Column No escape from news of sex scandal, even on a cruise
ship
By TIM UNSWORTH
This clerical sex abuse scandal has
gotten dirty. My wife Jean and I thought we would get away from it all by
taking a cruise, one we had delayed months ago while my bowels growled with
cancer. But it proved as futile as trying to escape a telemarketer.
The cruise ship had no Catholic chaplain because it was rumored
that the shipping company now preferred married men. Just another example of
the ripple effect.
We sailed from the white cliffs of Dover, England, as far as St.
Petersburg, Russia, and back, visiting countries that were mostly Lutheran.
Still, the scandal slithered after us. In London, an Indian priest with a
soprano voice and a British accent asked us to pray for our brother
priests in America. On the ship, a daily digest of The New York
Times provided a keyhole peep and the latest revelations.
Only in Helsinki, Finland, did we get through a Mass, presided
over by a Spanish priest, who prayed in Latin, Spanish, English and Finnish. We
escaped mention of the American church debacle. Bostons Cardinal Bernard
Law should move to Finland. There are only 8,000 Catholics and 21 priests in a
population of 5,170,000. But the cathedral, not much bigger than some American
bishops vestment cases, was filled for the multilingual Mass. Law could
hide there with his lawyers, PR flacks, bodyguards and private pilots.
We came home to a litany of voice mail, some of which invited me
to comment on the abuse situation on TV and radio. I cant resist a
microphone. I will speak at supermarket openings. Further, I am the beneficiary
of NCRs courage for the past 17 years in uncovering the
churchs cover-ups. The local and distant media wanted my thoughts on the
ugliest situation since the sale of indulgences was a blue light special.
TV studios resemble the rear ends of computers. They are cluttered
with lights and wires. The production crew contrasts sharply with the
talent (that is, the people who appear on camera) who are all
dressed like Brooks Brothers ads and have 60 to 70 teeth, all whiter than the
Blessed Mothers. They are all good people, saturated with news pouring in
over the Internet. I enjoy just watching them work until someone with a
stopwatch wiggles a finger and suddenly I am talking to a cyclops.
Although fairly young, most of the technicians and reporters
remember when Bing Crosby and Spencer Tracy were priests. Now, they just
cant believe what theyre seeing and hearing. It seemed that many
were cradle Catholics but were no longer practicing. Much of their alienation
had to do with other zero-tolerance issues, especially those having to do with
divorce, annulments and second marriages. Too often, marriage tribunals used
everything but a rubber hose or kept the petitioner waiting so long they just
despaired. Others told tales of petty rules that refused to treat unequal
situations unequally.
Some were camera people or talking heads, raised in the church,
but now non-practicing, together with their families, because of an impediment
that was smaller than a fleas behind. Now, they were following me to the
studio plaza, asking: How do these bishops get away with this stuff?
Whose money is it? These guys are accessories to a crime! They want wiggle
room. Geez, Id love to give them some wiggle room! Now my grandchildren
arent even baptized!
We agreed that it was a Mediterranean (translate Mafia) model,
supported by loyalty, secrecy, respect and silence. Although best estimates
claimed that at least two-thirds of the bishops had abuse cases in their
dioceses, not one was removed from office. Indeed, one still sensed recurring
anger at the media coming from some bishops.
Chicagos Cardinal Francis George likened the press to the
Polish communists who had spied on him years ago in Poland. News reporters
still experienced coldness and silence when they asked the most innocent
questions. Some church lawyers still fought virtually every case, suggesting in
some instances that the victims and their families were to blame for the
destruction of their lives.
Like good underbosses, the careerist soldiers stuck by their
bishops. They didnt want to be found sleeping with the fishes in the
bottom of a holy water font. Even bishops who knew that some of their
colleagues were accessories to a crime said nothing.
Top bishops face the Vatican, not their people. They administer a
cold and largely self-interested institution and are expert at protecting
themselves, even at the risk of shredding young peoples lives. Its
likely that the new policies will cost some 2,000 priests and billions of
dollars but most unlikely that a single bishop will melt down his episcopal
ring to meet the cost.
Offenders will be told that they can no longer wear the clerical
collar -- a laughable punishment since the vast majority of the good guys no
longer even walk the streets of their parishes with their clerical collar.
The bishops conference lacks the authority to remove
bishops, especially those who drop big envelopes at the Vatican. During the
executive session, some bishops suggested that some bishops resign, but no
names were mentioned. And all that the bishops did decide must be approved by
the Vatican, a process that could take two years. Recall that this is the
bureaucracy that has forbidden female homilists and the Eucharist to kids who
cannot tolerate hosts made of wheat. This is the bureaucracy that looks for
solutions to sexual abuse among the redwoods of canon law while abused kids
throw up in their bathrooms.
The bishops have apologized. Now they must stop talking and listen
with their hearts. Now, they must put their careers on hold and devote
themselves to forgiving and seeking healing for their priests. Now, more than
anything else they ever do, they must help to heal the wounded victims. Then,
the people on the cruise, the staffs of the TV stations, NCR subscribers
and believing people galore will forgive them.
Tim Unsworth writes from Chicago. Chat with him at
unsworth@megsinet.net
National Catholic Reporter, August 2,
2002
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