Church knows how to conquer its demons

GEORGE Bernard Shaw was an avowed atheist, yet he may have some pertinent advice as the Pope arrives for the Catholic World Meeting of Families: “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.” The Church kept its skeletons in the cupboard for too long. Denial and deceit added to hurt and despair.

“In order to conquer the demons without, one must first recognise the ones within,” wrote the theologian Tertullian in 200AD. Now Pope Francis has so publicly recognised the crimes and cover ups, doing something about them must be the next step.

Blind belief in authority was generally regarded as the greatest enemy of truth, especially when the belief is exploited as it was for generations. That Pope Francis will meet sur vivors of abuse here will be welcomed with relief, no more than that. It would have made a mockery of his own words had he not done so.

This week, he quoted St Paul: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it.” Abuse of power is not unique to the Church; but its failure to take responsibility for the acts of such a significant number of clerics made the dereliction all the more reprehensible. Preying on children and concealing the fact and protecting the abuser must end.

There are no reasons why the Church cannot conform with mandatory reporting of abuse and with zero tolerance when it comes to shielding abusing priests.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is quite correct; Pope Francis’s letter must be followed by actions. Bishop of Raphoe Alan McGuckian has also said he feels Church law on clerical abuse needs to be updated.

Reluctance to provide precise remedies to ongoing problems of transparency and acceptance of civil law has destroyed the precious faith of too many. In short, words are no longer sufficient. Only when the Church begins to reconcile itself with its own f laws, and demonstrably ref lects this by being accountable, will trust be restored.