OMAHA (NE)
The Creightonian - Student Newspaper of Creighton University [Omaha NE]
April 3, 2022
By Riley Link
Restorative justice, clerical sexual abuse, and the Catholic Church were the topics of the 22nd annual Lawler lecture on Thursday, March 24.
Stephen Pope, a professor of theological ethics at Boston College, stated that his name was ironic as he lectured over the prospects and pitfalls of using restorative justice to address the ongoing issue of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Pope explained that clerical abuse comes from a number of interconnected problems, such as rape culture, abuse of power, and the idea of, “take what you want when you want it.” He elaborated how using status to gain access and trust allows the exploitation of many.
Restorative justice, a topic that Pope lectured intensely on, is a justice method that focuses on facilitating internal healing for the defendants, victims, and any of the ripples that these horrible acts have caused.
He suggests that this can be used in tandem with the criminal justice systems already in place today as it can be implemented in churches, prisons, and homes.
“Relying on only the criminal justice system won’t help facilitate the difficult conversations that need to happen. Restorative justice will,” Jaylin Tuman, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.
Pope argued that the Catholic church should implement the use of restorative justice in its attempt to address the issues of clerical sexual abuse that it has hid for many years.
He showed how the Diocese of Minneapolis has been a leading contributor to the use of restorative justice in the church, in which they are not forcing the conversations, but offering them.
They use methods of talking circles, talking pieces, surrogate defendants, and other ways to help heal the far-reaching emotional, spiritual, physical and material impacts of these crimes Pope said.
“As an active Catholic myself, I am happy to hear about the implementation of restorative justice in places like Minneapolis, but also disappointed that it is not out there more in the community,” senior in the College of Arts and Sciences Anna Boatman said.
Restorative justice can allow survivors to understand their offenders are not monsters but deeply flawed individuals.
It can help offenders realize the impact they unjustly made on not only victims, but their families, friends, loved ones, and any other secondary victims.
Restorative justice can also help everyday individuals understand and empathize with those affected, helping change the narrative of, “it’s in the past, why don’t these victims just get over it?” Pope mentioned.
However, Pope did mention that restorative justice is by no means a “silver bullet” to this enormous problem at hand.
The problem of healing and specifically forgiveness. He explained that forgiveness comes in two steps, decisional forgiveness, and emotional forgiveness which is first deciding that forgiveness will occur, and then physically getting your emotions to progress towards that forgiveness.
“These terms provide nuance; they help explain how a victim can practice decisional forgiveness by deciding to will the good of their abuser without being able to also practice emotional forgiveness, or feeling positive emotions toward the offender,” College of Arts and Sciences senior Cara Buckley said.