The Murphy Report and the future of Christianity in Ireland
Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin with a copy of the Murphy report last Thursday
It‘s hard to know where to begin and what
to say in light of Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report into the systemic failure of
the Dublin Diocese to deal with the cancer of child-sex abuse within its boundaries.
[www.dacoi.ie]
In one sense there is little new – and
perhaps that is one of the worst comments that could be made. The findings
follow an all too familiar pattern of previous reports like Ferns and Ryan:
silence, avoidance, complicity, self-protection, incredible levels of
incompetence (and worse) by those in leadership, a culture of deference, the
strange impotence and at times complicity of the Gardai, too little too late
done by church and state, and the awful reversal of the supposed carer for
souls becoming the abuser of the most vulnerable people under its care – young
children. Nothing I’ve read captures it better than Fintan O’Toole’s
devastating critique. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1128/1224259619182.html
The reality of Sin
In a culture which does not like to admit
the existence of sin or how all of us are very ‘original sinners’, the heart-rending
stories of survivors reveal the reality of sin and its deep and lasting relational
impact on individuals.
The
sin of the abuser is a sin against the child. The
bravery of those who spoke out (often to be ignored and disbelieved) is
humbling. Again and again we see how the actions of one man ripple far and wide
with devastating consequences and how victims’ whole lives have been shaped by
what happened to them as children. My prayer is that they can be believed,
listened to, loved and helped to see and know that they as individuals are not defined
by their abuser but have unique value and dignity as people loved by God and
created in his image.
The
sin of the abuser is a sin against himself. The
harrowed faces of some of those convicted may be due to self-pity at being
caught, but for some at least there may be deep self-disgust and shame at the
betrayal of their calling. Did all the abusers enter the priesthood with a
strategy to abuse children? I doubt it – exalted status, unaccountable power, unquestioning
trust, personal isolation, profound spiritual failure, and temptation combined
with an insidious weakness of character all probably played a part. I remember seeing at TV
programme with Brian D’Arcy talking about his experience of entering the
priesthood and how the system seemed designed to destroy personality and
individualism. Saying this is not to excuse the utterly inexcusable. Each perpetrator
took a decision to cross a line that they knew to be completely opposed to all
that they stood for as servants of their flock.
The
sin of the abuser is a sin against God who has made
us to love one another and to love him. Such sin is an affront to our humanity as
people created to be treated with dignity and respect. God is angry at what has
gone on. He hates injustice and maltreatment of the weak and vulnerable. All sin
will be judged. All too often victims have been denied any sense of justice.
The Murphy Report shows that most abusers escaped virtually untouched for
decades. Many are dead, many have been protected and many appear to have ‘got
away with it’. Abusers should and must be pursued with the full rigors of
judicial process. But even when someone is convicted, no loss of job, public
opprobrium or a few years in prison will ever be enough to make up for the
incalculable hurt caused. Human justice, even when it works well, is but a pale
shadow of our longing for things to be ‘put right’. It is only God’s ultimate
judgement that offers hope of perfect justice. God’s judgement is good news. All
will one day be ‘put right’ forever and the world will be healed of all abuse,
injustice, hatred, violence and tears. This is why Christians pray Marana tha –
Come O Lord! [1 Cor 16:22]
The Future of Christianity in Ireland
The Murphy Report must not be seen as the
‘end of a terrible chapter’ in the history of church and state. Much more
research and reflection need to be done by theologians, historians,
sociologists, psychotherapists and others on how and why a Christian church
could have ever acted in such a profoundly anti-Christian way. This needs to
happen not only to identify the necessary structural reform required to prevent
such systemic abuse ever reoccurring, but also, at a much deeper level, to
begin to address the desperate need for a new reformation within the Church itself
if its spiritual integrity is ever to be regained. The initial response of some
bishops named in the Murphy Report to their documented failure of care does not
augur well for such vital and radical reform.
A contributing factor in my opinion was Christendom
– where the institutional church stood at the centre of Western society for
hundreds of years. In Ireland this took the form of the Catholic Church exercising virtually unlimited spiritual, political and social power. As the Murphy Report itself
says, “The Church is not only a religious organisation but also a human/civil
instrument of control and power.” No organisation should have such power, but
especially a Church called to follow a crucified Messiah. Ireland is now in the
process of disentangling itself from the marriage of church and state that
shaped 20th Century culture, often with disastrous consequences. And this
can only be a good thing. Some Christians get worried about the marginalisation
of the church from society. But maybe the Catholic Church needs to be
marginalised for its own good. Maybe the
healthiest spiritual place for all churches is far from the seat of power
and from the overconfident certainty that they have the ability and a right to
make society conform to Christian ethics through a combination of fear, threat
and control.
If Christendom has taught us anything, it
has been that spiritual transformation
cannot be imposed from above. The New Testament makes it clear that change comes
from within. It comes from the
empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, received
through trusting faith in Jesus. The Spirit’s fruit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control [Gal
5:22-23]. This is real evidence of authentic Christian faith.
Tragically, in Ireland we have had decades
of inauthentic Christianity – and I’m not just talking about the Catholic
Church here. We desperately need more of
the beautiful work of the Spirit in people’s lives. We desperately need less institutionalised religion and more of Jesus.
For it is in Jesus that we see God most clearly revealed. He is ‘the image of
the invisible God’ [Col. 1:15]. And what we see is a person born of an obscure
young girl, in a remote backwater, into an occupied homeland under foreign
rule. We see a Messiah who rejects the temptation of power, who has ‘no place
to lay his head’, who loves and heals the marginalised and despised, and who
courageously embraces the calling of servanthood, suffering and ultimately an
unjust execution on our behalf and in our place. This is the astonishing good
news of the Gospel. But let’s not miss a key purpose of the gospel. It is that that Christians are to be
‘conformed to the image of his son’ [Rom 8:29]. In other words, quite simply,
Christians are to be like Jesus.
Is
there a future for the Christian faith in Ireland?
Yes. But only in as much as it exhibits the fruit of the Spirit. Only in as
much as it imitates Jesus. Only in as much as those who bear the name of Jesus are good news as they love their
neighbours as themselves. This is God’s healing agenda for individuals and for
society. Let’s join with him in humility and joy. God knows, Ireland could do with
some real good news.
Patrick Mitchel
29 November 2009
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