Catholic church's sex abuse crisis requires a shift in power

By Rev. Alexander Santora
Jersey Journal
November 11, 2018

https://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/11/catholic_churchs_sex_abuse_crisis_requires_a_shift.html

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will meet this week to discuss the sex abuse crisis.

This week, the Catholic bishops of the U.S. will gather in Baltimore for their first semi-annual conference since the summer of sexual abuse allegations, including former Newark Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. 

How I wish I could be a fly on the wall of their closed sessions as they will, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "discuss and vote on a series of concrete measures to respond to the abuse crisis, including ... a third-party reporting mechanism, standards of conduct for bishops, and protocols for bishops resigned or removed because of abuse."

I am too limiting. It should be more than flies allowed into that room if they are truly to engage and enlighten the laity of the church, the major stakeholder in its future.

And that's part of the problem the bishops still do not get: They cannot solve this alone. 

Up until now, they have responded as royalty might, suggesting that as our shepherds they know all the right moves. Were they right, we would not be facing the third, and perhaps most serious, crisis of clerical sexual abuse since the early 1980s. 

And laypeople -- who pay the bills, volunteer, staff most of the institutions and partially fill the benches -- are truly disenfranchised.

Before this meeting, each diocesan bishop should have commissioned each pastor to consult the people of the parish about the crisis and what they are feeling, thinking and recommending -- and share the report with him.

I know of two parishes and my own in the Archdiocese of Newark who did that very thing. 

One Bergen County parish had a turnout of 200 people.

Hoboken had 25, mostly younger people, and it took one hour for the entire group to share what was on their minds and in their hearts. 

Not desiring it to be a one-shot deal, we asked parishioners to answer six questions on our website. Fifty-four did. 

And their responses ran the gamut. 

"Betrayal, loss of ability to trust the Church, at least those in the upper echelons of the hierarchy," one person wrote.

"What leads the Church to value its institutional reputation over the lives of the children?" wrote another. 

Placing blame ranged from celibacy of clergy, fear of going against the church and homosexuality to the observation that women and laypeople are powerless in the church. 

We sent our report to Cardinal Joseph Tobin with recommendations like overhauling seminary formation, conducting truth finding, holding wrongdoers accountable, allowing for a married clergy, greater acceptance for gay clergy, among others. 

"Church authority figures have to get out of the process; it needs to be an independent, lay process,"  one wrote. 

Tobin already announced, in September, to his College of Deans that he plans to empanel an archdiocesan pastoral council by the end of the year.  In a letter last week, he wrote to the archdiocese: "In a few weeks, I will be announcing further structural changes and new policies within the Archdiocese of Newark itself - step-by-step reforms that I hope will be embraced by other dioceses throughout the state." 

Tobin, unlike most U.S. bishops, has no suspect past on this matter since he has only been a bishop in the U.S. for six years.  He can be a national leader on the matter and also has the ear of Pope Francis. 

He also wrote: "But with the resignation of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, we are now realizing that some bishops did not enter into the covenant we call the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People wholeheartedly. This is sinful and unacceptable. It has caused irreparable harm to every priest's and bishop's relationship with the faithful. Only intentional acts of restorative justice can help us reform and renew our deeply wounded Church." 

On Sept. 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Tobin led a packed cathedral in prayer and reflection and gave a survivor of clerical sexual abuse a prominent pulpit.

Bishops have to come down from the pulpit and mix it up with the people in the pews now more than ever to restore the church's credibility. Tomorrow they will open the conference with "a full day of spiritual discernment and prayer" about what measures they will undertake. They should also consider what changes the church needs to make for a more adult, participatory laity. 

The last question posed on our website was: What do you see as the future of the Church? 

"I think a more progressive stance on all issues is needed for the Church to survive and thrive, as well as to keep in step with a changing world and to attract younger generations who believe the church is an outdated, archaic concept," one person wrote.

Will the church cling to the past or embrace a bold future?