Based on what I’ve gathered from different sources,
primarily a televised interview with Dr. Richard Gaillardetz of Boston College,
I think there is no doubt that the Vatican’s “final-hour” heavy-handed halt of
the U.S. Bishops vote was, as Gaillardetz puts it, “a public relations gaffe of
the highest order.” Nothing terribly new in this ineptness I’m afraid; God has
been in need of a new PR manager for quite some time now…
Gaillardetz suggests there may be more going on in the
Vatican’s request to table the issue for a few months than meets the eye,
because in February something rather remarkable and unprecedented is going to happen: Pope
Francis has called all of the presidents of all the bishops’ conferences
throughout the world to come to Rome for a meeting to discuss this sexual
abuse issue…and this issue alone.
This delay of our U.S. Bishops vote may indicate that Pope
Francis doesn’t want a few ad hoc decisions made by individual conferences
because “he sees this is as a global problem that requires a global solution.” This
would explain why Pope Francis recommended that the U.S. Bishops “go on
retreat” in November instead of holding a formal meeting in the first place. He
wants to make sure that before any one group comes up with particular solutions
for their own country, ALL our bishops throughout the world are on the same
page.
If this is the case, then we can ask - If we wanted to
gather all our family members to discuss an incredibly serious and persistent problem
and wanted to make it feasible for everyone to attend without undue hardship,
how far out would we have to set this meeting? One month? Two? After the
holidays? Even some of our little parish teams of just 10 people can’t find a
meeting date between now and February that agrees with everyone’s calendars–
let alone Bishops from all over the globe!
So, rather than viewing this delay as “Vatican-foot
dragging,” perhaps Pope Francis is simply being respectful of the bishops’ time
and providing ample
notice so that all are able to attend. Maybe Archbishop Vigneron, who said in his Advent letter
that he "was surprised and concerned” by the Holy See’s delay, would be
comforted by this perspective.
Gaillardetz suspects that we are going to see some significant
action in the wake of this meeting in February, and I pray he is right. Rather
than just dealing with the fallout of the crisis (which was what the U.S.
Bishops agenda addressed) I hope that the bishops will dialogue about its root
causes – namely, clericalism, which Gaillardetz defines as “anything that
treats the clergy as a privileged group that should be treated with deference
or grants them particular power and suggests that they are immune from
accountability.” In order to effectively address this evil of clericalism,
Gaillardetz believes we have to take a comprehensive look at our at seminary
education and the way in which titles and honorifics are bestowed, among many
other practices that encourage our all-male leadership to think they are
special and set apart in some way. The Pope may indeed be staking his entire
legacy on his strong conviction that the real problem in our church is not
homosexuality as some have suggested (and which every rational mental health
professional has dismissed as attacking a straw man), but rather clerical privilege.
So, let’s all pray for (as my 9-year-old calls them) “the boys
in the funny hats” in Rome, shall we? That the Spirit of God show itself mightily
at this February gathering and grace our leaders with some clarity on what
steps to take to keep our most treasured gift from God safe: our children.
Send your Crazy Catholic Question to Lisa Brown
at dre@ctredeemer.org or read
past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com
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