Inside
NCR
It was impossible to keep the
scandal hidden forever, particularly in a household where the days
headlines are a natural part of family conversation. Not when three older
siblings were asking questions and dealing with the jolts to their young belief
systems.
My wife and I, back in the 80s when the priest sex abuse
scandal was first breaking, dealt in the same explanations that countless other
Catholic parents labored with to explain what was going on: Priests were only
human and they can make mistakes, even serious ones; it was only a few priests;
just be careful and know that no one, no adult, not even a priest, has the
right to ask you to do something you know is wrong; we mustnt judge all
priests by the behavior of a few.
The older kids got the message.
Anyway, they never expected such horror to visit them. And they judged priests
cool or weird on their own terms.
Inasmuch as any of them, as adults, care about the sex abuse story
or the church at large, I am fairly certain that all of them, giving individual
priests the benefit of the doubt, wonder when the church intends to do
something about the crisis.
But what about James, the youngest? He was born in 1984, and most
of his association with the church has had the cloud of that scandal associated
with it. He has had good encounters with good men as priests. But the story
continues to test that trust, the inconsistency of it all and the hypocrisy of
the institution in dealing with it to date.
So I ask: Bishops, what have you to
say to this 17-year-old? What credible word of assurance? What believable word
of apology? What actions to back up your public sorrow over this awful
mess?
The real tragedy of this story in my everyday world, the one away
from the newspaper, is the awful realization that 17 years into this scandal I
cant point my youngest son in the direction of one leader, one bishop or
cardinal, who has exhibited courage in confronting this crisis. I cant
show him one example, in the ranks of the hierarchy, of true apology, a public
apology made before the sex abuse stories hit Page 1.
I cant point him to an instance where the overture to a
victim and his family came before the resort to lawyers and press office
obfuscations.
The tragedy now is that 17 years into this story, with the
seemingly endless revelations beginning to include bishop abusers, not one
leader among them has come forward and told his fellow bishops: Enough! This
can go on no longer!
Our dinner conversation has turned to other matters. This story of
abuse is old and discouraging. We no longer need to repeat the explanations or
arguments.
Next Sunday, well be in church again. James, too. So will
the good priests, who seem wearier with each new week of headlines.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, March 22,
2002
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