SECOND OPINION: Behaviour by banks mirrors church attitude to sex crimes.
SEX
CRIMES committed by clergy against children are in the news again.
Last
week’s Prime Time programme, A Mission to Prey, described the
molestation of African children by Catholic missionaries.
As in
Ireland and other parts of the world, the African sex crimes were denied
and covered up by the church, priests were sent for treatment and the
children were either not believed or blamed for what happened to them.
We
have also recently witnessed the fastest beatification ever of a man
who protected rapists instead of children, and the annual report from
the National Board for Safeguarding Children describes the obstacles
encountered when they tried to undertake a review of church child
protection procedures.
In Galway, following allegations of a sex
crime committed against a child, a priest called for prayers for the
alleged abuser and for those who had taken away his peace.
These latest
news stories confirm that the Catholic hierarchy still does not get it
and the systemic failures highlighted in the Ryan and Murphy reports
have not been addressed.
The recent Vatican letter on the sexual
abuse of minors does not give us hope that things will improve anytime
soon. Throughout the letter, canon law comes first and civil law second.
Sexual crimes against children are framed in the context of sinning
against the 6th commandment.
The letter recommends educating priests
about the protection of minors and the damage done to victims.
Why?
These are not stupid people and must surely know that molesting and
raping children is a crime.
Bishops are advised to ensure that
their priests appreciate “chastity” and “celibacy” as if these are
somehow relevant when they are not. Like all other sex crimes, child
molestation is about the abuse of power.
Bishops are advised that
responsibility for dealing with sex crimes against children lies first
with them and they must put systems in place that are good for the
accused priest, good for the church and good for children.
At the
heart of all systems is a world view which determines what kind of
system is needed.
The world view of the Catholic hierarchy is that child
molestation is a sin whereas civil law regards it as a crime.
One can
only speculate as to how the Catholic hierarchy would approach murder or
thievery, if the clergy also had a propensity to commit these crimes.
Civil law must come first in any system and, unfortunately, the Catholic
hierarchy don’t get this simple fact.
The Nyberg report into the
banking collapse, Misjudging Risk, helps to explain how the system of
dealing with child molestation went so wrong and why the system is still
not working.
Nyberg argues that a systemic failure requires “a
great number of institutions . . . and individuals to simultaneously
follow unsound policies or practices”.
The report describes banking
behaviours such as “herding” and “groupthink”, which also apply to the
way the Catholic hierarchy handles crimes against children.
Herding is
about following the crowd without question and assuming your superiors
know what they are doing.
This practice is reinforced by a widespread
groupthink belief system, such as framing child molestation as a sin.
Nyberg names other practices in the banking system, all of which apply to the way sex crimes against children have been handled:
* Contagion: seeing others get away with it.
* Consensus: contrarian views being unacceptable and unhealthy to present to superiors.
* Silent observers: people who did nothing.
* Enablers: authorities who saw the risks but did not use their powers to act or show leadership.
Nyberg
points out that the real problem was not a lack of power but a lack of
scepticism and civil authorities allowing themselves to be fobbed off.
A
common argument used by the Catholic hierarchy is, “We didn’t fully
understand child sex abuse” or “We were acting on legal advice”.
Nyberg
is very clear on where the blame lies and says accepting one’s own
ignorance does not shift the blame to others.
“People in a position to
make decisions are . . . responsible for them regardless of what advice
they have received.”
Parents and guardians must bypass the
Catholic hierarchy if they suspect their child is in danger.
Mandatory
reporting is the only way to ensure children’s safety where those who
don’t immediately report suspected child molestation are prosecuted.
It
is hard to believe Ireland has still not enacted this legislation.
Dr Jacky Jones is a former regional manager of health promotion with the HSE