What I expect from the synod on abuse

The Catholic Church is holding a synod to be able to truly deal with crises of sexual abuse that has plagued it for several years.

Dr Asciak MD is Senior Lecturer II in the Institute of Applied Science at MCAST

This synod is a landmark, but not because sexual abuse will stop. Sexual abuse is a recurring problem worldwide and not only in church circles. I would say it is more common in the secular world than in religious circles and it will continue because it deals with man’s incapacity to apply the virtue of temperance effectively. However, in a church set up by Christ, the scandal is bigger because its main duty is to prevent it happening, with Christ saying that individual perpetrators would be better off being drowned by a millstone round the neck than committing that sacrilege!

What do we expect from such a synod? First, that there is global acceptance of the problem throughout the Church as some countries in Asia and Africa are still not aware of it. This should mean that there should be a fast, sharp, clinical response to such cases which would be in line with established Church policy and canon law. Sec- ond, that where there is sexual abuse, priority is given to the victim especially innocent victims such as children. In the past, victims were not supported and the predator was moved from diocese to diocese in order to avoid the scandal, with the result that they were allowed to be repeat offenders, which meant there were new victims who were often left unsupported. Support should be physical, psychological and if necessary financial. Action against the offending cleric, religious or lay should be fast and immediate, particularly when children are involved because children are completely innocent.

The problem with children of course has a special place because sexual abuse of children is carried out by paedophiles and paedophilia has nothing to do with homosexuality. This means that more intense psychological tests need to be carried out to identify paedophiles before they are accepted to the priesthood. The abuse of children deserves particular mention as there is no excuse of consent because the individuals concerned are not yet sexually mature. A paedophile restricts himself to children who are pre-pubertal or who are early post-pubertal.

Sexual abuse of course does not stop with children but continues with adults where it tends to be more complex because there are issues of sexual maturity and there may be issues of consensual sex at this age. This does not mean of course that because one is an adult, there is no cause for abuse. Very often religious or lay secular offenders may be in a position to groom young adults through authority, power relationships, malign friendship or psychological enticement and be put or forced into positions of abuse. It does not mean that because an individual is sexually mature one is not also an innocent victim of sexual abuse. Action also needs to be taken here even if one is a sexually mature adult and the offending party must dealt with fast and effectively. Adult persons with homosexual tendencies will abuse same sex relationships and those with heterosexual tendencies will abuse different sex relationships. There is very little that can be done to ever completely stop this state of affairs as man is weak below the belt and it is important to set up networks and action stations for support immediately. One must stress the importance of the synod emphasising fidelity. When one becomes a Catholic priest, one takes a vow of celibacy to God. We expect that this vow of fidelity is adhered to and more needs to be done to support priests and people in the lay celibate secular state. I emphasis fidelity, because in today’s society it is an issue. It is the same issue that a man and a woman marry and promise fidelity to each other before God and society but in effect are breaking their promise in everlarger numbers. It could be that the main issue is that in the world we live in, fidelity to our promises has become something secondary and we are swept away by our fickleness much more quickly as virtue theory flies out of the window.

I tend to agree with Pope Benedict XVI that the priesthood should not be opened to individuals with manifest homosexual tendencies. Celibacy should not be concerned with the palliative restraint and repression of sexual activity that the Church requires of homosexuals. Celibacy in effect should encourage the men who possess it to act more freely for Christ and the Church, a positive free action directed to God and men’s activity. This does not mean of course that I do not see a time when certain men who are married should be allowed to become priests if they can better exercise their vocation to serve Christ and his Church. There is already a good yardstick on how the rule is applied in the Eastern rites of the Catholic Church and I believe that the time has come for the Latin rite to look at this option along those lines too.

I believe that this synod will be a milestone that will help the Church deal effectively with issues of abuse in a more open and expeditious manner and one that will show compassion for human weakness coupled with the protection of the innocent. The issue now moves over to the secular world itself which is far from coming close to really tackling this issue!