Editorial of the “World”. For the Catholic Church, it is a little to say that the report saved on sexual abuses committed within it, made public on October 5, has made the effect of deflating. The surprise came less than the discovery of an amply known scandal, thanks to the testimonies of the victims, only of its magnitude – 216,000 people today would have been sexually assaulted by priests or religious since 1950 – and Because the Church is designated as the institution, apart from the family, where such aggressions are by far the most frequent.
In the Church, sexual abuses have a “massive” and “systemic” character, has asserted the report written at the request of the episcopate by the former Vice President of the Council of State. The French bishops, gathered in Lourdes from 2 to 8 November in plenary assembly, will have to decide what to do, not only to repair the injured lives, but also to reform the mode of operation of an institution where the concealment and the -Denunciation of offenses and sexual crimes have long prevailed, and whose speech about sexuality masks immense discomfort.
The time is no longer in inertia and procrastination. To the wrath of the victims is now added that of number of Catholics, of which 76% believe, according to a survey, that the reaction of the hierarchy has not been up to the revelations of the report saved. The bishops, tetanized, reacted awkwardly. The refusal of the episcopate to invite to his Assembly the associations of victims, preferring to listen to testimonials selected by him, makes a fear of a decline in the sisterhood.
Mechanism of “Financial Repair” / H2>
The bishops, after having the courage to entrust an independent mission to draw up a finding without complacency, must draw all the consequences. The first two consist of cooperating without reservation with the judicial on the ongoing business, and to recognize the responsibility of the Church as an institution. Only such a recognition would make it possible to implement the mechanism for “financial repair” recommended by the Saved Report. For the institution, he raises both financial concerns – who will pay? – And theological issues – the Church, assimilated to the body of Christ, can it be guilty?
However, the systemic role of the Church, now established, requires that be recognized, beyond the individual offending of the aggressors and those who protected them, the responsibility of the institution which selected them , trained, dedicated and used and can not escape human realities.
The Church can not stop there: it must also remedy the “excessive sacredness of the priest’s person” denounced by the reported report, and the marginalization of the laity in general and women in particular. Some of the desirable developments assume a reform of canon law, and therefore a vatican will. But the Church of France should give the example by engaging with the laity, a reflection without taboo on their involvement in decision-making, the exclusion of women of the priesthood and sexuality.
We must not go wrong: the ability of the bishops to recognize the havoc committed for decades, to hear the anger of the public and to engage in profound reform depends on the future of the first religion of France. Who will continue to believe in his message to support the deserves and the most fragile if, after such a scandal and decades of denial, the Church reacted only by taking cosmetic measures?