After the pedophile priest scandal in Ireland, a new front is opening in the Netherlands.
Within the Dutch Church - whose “Catechism” attempted to bring modernity into the sacred chambers - the ad hoc conclusions of the independent investigation commission led by former prime minister Wim Deetman have shed light on clerical abuse.
In his letter to the Catholics of Ireland, Benedict XVI identified a distancing from Tradition as one of the causes of abuse: “Many times the sacramental and devotional practices that support faith and enable it to grow – such as frequent confession, daily prayer, and annual retreats - are disregarded.
During this period there was also a significant tendency – also on the part of priests and members of religious orders - to adopt ways of thinking about and judging secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel.”
In fact, “the program of renewal proposed by Vatican Council II was sometimes misunderstood, and in truth, in the light of the deep social changes that were taking place, it was anything but easy to evaluate the best way to go forward. In particular there was a tendency, motivated by good but mistaken intentions, to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this general context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of sexual abuse of children, which has contributed significantly to the weakening of faith and loss of respect for the Church and its teachings.”
The post-Council defeat of the ultra-progressive Dutch Church confirmed the Pontiff’s analysis.
“Many tens of thousands of minors” were sexually abused by clergy in the Dutch Catholic Church between 1945 and 2010 and around 800 alleged abusers have been identified.
Furthermore, “several tens of thousands of minors experienced mild, serious, or very serious forms of inappropriate sexual behavior between 1945 and 2010, in the heart of the Dutch Catholic Church” said the commission in its final report.
“Based on 1,795 reports, the Commission was able to identify the names of 800 sexual abusers who work or worked for bishops,” adds the report, specifying that “of those 800 people, at least 105 are still living.”
The Dutch bishops and leaders of religious orders are “shocked” by the sexual abuse of minors which took place from 1945 to 2010 by the clergy of the Netherlands, revealed today by the Deetman commission, and express “shame and unhappiness” in a communication distributed simultaneously in Holland and by the Vatican press office.
The report mentions many thousands of minors who were abused by about 800 molesting priests.
The Dutch Conference of Bishops and the Conference of Dutch Religious Orders also expressed “profound regret” for the cover-up of cases by ecclesiastical leaders in years past, condemning the culture of silence surrounding victims of abuse and emphasizing that “there is still much more to be done” to help them.
“We strongly condemn every kind of sexual abuse, because it is diametrically opposed to the dignity of the human being and to the Gospel,” reads the note. “There is no place for such practices in our church. On this there can be no mistake.
We will take every measure required by ecclesiastical and civil law when there is any suspicion of sexual abuse. Public officials will be informed, in accordance with Dutch law, when there is any suspicion of a prosecutable offense. We are committed to taking these actions in all future cases.”
“The investigation report notes that the Church had a culture which did not discuss sexuality or sexual abuse,” the note reads. “Neither the times nor the circumstances can justify the terrible suffering caused to children and their families.”
In this sense, the bishops and religious orders promise to work to “make it easier to talk about sexual abuse. We will prepare unambiguous codes of behavior; and more weight will be given to preventive programs in preparation for ministry.”
The debate about responsibility for the scandal is particularly bitter in the Dutch Church. Some believe it all began after Vatican Council II, when the Dutch Church pushed - much more than other churches - to make open and liberal reforms to its DNA.
Cardinal Bernard Jan Alfrink, Archbishop of Utrecht, with the support of many theologians (including Dominican Edward Schillebeeckx), published a new catechism which brought greater openness on the subjects of homosexuality, abortion, birth control, priesthood for women, and celibacy for priests.
But for others, these positions - although not shared in any way - are a sign that a church cannot avoid certain problems and that these problems must be discussed. Up until a few months ago, the main interpreter of this open-to-the-world church and in its spirit was Salesian Adrianus Herman van Luyn, Bishop of Rotterdam.
On 18th January the Pope accepted his resignation for having reached retirement age.
The ecclesiastical leaders are now committed to “doing justice to the victims, to regain their respect and help them help as much as possible,” but emphasize that current procedures are not sufficient: “Much more can be done to help the victims, and we want to personally contribute to that.”
The note makes clear, again, that the abuses were so much more reprehensible because “the parents believed they were entrusting their children to healthy institutions and to honorable priests and members of religious orders. Beyond what they did to the children, the breaking of trust has also hurt the families.
The Vatican has taken a clear position on the scandals that have hit the Church in various countries from Germany to Ireland.
The Church has “handled the emergence of the problem with swiftness and decisiveness,” said spokesman for the Holy See, Father Federico Lombardi. In a note for Radio Vaticana, the papal spokesman also explained how “focusing the accusations on the Church alone brings a distorted perspective.”
In fact, “the main ecclesiastic institutions involved” in the pedophilia scandal “have handled the emergence of the problem with swiftness and decisiveness, showing their desire for transparency, and in a certain sense speeding up the emergence of the problem by inviting victims to speak even when the cases happened a long time ago.”