ONE OF the lessons to be learned from last week's controversy over Bishop Denis Brennan's address to the Diocesan Finance Committee, is the need for straight talking.After the Bishop's statement was covered in the media, the Diocesan Communications Officer Fr. John Carroll said the newspapers had taken it up wrong.
In other words, various newspapers and radio stations had separately mis-interpreted the press release in the same way.
The relevant paragraph read as follows: 'As we look to complete this road, it will be necessary to invite the parishes to become part of the process financially. Funding sought is not about sharing the blame. It is about asking for help to fulfill a God-given responsibity'.
Journalists in Dublin and Wexford all translated this as a request from the Bishop for financial help from parishes in paying the bill for 13 outstanding civil actions for compensation arising from clerical sex abuse.
Last weekend, Bishop Brennan issued a letter to the people of the diocese in which he said that, in order to ensure that every victim is helped and cared for, the diocese is examining a number of ways to pay for this and seeking the advice of parishioners in a process of consultation.
He outlined a number of options including 'the non-involvement of parishes in the outstanding claims at all' and said he wanted to listen to the response of the people from all the parishes as to how best to shape our diocese in the future.
'The twelve months ahead are a time when we might engage more fully in this process', he said.
No-one doubts the sincere willingness of Bishop Brennan to do right by the victims of clerical abuse in County Wexford and to ensure that there will be no more sufferers in the future.
He is held in respect and affection by parishioners who are grateful to him for his gentle role in healing a diocese still haunted by a dark and shameful episode of abuse.
However, the thousands of parishioners in County Wexford who remained loyal to their faith, their church and their priests when it was very painful for them, also deserve credit.
Their trust is precious and fragile and demands that church management not couch messages in sanctimonious language or leave statements open to interpretation, especially when it concerns such a brasstacks issue as money.
The Catholic Church in this diocese is speaking from a weakened position. A State inquiry concluded that in the past, it placed its own reputation above the welfare of children.
Amends are now being made but the church must listen to its parishioners, especially those who disagree with it, and guard against making assumptions.
The days of obsequious reverence and preaching from the pulpit are gone.
There has been enough obfuscation and avoidance in the Diocese of Ferns in the past. Church management must say what they mean and mean what they say.
While it is now being described as just 'one of the options', the idea of asking parishes for money looks to be a non-runner.
Guilt has traditionally been an emotion that comes with being a Catholic but no-one should feel guilty about how they reacted to Bishop Brennan's request.
It was an instinctive and honest response and the Bishop himself must have anticipated the possibility of such feedback because he said: 'That I did not cause the problem, is not the response of the Christian'.
Ferns parishioners have no problem giving, as shown by their generous response to church collections for all manner of causes.
They run marathons for church restorations; support their priests at home and abroad and demonstrate their Christian values by donating large sums of money to Trocaire every year.
Whatever the appeal, people dig deep to show concern for others and for their community.
However, many of them would be sickened by the thought of handing over money to pay for the damage done by priests who perpetrated sex abuse.
The objection stems from a deep-seated revulsion for what priests in the diocese did to innocent school-goers and altar servers in their care. It feels wrong to be associated with it, even financially. Not that they don't have sympathy for the victims, some of whom have also come out and declared their opposition to the Bishop's suggestion. They just feel that the responsibility lies with the church authorities on this one.
Bishop Brennan's invitation to parishes to 'become part of the financial process' was issued a fortnight after he returned from Rome where he and the other Irish Bishops were summoned by Pope Benedict to discuss the mishandling of the clerical abuse scandal in Ireland. Was money one of the issues on the agenda in the Vatican? Did the suggestion come from Rome that parishes might share the financial burden.? There was certainly a coincidence in the timing.
Whatever the background to the request, the public reaction shows that the continuing fall-out from the revelations in the Ferns Report, is not a situation to be managed by shooting the messenger or blaming journalists for getting it wrong.
If the people really ARE the church, their views must be listened to.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
SIC: WP