Today’s New York Times breaks more news about the investigations of the Belgian church.
It’s an ugly story, a very ugly story. A bishop, his 10-year-old nephew, sexual molestation—and the all too familiar story of ecclesiastical retreat from reality as the Belgian hierarchy closed ranks and credible reports were dismissed a malicious rumor mongering.
The latest revelation now adds to a turmultous atmosphere, not just in Belgium, but perhaps more widely in Europe. Here is what the folks at Der Spiegel in Germany are saying about the rolling wave of scandals and the increasingly vigorous response by civil authorities.
Even if the raid in Belgium was inappropriate, it is another indication that the scandal-ridden Catholic Church can no longer expect leniency—neither in Belgium nor in the US, where a week ago Monday the Supreme Court ruled that the Vatican enjoys no immunity in cases of alleged molestation by priests.
Der Speigel is wrong to draw parallels between Europe and America. We’ve had a long history of separation of church and state, and it was Liberal Protestantism that functioned as the established religion for decades, not Catholicism. If ardent secularists (and greedy litigators) get too aggressive, most Americans, even those with no great love for Catholicism, will come around and defend her.
About Europe, however, they are probably right. The traditionally Catholic countries have retained aspects of establishment, and even though attendance is small, Catholicism continues to be linked to society in the cultural imaginations of many Europeans.
A few years ago, Europeans debated about the mention of Christianity in the EU charter document, with the not-mentioning party winning the day. The outcome of that debate reflected a growing sentiment that the cultural entity called “Europe” need have no ties to the religion called “Christianity.”
This is why the Belgian scandal may serve as a tipping point. For many secularists, the churches need to be pushed to the side. A public disgusted with the ugliness of misconduct at the highest levels of the Church—along with what now seems to be a blatant attempt to simply ignore credible accusations—will make this much easier to do.
For those of us loyal to the Church and concerned about her future, the coming months and years will be difficult. On the one hand, the need for purification of the Church is obvious, and this will require criticism. On the other hand, we can’t have illusions about the larger goals of many critics of the Church.
For example, I’m not quick to forget Bill Keller’s New York Times column in 2002, which was laced with vituperation against the Catholic Church.
His agenda isn’t hidden from view:
Probably no institution run by a fraternity of aging celibates was going to reconcile easily with a movement that embraced the equality of women, abortion on demand and gay rights.
Keller is now the executive editor at the New York Times, and while the paper undoubtedly does a good job bringing us the news, his agenda may influence the spin. See, for example, the unbalanced reporting that claimed that Pope Benedict played an intergral part in the moral failure of the Church.
In a recent posting I parsed the distortions.
No doubt Keller’s views also influenced last weekend’s unsigned editorial, which denounced the Pope for failing to handle the priest scandals as would a go-getting CEO or rear-end covering politician.
Yes, it’s going to be difficult. When a faithful Catholic chastizes the Church for its failures, lots of folks who are looking for any stick to use to beat up on the Church will join the fray. But we can’t allow that possibility to force us into silence. After all, it was silence that got us into this particular mess in the first place.
July 13th, 2010 | 5:36 pm
Its not a problem of the church. Its primarily a problem of the so-called liberal-”catholics”. Here the purification must start. Not a single Priest who is orthodox and loyal to our Pope and Church was actively involved in a sex scandal.
July 13th, 2010 | 6:48 pm
A note for Mr. Pascal:
Your statement that no “orthodox” priest “loyal to the Ope has been involved in these scandals is false and demonstrably so. There are bishops appointed by the last 2 Popes who themselves committed some of these atrocities. The Church is not defended by lies. As it is, the shocking failure to be honest about matters until literally forced to has utterly destroyed the magisterium. We have no basis for trusting the teachings of a group who put institutional protection above deep moral standards. How could anyone trust the moral guidance of such people? It would be scandalous to do so.
To defend this destruction of the Church with falsehoods intended to support some secular ideology – well, the word “satanic” comes to mind.
July 13th, 2010 | 6:54 pm
Philip Lawler’s comments on the same issue:
tough competition in the media-bias department
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otn.cfm?id=673
Even post-Dallas, US bishops’ abuse policy is no model for emulation
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=452
July 13th, 2010 | 6:59 pm
Blaise Pascal,
For the faithful, it’s a tautology that priests involved in sex scandals are neither orthodox nor loyal to the Pope and the Church. Who could disagree with this claim, except for cynical outside critics of the Church?
However, if you mean to suggest that priests publicly defend orthodoxy and loyalty have never been caught up in sex scandals, you haven’t been paying attention. Fr. Marciel Maciel Delgado was not publicly defended by scores of conservative Catholics on account of his liberal Catholicism. Indeed, one wonders if he got away with as much as he did precisely because he presented himself as orthodox and loyal.
There’s no silver bullet of purification, and trying to direct one at liberal Catholics would be to ignore one of the most egregious cases of abuse in recent memory.
July 13th, 2010 | 7:33 pm
Where sin abounds; grace does even more.
The world wants to tell the Church she has no authority, but her authority does not come from the world; it comes from a promise from God to his people- it comes through His Advocate.
The greatest blessing will come from the total dissolution of the Church as an establishment of the world- an establishment that has led to this cover-up as far as I’m concerned.
Cause now will be a time for saints because leading Christians and being Christians will be much harder without the false security of an ambient “Christianized” culture for one to move about. May God have mercy on us and may God allow us the mettle to cling to his mercy. We are going to need it.
July 14th, 2010 | 5:09 am
@Charlie Collier
Exceptions prove the rule. Although outward conduct is not a infallible sign of inner convictions, but in most cases those who speak and act orthodox are orthodox. At least here in Germany most of the abuse scandals happened in liberal/modernist circles. The main problem really is loyalty in practice and belief, and modernists are lacking it the most.
July 14th, 2010 | 8:43 am
Your comments about the “establishment”, as you call it, of Liberal Protestantism in the U.S. shows ignorance of history and the constitution – and lacks common sense. In most countries where an established church exists it is funded or given privileges by the national government. For example, in Latin America the national government in most countries gives the Roman Catholic church SPECIAL rights and privileges over all other denominations. Public tax money from ALL citizens goes to support the one denomination that’s officially recognized – the RC church. That is fundamentally unjust. The purpose of the non-establishment clause in the U.S. constitution is to prevent that same injustice from happening here.
July 14th, 2010 | 11:25 am
All this discussion about liberal or orthodoxy is hogwash.
In decent societies crimes are prosecuted and criminals are put in jail. In democracies, there exists the concept of freedom of speech and freedom of (religious) association. The freedoms in these socities can exist even as the crimes against the society are prosecuted.
It is evident in America and Europe, and soon we’ll see the same in Latin America, that the RC was not prosecuted for crimes. It somehow had the political juice to create conflicts that cowed governments (read that as police, judges, politicians) into giving it special favors. We are finally beginning to see the start of a stripping away of this special status. The RC church will survive, albeit as just another entity, not the inflated insitution it thought is was.
Jesus would be happy with this transition.
July 14th, 2010 | 10:25 pm
Pragmatist’s comments are quite revealing. Pragmatist asks, “We have no basis for trusting the teachings of a group who put institutional protection above deep moral standards. How could anyone trust the moral guidance of such people?”
Actually, the answer is easy. We trust their teaching authority for the same reason we ALWAYS have: faith in Christ. The personal morality or immorality of individual bishops is irrelevant to the theological reasons for trusting the Magisterium.
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