(held in Toronto,
March 14-15, 2019 at the University of St. Michael’s College, Faculty of
Theology, co-sponsored by The Centre for Advanced Research in Catholic Thought,
King’s University College, London, ON)
As
director of our King’s Centre for Catholic Thought, I, together with Profs.
Mark Yenson, Andrea DiGiovanni, Carolyn Chau (as official representatives of
our College), attended this event held on March 14-15, 2019 in Toronto. Here is
my very cursory and random summary of the event (hurriedly written in this
crazily busy time of the year).
Disclaimer: the account of
the event and of the thoughts expressed by the speakers are all filtered
through my own subjective lens.
Believing in a Sinful and
Holy Church
Dr. Brian
Flanagan from Marymount University in Virginia started the event with a public
lecture. He emphasized that Sin and Sanctity are dual realities that make up
the Church and we have yet to develop an adequate theology to deal with these
two realities in tandem. We might
need some kind of “affirmative action” in speaking about ecclesial sin because
we, as a church, just lack practice in doing so.
When we speak of “sin” in or of the church, we are speaking at four levels: (1) individual sins;
(2) individual sins are, in actuality, “sins of the church” since we are the church!; (3) collective
church failure; (4) social and structural sin – We should keep in mind that
structures take on the results of past sinful actions. So, how do we go about
developing a theology of a sinful church yet, at the same time, maintain hope
in the same breath? This is a key question to answer and a goal to reach. One
possible way forward: Let us recover an eschatological worldview with regard to
the church, particularly, by keeping in mind that the church is a migrant
community, i.e., we are still on the way to fullness. God is with us; holiness
is also present in the church (particularly, as evidenced by the presence of
holy people—both past and present—in this community). At the same time, the
church is also deeply, deeply flawed; there is evil and sin in the church.
A
very lively Q&A session followed Dr. Flanagan’s talk, one of the best I’ve
seen after a theological lecture. There were, I estimate, around 100 people who
came. This shows how urgent this topic is.
March 15: Theological
Colloquium. (I
think also 80-100 people turned out at various moments during the day)
The full day colloquium was composed of two morning sessions: (1) Voices from
Survivors: Mark Hawkins, Leona Huggins, and John Swales; (2) A Lecture by Dr.
Nuala Kenny: Diagnosing Spiritual and
Ecclesial Pathology Manifested in the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis. The afternoon also had two sessions: (1) A
Lecture by Dr. Mary Ann Hinsdale: Clericalism:
Roots, Relevance, and Remedies; (2) A Roundtable chaired by David Byrne
involving all the speakers and lawyer Simona Jellinek to discuss the topic of
the colloquium.
I
will share below my own (subjective)
recollections of and thoughts on the colloquium.
The Devastation of Sexual
Abuse
The
most powerful experience I had at the colloquium was undoubtedly the
testimonies of the survivors of sexual abuse. As they recounted their particular
stories, I was able to put concrete faces to the phenomenon of sexual abuse.
Yes, I’ve read a lot about the abuse, but when someone shares his or her own
very painful experiences in an eloquent way in front of you, you just become
existentially more aware that sexual abuse is
a real evil and that it wreaks destruction in the lives of the abused at so many
levels. The abused have to live with these deep scars for the rest of their
lives. I really am thankful to Mark,
Leona, and John for sharing their stories with us.
Some
concrete messages from them were indelibly etched in my mind and heart.
Leona
continually emphasized that the sexual abuse is not only her story. No, IT IS OUR STORY. Let’s not consider this
problem as outsiders but as insiders who are truly and really impacted by it. I
was really saddened to hear that when she came out with her story, she was
dismissed from her job at a Catholic school --- the victim is victimized all
the more!
I
was shocked to learn from Mark that although he had talked about his painful and
intense experience in front of other Christian denominations, it was the first
time that he was sharing his story with a Catholic audience. This is, first of
all, very sad. It means Catholics have not really been keen to hear the stories
of our hurting brothers and sisters. On the other hand, at least now he has
talked to a Catholic audience. Hopefully, this is the first of more.
John
explained that sexual abuse affects not only the survivors, but also their
family and friends, the church, the laity, society as a whole and the
perpetrators themselves! So true! He also reminded us hauntingly that although
their stories are painful, the very fact that they are now standing in front of
us, able to share their stories with us, means that they are the lucky ones …
many more of the abused did not make it up
until today because they could no longer go on in their painful states.
John also said that if we do not walk away from the gathering scathed and
scarred by what we heard, there is just something wrong with us. I want to say, John, that I really walked
away from that gathering bearing deep pain in my heart for my suffering
brothers and sisters …
Ecclesial Pathology Revealed
by the Abuse Crisis
Sr. Dr.
Nuala Kenny gave a powerful and enlightening talk on this topic. Some random
recollections and impressions of mine:
·
Rooting Oneself in the
Experiences of the Victims You cannot help the healing process unless
you root yourself in the experience of the victims. Nuala offered a unique
perspective coming from her long experience as having dealt as a medical doctor with the victims of
sexual abuse.
·
Root Causes Besides, real healing cannot even begin if
only symptoms are treated. One has to go to the root causes of a problem. In
the case of sex abuse, causes involve beliefs, practices, relationships, etc.
· Spiritual Power Lord Acton (Catholic historian) famously
said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If we apply that
to the sex abuse crisis, “spiritual power corrupts spiritually.” Let me add my
own take: Absolute spiritual power (the one many churchmen are led to believe
that they possess) is the most insidious and damaging kind of dysfunctional
conception of power because God is understood (mistakenly of course) as being
on the side of the one who purportedly has spiritual power.
·
Septic Shock One metaphor that could be used to describe
the crisis is that in this present (2018-19) resurfacing of the sexual abuse
crisis, we might be dealing already with a kind of “septic shock.” A septic
shock begins as a localized medical problem but because it is left untreated,
it becomes bigger and more powerful and it leads the different crucial body
parts to shut down. Aren’t we experiencing some kind of ecclesial septic shock
now?
·
Diagnosis – not Simple For this crisis, a single, simple diagnosis
has to be treated with caution (e.g., “homosexuals are the cause of this
crisis.” That’s untrue and unfair). When we get sick, we have the tendency to
want a short, snappy answer (treatment) to speedily solve our problems. This
crisis is NOT something that can be dealt in that way. There are many causes
that demand a careful, thorough diagnosis and an equally careful, thorough,
long-term treatment.
Thank you, a very good article that needed to be written.
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