will not go away. We must take them seriously.
"We can only move on into the future if we first own our own personal misdeeds. We have to recognise the harm they have done and be resolved to do whatever is necessary to atone for the crimes that have happened and prevent their reoccurrence.
"Once again, I apologise with all my heart to all survivors of clerical child sexual abuse."
Referring to the failure to follow proper procedures and, until more recent times, to bring abusers to justice in the civil courts, Cardinal Brady confessed: "I realise that, however unintentionally, however unknowingly, I too allowed myself to be influenced by that culture in our Church and our society. I pledge to you this evening that, from now on, my overriding concern will always be the safety and protection of everyone in the Church — but especially children and all those who are vulnerable."
Addressing those who might remain sceptical, he said: "Some of you may have lingering concerns that nothing has changed in the Church. I promise you, it has changed radically. There is now no hiding place for abusers in the Church. Our policy is to do whatever is necessary to protect the vulnerable and ensure justice for all."
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