UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
Pope Francis, and the Family Synod sideshow, appear to be following Pope John XXIII’s earlier flawed synod strategy. John’s strategy, and now Francis’ approach, was simply to follow the classic politicians’ ploy and carve out topics that were especially embarrassing to or sensitive for the pope, like contraception or clerical rape of children, from the assembled bishops’ highly public agenda. These topics are then parked in secretive and “slow walked” Vatican controlled “advisory committees”, that are supposedly trustworthy because they have some carefully selected “showpiece” members. Currently, this may include the well respected and very brave Irish activist and priest rape survivor, Marie Collins.
Marie Collins has for many years been a leading Irish advocate for priest abuse survivors. She also had a role in setting up in Dublin the very effective One-In-Four organization. This group, now under the intrepid Maeve Lewis, advocates relentlessly for, and provides needed counseling to, Irish survivors of child sexual abuse. Marie Collins has since March been a member of Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission on the Protection of Minors (or so-called “Child Abuse Commission”), that is still “under construction” after more than a year and a half of Francis’ papacy.
Pursuant to this synod strategy, a papal committee would then likely take years “quietly investigating” already well known priest child abuse issues and solutions. The pope, of course, would then be free to reject the committee’s secretive findings and advice, after the media frenzy subsides, as happened with Paul VI in 1968 with artificial contraception. But Paul VI failed dismally with this strategy and so likely will Francis.
Yes, the latest papal saint-to- be (the third in six months), Paul VI used this ploy in 1968, just before Francis’ ordination, when faced with John XXIII’s birth control commission’s strong endorsement of artificial contraception. Paul then suddenly and unexpectedly rejected his own commission’s strong endorsement after six years of “study”. Then, this earlier commission’s very influential married member, Patty Crowley, a leader of the Catholic Family Movement which had earlier initially advocated “natural family planning”, was shamefully shunned by the Church hierarchy, even by her own Cardinal in Chicago.
Let’s hope that Marie Collins will be very careful and wary to avoid being “used” by a pope, like Patty Crowley was used by Paul VI a half century ago in similar circumstances!
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.