Will past abuse victims ever forgive the church?

Oct 09, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It’s not an easy time to be Catholic, especially in a world which is seemingly out to get the church from all corners. My “Catholicity” and faith are challenged each and every day.
Since I joined the church in 2005, I never expected it to be a joy ride. Let’s face it: the Roman Catholic Church is referred to as the church that harbours sexually perverted priests that molest children. The worldwide leader of news, CNN, this past weekend, showed an hour-long documentary titled “What the Pope knew”. As if showing it one time during their primetime period wasn’t enough, CNN rebroadcasted the same programme on Sunday night. It was a weekend of shame, shame for the church, shame for its leaders, shame for its members and shame for the victims of numerous sex abuse cases that rocked Rome.
It was really incriminating. The programme documented interviews from sexually abused victims, ex-priests, church officials and Vatican officials about the matter. It delved deep into the sex abuse scandals that took place under the watch of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is, today, Pope Benedict XVI.
Cardinal Ratzinger, the then head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), according to the CNN programme, knew about several sex abuse cases especially in the United States as many were brought to his office and attention for action. The documentary went on to put forth the view that Cardinal Ratzinger did not do as much as he should have done to pull out pedophile priests from various parishes and diocese in the U.S. Instead, many cases were dragged on and delayed; due to the then faulty Canon Law that stated that no priest under 40 could be defrocked. Also, the law then mandated the priest who is accused of wrongdoing; that he himself has to give consent for Rome to laicize him.
This was verified through interviews with senior Vatican officials. And so, the programme chronicled incidents of sexual abuse of both boys and girls. These cases were brought to Rome, to Cardinal Ratzinger. Many argued that Rome should have acted more swiftly to get rid of the priests who committed heinous crimes. Many of those interviewed called Ratzinger, who is the spiritual head of the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, just as guilty as the priests whom he delayed laicizing or taking out of the parishes of which they were in charge. One person showed the reporter of CNN a confessional box in which he would be regularly abused in the 70’s by his pastor. Many of these priests, instead of being ostracized from the priesthood, would only be transferred or moved to other parishes, only to commit the same vile acts again.
Perhaps, many more hate the church than they did before after watching this documentary — part of which aired late on Sunday evening on Channel 28 (and this is the portion I watched).  However, every Catholic should watch it. Not because it is an indictment on the church back then, but because it can make our faith stronger — stronger to pray harder for our priests and holy men within the Catholic Church.
My sister, who is Protestant, watched the entire thing on Saturday night, related her disgust to me, and even though her comments made my blood boil, as how anyone who talked negatively about the Church would make me angry, she is right. She stated, “And yes, Canon Law has been reviewed. Sadly, it didn’t happen sooner. Bottom line is, before he (Ratzinger) was pope, he knew and did very little to handle or deal with these unimaginable sickening acts, which gave these sorry excuses for priests — men of
God, to continue to rob those children of their innocence and changed their lives forever; some in the worst way possible. And that’s not acceptable. As a Christian, I am having an extremely difficult time digesting this.”
How are our own Catholic brothers and sisters taking this? Do some of us even know what is going on in the worldwide communion? What do our local priests and our bishop have to say about this issue which has been in the forefront of the Catholic Church since the beginning of the 21ST Century? The documentary also went on to say that at the turn of the year 2000, Cardinal Ratzinger went to his predecessor Pope John Paul II, with concerns that the sex abuse matter was getting from bad to worst and that Rome needed to expeditiously deal with the matter or face dire consequences, such as millions leaving the church. Lawsuits were also piling up against many dioceses around the world, especially in the U.S.A.
John Paul and Ratzinger then started the Gregorian task of taking numerous corrective measures and the matter was being addressed behind the scenes. Today, the church continues to make sure that children are safe from pedophiles hiding behind priestly vestments and the holy cloths of the office of shepherd of the flock. Today, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict, is meeting with the victims and praying with them. Today, the church is doing all it can, perhaps the most it has done in its 2,000 year history, to rid the parishes of the world of men who can harm boys and girls. Can the nay-sayers believe me or understand what I am saying? Will past abuse victims ever forgive the church or even Cardinal Ratzinger for alleged past mistakes and the way he handled the matter? I am not God. I cannot judge. What I can do is pray for our priests, bishops and especially our leader on earth, the pope.
I hated CNN for doing that documentary.
But I don’t anymore. I am glad they did. I am glad I saw it. This is not a topic we can easily sweep under the carpet. We must be able to openly discuss this issue among our various circles.  It is a reality.
I can take comfort in the fact that the Church has expressed how sorry it is for all those affected in this matter. Rome is doing all it can to prevent these things from happening again. And that’s a good start.
Leon Jameson Suseran

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