The Catholic Church & Child Abuse

I live in a country where I only have superficial exposure to local news so I couldn't tell you, for instance, whether, child abuse in any shape or form is an issue here. My wife, a filipina, tells me there is child abuse in the Philippines but that it doesn't get much news coverage. As a general rule Thais worship their kids and the relationship vice versa is generally deeply respectful. Of course it may well be that child abuse is rife and simply is not given much media attention. They are good here at pretending things don't exist, especially around sex and sexuality! However the news from the West seems  to be dominated by the clerical child abuse scandals rocking the Catholic church.

By the time I was received back into the Church by Fr Bernard it had already taken a fair beating in the UK for its failures in respect of child abuse. I recall the painful cross-examination the then leader of the communion in England & Wales, Cardinal Murphy-O'Brien received at the hands of the BBC's John Humphries. Visceral. However the Church in my humble opinion became a much more humble institution as a result.

When I found myself being drawn back to formal religion I did a bit of sampling and went to many churches in and around the London area for mass. It really seemed the Church had changed a lot. The priests were talking about spirituality, and were preaching a message of tolerance and love. There was no thumping of lecterns and foaming rants from the pulpit about the immorality of our times. I am pleased to say it has remained this way.

Much of what is happening today relates to former times. It is residual. It is not, so to speak, current, thank God. We have some difficult times to sit through but I do not doubt that the church will become a better church by virtue of being humbled.

Yesterday I read the Pope's letter to the Irish Catholic community. I was already predisposed to finding it hard work but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and in fact I would say it showed the hand a great spiritual leader. The fact remains, though, this should never have happened and it should have been dealt with much more decisively at the earliest opportunity. The Church must always be a safe place for the vulnerable, especially children

As for the residual stuff I am not surprised by any of it. The Church that I grew up in had gotten ahead of itself. People sometimes call it "triumphant", I would call it arrogant and conceited. It had too much power and influence, and too far removed from its basic mission.

I try not to forget that Christ, the Son of God, is really a very  big challenge. The King of Kings started life in a cave because there was no room at the inn, surrounded by common animals. His first visitors included kings but also shepherds. His human father was a chippy, a carpenter. We don't really know a lot more about Jesus but in the end he was treated as a common criminal, sentenced to a humiliating death by crucifixion as a result of a baying mob, stripped of his clothes which were then the prize in a game of chance. Everything about this God made man was humble, no airs and graces, plain ordinaryand he was regularily the subject of ridicule and contempt. Finally on this theme Jesus' conveyance was a donkey, not the equivalent of a Mercedes-Benz. Whatever happened to the inheritors of this tradition, who,as opposed to being victims have become the aggressors and offenders?