RITE AND REASON IT IS the perennial temptation of
those with a leadership role in the church “to defend and even to abuse
the power which has been given into our hands as servants” (Archbishop
Diarmuid Martin).
It would be a wonderful contribution to church
renewal if the Irish Catholic bishops were to respond positively to the
many requests for a national assembly from groups and individuals within
the church.
That would be a true exercise of servant leadership – the
kind of “strong” leadership we need and crave, particularly in a time of
crisis.
The nature of the crisis is clear: there has been lack of
transparency, accountability, inclusivity and genuine dialogue within
the church.
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” culture referred to in the
Murphy report (1.31) has been pervasive in a church mired in a culture
of clericalism that is secretive, defensive and excessively deferential.
Governance has been overly centralised and unhealthily hierarchical.
Pope
Pius XI was aware of this in 1939 when he is reported to have said:
“The church, the mystical body of Christ, has become a monstrosity. The
head is very large, but the body is shrunken. You, the priests, must
rebuild the body of the church and the only way you can rebuild it is to
mobilise the lay people”.
This was the challenge taken up by the
Second Vatican Council in its definition of the church as the people of
God and its notion of a collegial form of governance at all levels.
It
was this kind of approach Cardinal Ó Fiaich proposed at the 1987 synod
in Rome when he advocated setting about “awakening the sleeping giant”
that is the laity, going on to note, in reference to the unconscionable
role of women within the church, that “feminism can no longer be
considered middle-class madness or an American aberration”.
In
this context of crisis it would seem logical that the Catholic Church in
Ireland would find a way to meet with all stakeholders (lay faithful,
priests, religious, and bishops) to address the way forward. This would
involve assemblies at parish, diocesan and national levels asking “what
sort of church do we want?” It would, of course, be helped by the
experience of other Christian churches. It would aim to include
alienated and committed, young and old.
It would be the kind of cohesive
and galvanising process that Bishop Seamus Freeman perhaps hinted at in
this paper (December 28th last) when he spoke of the responses to Pope
Benedict’s Letter to Irish Catholics as the beginnings of a “structured
dialogue”.
Where do our church leaders stand on this notion of a
national consultation? Dr Martin, for one, is clearly of the mind we can
no longer continue to be intent on simply “keeping the same show on the
road”. He is clear that “much of the leadership in a new sense of
mission in the Irish church will come through lay men and women”.
He
acknowledges renewal and reform in the church requires a renewal of
structures.
He has noted the importance of holiness and a real
relationship with Jesus, without which all structural and managerial
solutions will fail. He has led the way in episcopal circles within the
church here in pointing out that the serious mishandling of the clerical
sexual abuse scandal has opened our eyes “to a much deeper crisis”.
Fr
Gerry O’Hanlon SJ is a theologian, a member of the Jesuit Centre for
Faith and Justice and a former provincial of the Jesuits in Ireland