Scottish Catholic Observer

Some believe the clerical abuse crisis is one from which the Church will never recover, in places such as the US, Ireland and now here in Scotland. The ‘Church’ in question not being the institution of divine foundation, both infallible and indefectible and is therefore impossible that She can either err directly by sin or fail indirectly through ignorance. The Church, in this instance, being the individuals, ordained and otherwise, both the minority responsible for crimes of abuse and the subject of allegations of cover-ups, and the majority not to blame. Humankind.

We are not just in the period of Lent, which requires reflection, penance and sacrifice, we are in Lent during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Where, some ask, is the mercy for abuse victims? Where is the justice? Given the abhorrent nature of the crime of abuse, it is understandable that some are unwilling or unable to allow the time required to implement the McLennan report recommendations and even feel that the Church should have been subject of the current government inquiry into the scourge of institutional abuse throughout society. It is also clear that any attempt to include the majority of clergy and religious—who are innocent of crimes of abuse—in the pool of those seriously negatively impacted by the problem causes great offence to victims of the abuse. This is not the intent. We as Catholics are the Church. There is not a Catholic, young or old, in Scotland whose life has not been impacted by the subject of abuse. We are not victims of abuse but we suffer too. Individual suffering is not a competition, it must not and cannot be equated.

It is all well and good stating that abuse of children and vulnerable adults should never have happened within the Church, must never be allowed to happen again and must be exposed and answered for with all efforts having the victims at their heart. The same goes for praying for justice and peace for abuse victims. However, those at the forefront of the issue—victims groups and those in the employ of the Church on safeguarding—can really own achieve these ends quickly and effectively by working together, by having the next to impossible conversations. These groups CANNOT see each other in polarised absolutes: Those representing victims are NOT automatically against everything the Church stands for, those representing the Church are not automatically unable to listen to and help victims.

We as Catholics and as a society must have zero tolerance for abuse and abusers. We pray for the abused. We pray that Scotland’s newly announced Missionaries of Mercy are another step in the right direction. We pray, for the sake of all concerned, that abuse is not a mortal wound on our Church, negating all the good people in the Church and good work done in the name of Christ. We also pray on behalf of our priests in training (see page 6-7).