BishopAccountability.org
 
  John E. Guiniven: in Church Scandal, "Sorry" Isn't Enough

Charleston Gazette
August 4, 2010

http://wvgazette.com/Opinion/OpEdCommentaries/201008030541

The pope has not asked me for advice regarding the sexual abuse scandal threatening the Roman Catholic Church. Neither have the nuns from my elementary school, the priests from my high school, nor the brothers from my college. But if asked, here's what I'd offer.

Simply saying you're sorry isn't enough.

An apology can be a strategic tool in dealing with public issues, but is worthless unless accompanied by atonement. The church has made a number of heartfelt, even tear-laden apologies -- five from Pope Benedict XVI this year alone -- but expiation has been lacking.

Effective apologies admit mistakes, express regret, accept responsibility, and give confidence the offenses will not be repeated. Church apologies have been unconvincing on the last requisite. The result has been the ecclesiastical equivalent of BP trying to stop its oil leak in the Gulf. Each supposed fix is followed by more seepage added to the problem.

Church apologies have sometimes included resignations. Rarely, though, have those clergy been defrocked or ex-communicated, which could be considered minimal levels of atonement. Boston's Cardinal Law, accused of cover-ups, resigned under public pressure in 2002. He immediately became Cardinal of the American Catholic Church in Rome. Not exactly a leper colony assignment.

An apology last April promised the establishment of more commissions to investigate accusations. However, the commissions have been so packed with insiders that on one occasion in Belgium in June police, frustrated by what they saw as a lack of cooperation, raided church offices. Last month, an apology offered revised rules for dealing with clergy involved in sexual abuse but, in a move incredibly tone deaf toward public sentiment, established the same penalties for priests who attempt to ordain women as for those who molest children.

In his 1995 book, "Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies," William Benoit detailed image restoration strategies used by organizations embroiled in controversy. Offensive strategies include attacking, threatening or embarrassing the accusers by going after their tactics and motives. Early on, the church employed offensive strategies. The New York Times said the church engaged in "outright obstruction" and "often dismissed allegations of pedophilia as an attack on the church by its enemies."

As the breadth of the scandal became known, the church increasingly adopted defensive strategies. Besides apology/atonement, these include denial, effective only if the accusations are false; and evading responsibility, framing arguments according to context ("The percentage of pedophiles in the clergy is less than in society as a whole."); defeasibility ("Information needed to make decisions never made it up the chain of command."); and honorable intentions ("We tried to do the right thing.").

Context failed. A single pedophilia priest is one too many. Lack of information proved a lame excuse. Since it is hard to fault a church for trusting in prayer and spiritual therapy to solve its problems, honorable intentions had a life, but a short one. The onslaught of cover-up charges destroyed its believability.

By itself, an apology is reactive. Atonement adds credibility, allowing an organization to get out in front of the issue. The promise of transparency, for instance, rings true only if the church gives civilian authorities access to all documents and clergy involved in the scandal and allows external authorities to play a meaningful role in establishing the commissions.

In May, on a visit to Portugal, the Pope said the crisis was "born from sins within the church," a recognition that the problem is systemic. Faced with declining vocations, the screening and monitoring processes have become lax, and fear of an empty pulpit has contributed to a tolerance of wrongdoing that is, well, intolerable. The church needs to demonstrate its willingness to consider all options to solve its problem, which means there needs to be serious public debates within the church on celibacy and women in the priesthood, currently verboten subjects.

A cardinal said the laity "is struggling with a crisis of faith" because of the scandal. But Roman Catholics are not questioning the existence of God, the divinity of Jesus Christ, or the basic tenets of their church. They are questioning the behavior of many of their clergy and, in a very real sense, questioning whether the commitment and faith of their leaders are as strong as their own. They are waiting for atonement before accepting the apologies.

Guiniven teaches public issues management at James Madison University and is a former press secretary to the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd and a former corporate public relations executive.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.