Time is now for reckoning

Church may take concrete actions

At the end of the movie Spotlight, the screen went black before a message appeared noting that in 2002 alone, The Boston Globe’s investigative reporting team published nearly 600 stories about sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

The next screen noted, “249 priests and brothers were publicly accused of sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese.”

But there was more. The first time Sister Veronica Openibo of Nigeria saw this film — which won the Oscar for Best Picture for 2015 — she was stunned to see four screens packed with the names of 223 American dioceses and nations in which major abuse scandals had been uncovered.

“Tears of sorrow flowed,” she said, speaking at the Vatican’s global summit on clergy sexual abuse. “How could the clerical church have kept silent, covering these atrocities?”

Didn’t any of these priests and bishops, she asked, go to confession? Didn’t they wrestle with their sins while talking with the spiritual directors who guided their lives? Later, she went further, asking why these clergy were allowed to remain in ministry after committing these atrocities. Why weren’t they defrocked?

Openibo is the first African to lead the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and one of three women who addressed the nearly 200 bishops at the recent summit. Openibo was the only person from Africa’s booming churches chosen to speak.

“Hypocrites at times?” she asked. “Yes. Why did we keep silent for so long? How can we turn this around for a time to evangelize, catechize and educate all the members of the church, including clergy and religious? Is it true that most bishops did nothing about the sexual abuse of children? Some did and some did not, out of fear or cover-up.”

Opening the muchanticipated gathering, Pope Francis stressed that the “holy People of God … expect from us not simple and obvious condemnations, but to prepare concrete and effective measures.”

At the end of the conference, he warned his flock that fighting abuse would force them to confront the powers of Hell.

However, while agreeing that the church must act, the pope said specific plans and penalties would come later, prepared by Vatican officials and the circle of papal advisers who planned the summit. These are complex issues, he argued, and children face many kinds of abuse in the secular world as well as in the church.

Openibo was more blunt when describing actions Catholic leaders must take to achieve transparency. Using a litany of biblical references, she called for “zero tolerance” when dealing with clergy sexual abuse.

After all, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon each of us here” to protect children and “seek justice” for survivors, said Openibo. Catholic leaders cannot focus on “protecting our own or keeping silent.”